Monday

Today was the first day of working part time. It was kind of nice, if money was no object it would be the ideal situation.

When I picked Big Kid up, I made a big deal out of how I wouldn't have to work anymore after school. He said, "Yay! You can play wif me on da computer!" and I had to explain that we both needed to step away from the computer, and that I was so used to working that I might accidentally work if we sat down at the computer so it wasn't a good idea. We went to McDonald's for ice cream comes and played in the yard for a bit and then packed for a while. Let me tell you how much fun it is to pack up the china hutch with little kid standing on a chair beside it whining, "I wanna help, mumum!"

Having all of my most valued and fragile possessions together in a box within feet of little kid is completely nerve wracking.

I also had to go be library mom today. I was feeling lucky because the teacher said that another mom wanted to volunteer on Mondays and asked if I wanted to do library mom every other week instead. Perfect, I thought!

I was irritated though when I found all of the library passes tangled up in a big knot and had kids insisting it was their turn to be line leader without any way to know if they were lying, and most of them had books I wouldn't have let them check out.

I don't let them get books they've gotten before and I don't let them get books that they can't read themselves. That's the whole point and it's a total pain in the butt for me because I always have to redirect them to books that are more appropriate and there they all were, with Junie B. Jones chapter books and books I know they've checked out before. The parents often complain when their kid brings home a book that is unreasonably long for one night's homework.

I also do an impromptu geography lesson with them on my Mondays. There's a big U.S. map painted in the courtyard and on the way back to class I quiz them on states and have them run to them. I do one state a week, reviewing all of the states we've done in previous weeks and they were seriously getting good at it. They love getting to run around and act wild for a moment and they're always interested in what states are where.

They all sucked at it this week though, it was amazing the difference one missed week made.

So, I'm feeling possessive of my position even though I usually dread going. I always end up liking it once I've done it though--I love those little punks. They love me too, I'm cool about the map thing, I make up fun games to play while we walk to and from, I ask about their pets, weekends and siblings, and I'm generous with compliments and back patting. They eat it up, and I want to stay the favorite.

I'm sure I'll get over it though, probably when I don't have to go next week.

I don't really have anything else interesting going on. I appreciate the insights on the "Continuous Progress" education stuff, Big Kid will probably love it. I gave him a children's dictionary this weekend (because I'm tired of spelling stuff every other minute) and he has been reading it like a book and absorbing every word. He's also big on math right now and carries around dice and paper and a pen so he can make "quations".

He's amazing, and really weird.