Snow day

The phone woke us around 5:30 a.m., but we knew what it was- school was canceled for ice and snow. Shortly afterwards, before I'd fallen back asleep, luckily, my cell phone buzzed with a text from work to say the college was closed, too.
Luckily I hadn't stayed up late grading papers.
Leila checked things out this morning before I got up and found the snow wasn't good for snow cones or snow balls- too much ice. Therefore, we've spent the morning inside keeping warm. My fear that the power might go out hasn't happened, yet.
Later I'll post pictures. Just now I'm too comfortable to get up and take one.

Old Fashioned fun

When it rains in our town, the power sometimes goes out. (This is a pretty regular occurence, considering we live in the US.)
Leila and I got home from the store to find H and Ali just lying around waiting for the lights to come back on. I managed to heat up dinner since our stove is gas, and we ate by candlelight. Leila was reading in the dim light comeing through the windows. Then H suggested floating boats in the rivers running down the side of the street. It was a super big hit.

One of "those" mothers

I've recently gotten to know the assistant principle at my daughter's school. Really, I should say he's gotten to know me, because it was pretty easy to know him to a degree. He's the guy out in the street at drop off and pick up reminding parents to use the cross walk and not to park in odd, illegal places. Last semester he thanked me for using the cross walk one afternoon, and I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic because I'd cut the corner a little, or sincere, because so many parents don't use the crosswalk.
Anyway, he now knows my name and who my kid is, not because of the unfortunate lice incident of February/March, but because I called him to complain about "Health" class.
One day Leila came home and told me this sad, dramatic story that a police officer had told them in school. The topic was bike safety, and, to emphasize wearing a helmet (apparently) the officer told a story about a boy who landed on the handlebars of his bike and hurt his stomach. His mother didn't think it was serious, but the next morning, she went into his room to wake him up for school, and "he didn't wake up, because he was dead!" Now, I guess this is a true story that the officer had some relationship to, but it did not relate to the topic, was not appropriate for 1st grade, and was related in a dramatic, not educational, way. It made Leila sad, and it made me really sad, too.
I wrote a letter to the teacher, and she replied that she was concerned about it, too. However, I thought the officer visiting was a one time thing, so I didn't follow up.
A couple of weeks later, Leila told me "Skin cancer is the number one killer in the US" or some other such startling statistic. I asked her where she had heard that, and she said, "Officer P____." Really? Skin cancer? What does that have to do with a police officer? Is it illegal or something to get it? Or to send your child outside without sunscreen?
I planned to contact the teacher again, but my husband suggested this time I go straight to the administration. So I called the school office, and got online with the asst. principal. He was pretty shocked to hear what the officer had been telling the students. I asked about what she was supposed to be teaching them, and it turned out, he didn't really know. The curriculum had been approved by the police department, (and maybe the district?) and this women was coming in every week or two to teach the kids.
When I told the teacher I'd spoken to the principal, she said, "I know what that's about." The kids had come back from their previous session with the officer asking if they could die on the playground! I hadn't even heard this one! She told me that she and the other teacher were debriefing the kids after these lessons to make sure they didn't go home scared out of their minds. (I guess your hoodie can get caught on the equipment? The smart teachers assured the kids that they were never alone on the playground, and they would be fine.)
I passed this latest information on to the asst. principal when I saw him in the hallway and introduced myself. He assured me he would speak to the officer and let me know what the curriculum was for the rest of the semester, and he's followed up with that.
My feeling is that the officer is full of stories and examples and so excited about sharing them that she doesn't stop to think about whether or not they are appropriate for a first grader. I'm sure it's important for little kids to know safety things- I think my kids probably know most of them already, but some parents may not think to teach their kids. I know health class' curriculums cause controversy, but I didn't expect that to start in the first grade!

At the playground

The other day the kids and I went over to a friend's apartment to do a photo shoot at the playground there. It has a wonderful merry-go-round, and old metal slide, and some rustic swings. Tio Scott joined us after a bit for fun and cupcakes.
The photo shoot is for the series "Landscapes of Childhood" that I'm working on. Soon you can see it at my website- when it finally gets up and running.
Scroll down to "Imaginative Play" for a new photo of the octopus banana.

almost

The waterfall next to the bridge thunders from the overflow of the morning's thunderstorm, heard but not seen from my windowless classroom. The sun is bright now, blue sky a backdrop to still grey clouds. If I close my eyes, this could be the jungle of my childhood, just a little colder. But the ground beneath me is concrete and pebbles, and I am surrounded by buildings and people, rushing to classes. Even the waterfall is man made.

Sprung

It feels like spring, even though the official date (also my birthday) is two weeks away. Yesterday I woke up from my nap around 6, and had to check and double check the time because the light was still pouring strongly through the windows. And this morning, up after only punching snooze 3 times, the sunshine lit my way to the coffee pot- no harsh overhead needed.
How does this change happen so suddenly? This switch from winter gloom to spring light? In the tropics we are used to sudden light and almost sudden darkness at pretty much the same time year around. Perhaps that's why, after 10 years of seasonal light changes, I'm still surprised.
(Spring, sprang, sprung- one of my favorite verbs to conjugate.)

Texas Weather, again

So Monday wasn't the only snow of the year. Yesterday was a huge winter storm. When I got to my 1:00 class, it was sleeting/hailing (almost snow). When I left at almost 4, my car was covered, several inches deep, in snow. I had dropped the nice car off with H to take to the airport for a pick up, but then I worried about him and the kids, with him. They got home around 6. He said the ground was covered with snow out by the airport. Classes were canceled last night, as were tons of flights.
At 5 am we got a wakeup call to let me know that my college wouldn't open until 9 this morning. Great. That's what time I had to be here anyway. The problem was I couldn't find the number of the person I was supposed to call on the phone tree. I had to go into email and search in places that I keep scraps of paper, but no luck. I finally just decided to pray and go back to sleep. Luckily, it turns out someone had called her.

Texas Weather

When I left for work yesterday morning, there was a layer of snow in my yard. It was patchy, but it was definitely snow. I pointed out the snow covered deck to Leila when she woke up. "Look," I said, and said again. "I see the snow," she told me, with the rough edges of sleep dulling her excitement. (Or just ennui? Who knows? It was the first snow, and probably only, of this winter.)
When I got home it was play outside weather- practically toasty. The snow was gone, the trees were pushing green out of their branch tips.