Irony

Son has danced the Snow Dance, invoking all manner of precipitation. But there are more types of snow than dreamt of in his philosophy, and the kind he perhaps invoked is the one that doesn't stick. Or even stay frozen once it hits the ground. It has "snowed," steadily, all day long. Quite pretty, and very visible from inside our respective (oh so un-cancelled) schools.

On another note, tomorrow is one of my fav classes in the Romantic period: the ballad. I get to take in my ipod. Woo hoo!

The New Moon with the Old One in Her Arms

New school year; one returning student one new; one new lunchbox one returning; two new backpacks; one new teacher one old teacher revisited; new (newly built) classrooms; new principal; new (to us) superintendent. New all-day kindergarten in the district (hence the new construction.) New rules about pickup (don't enter the school). New furor among parents (we want to enter the school; and there's no canopy over the doors you want us to wait outside, which is only fine when it isn't raining or snowing).

When I asked daughter last night what she was most looking forward to in her second ever day of school, she said: squishing bugs. She took care of two cockroaches in the brand new hallway outside her classroom before 8am, so I'm afraid it's going to be all downhill from there for her today!

The new policy against parents coming into the school to collect kids seems misguided. First, the sign out front says parents are welcome. Second, by putting the parents and guardians of 400 kids together on the sidewalk, you have an organized mob. We should actually hold PTO meetings, ten minutes at a time, right there. Third, it is not safer to send my 2d grader out with instructions to "come back if he doesn't find a parent." That's just... wrong. How do other schools do it?