Parent Teacher Conferences

It's the end of the first quarter at school, and time for the annual parent/teacher conferences.  I've been doing this for a number of years now and wasn't nervous, not even when Lacey told me that her teacher would probably say that she is "sort of good and a litttle bad."   I arrived about 5 minutes early for Lacey's conference.  I know I said that I was experienced at these things.  So, you're probably wanting to point out that conferences never run on time, much less early.  But, I had a busy evening ahead of me and wanted to hope.  I paced in front of the open classroom doorway for about 15 minutes, listening to a mother describe all the wonderful things that her overachieving child does at home. 

"Listen, honey," I murmured, "The teacher spends more waking hours with your child than you do.  She knows how wonderful he is.  You are clearly a first-timer." 
Sensing that I was in for the long wait, I wandered down the hall and started scanning the schoolwork displayed on the walls.  I found the following paper, written and illustrated by Lacey.

  Here is an interpretation:

One day a girl came to America.  Her name was Lacey.  She have a new sister and a new brother and new dad and new mom.  She have a new family.  Her new family is nice.  She like her family.  Sometimes she gets stuff.  (The last sentence eluded me.  I'm not sure if she sat on her family or on her stuff.)

Well, of course, I burst into tears and all the parents wandering the hallways stared at me and murmured to themselves.  But, really - not only can Lacey write with invented spelling, capital letters and punctuation, she's writing about her family!  She tells me she loves me on a daily basis.  So, I'm not really sure why I reacted so strongly to her story.  I think maybe it was the Public Display of Affection that got to me.  I finally had my moment with Lacey's teacher, who is wonderful.  I didn't really care about Lacey's reading level, her performance on standardized tests, or anything else.  My kid has a sister, brother, mom and dad!  

I sped home, started dinner and raced back to school for Cassie's conference.  Cassie's teacher began with, "I'm not really sure there's anything I could tell you about Cassie that you don't already know. . . .Straight A student. . .  award for good behavior. . . . I love this child . . . . she does no wrong. . . "

"Come on," I interrupted.  "What about her spelling?  Her spelling is atrocious"

"I love her writing."

"Hmmm," I pursued, "What about her desk?  Is her desk neat?" 

"You got me," laughted the teacher. "Her desk is a mess!"

Feeling relieved that Cassie's not entirely perfect, I headed for home.

Today, Lacey proudly announced that she got in trouble at school for grabbing a little boy's butt. 

"Why did you do this?"  we asked.  

"Because I wanted to talk to him."

"What did the teacher say?"

"We don't touch people's butts!"

Clearly, there are still quite a few things that Lacey needs to learn.  But, her family is "nies," and what else really matters?

Find me on Etsy

Check out my new shop on Etsy.  I am trying to make the most of the time that I spend sitting during violin and ballet lessons.

Impressionistthreads.etsy.com

The Newest American Citizen

Today Gladis became an American citizen.  I let the girls play hooky to attend the ceremony.  We were not allowed to bring cell phones or cameras into the courthouse.  At first, we were upset about not being able to take photos during the actual ceremony.  But, not having cameras made us all focus more on the meaning of the ceremony and listen to the judge's remarks ( which lasted for only 35 minutes).  This short speech by the judge was very meaningful. He spoke about the extraordinary American government and constitution, and the meaning of the citizenship oath.  The judge also encouraged the new citizens to sustain their native cultures in the U.S. and enumerated many contributions of past and present immigrants.

Congratulations, Gladis!!

Here are our snapshots from today.



This is the only picture we took at the courthouse - before I ran back to the car to store our phones and cameras.



Back to Blogging

I haven't abandoned my blog.  But, the past few weeks have been fairly ordinary, not producing a lot of fuel for blogging.  Well, I guess my life has taken a twist back to not so normal and produced another bloggable day.


Yesterday began fairly normal, except for a few twinges of pain that I was able to ignore until I was on the highway.  Then, it became the kind of pain that made me curse and pound on the steering wheel.  I actually became desperate enough to call Les for help.  I use the term "desperate" not to imply that my husband wouldn't help, but because he was locked in an office about 40 miles away.  In retrospect, calling him was a dumb idea.  However, I did need to let him know that if I wasn't home in time to meet the school bus, I was probably at the ER passing a kidney stone.  Of course, I got stuck in traffic on I-395.  Crazy thoughts started pouring through my head such as, "Does it really matter that Cassie sleeps on top of the sheets instead of between them?"  And, "Good thing I'd shaved my legs - in case I need to seek medical care."


I finally got to work and my wonderful colleagues offered to take care of my students.  I decided to wait until traffic subsided before heading South.  I began phoning my doctor's office, which opens at 8:00.  I got a recording that said they were running late and politely asked that I call again in 15 minutes.  I did call again in 15 minute increments for the next two hours.  I guess pain does strange things to a person.  During those two hours I managed to drive home; check on the basement which was in fact flooding; and collect a pile of  catalogs to read in the waiting room.  I finally reached the doctor's answering service and learned that the office was closed.  I explained my situation to the friendly sounding guy who answered.  He offered to take a message.  Hmmm.  Let me think.  I'm in a lot of pain.  Not sure a message would be helpful.  I'm thinking of going to the ER.  The friendly sounding guy told me that he wasn't trained to offer advice or opinions.  I thanked him and drove to the ER. 


The ER was strangely empty.  This is the first of many points at which I will state that I'm not joking.  There wasn't a single person in the waiting room.  The kind nurse pulled up my record, asked if I thought I had another kidney stone and ushered me in.  "Go see Alvin,"  she said.  "He'll take care of you."  Alvin is a medical tech who, in addition to having a great personality, does a little bit of everything.  He checked me in, drew blood, got the IV going, etc, while he entertained me with stories of recent patients with kidney stones.  I commented that the place didn't look too busy today.  Alvin gasped, "Oh, you're not supposed to say the "B" word!" 

I was placed in a room where the nurse tried to figure out how to use the new "touch screen" equipment.  My patient care representative arrived and wrote the names of all staff members who would be assisting me on a big white board.  She gave me a chart with smiling and frowning faces on it to help me communicate my degrees of pain.  I'm not kidding.  The nurse left my door open so that I wouldn't feel too lonely.  She returned with a helper and they still couldn't figure out how to work the new equipment.  They both left and returned with Alvin, who demonstrated how to correctly touch the screen.  I was grateful for my pile of catalogs and began daydreaming my way through Pottery Barn, envisioning what a basement that wasn't flooding might look like.  Eventually, I got to go have a CT scan.  While we were waiting for the results, a voice over the sound system chastised all the ER nurses for neglecting to label the specimens they were bringing to the lab.  Upon hearing this, the charge nurse began yelling at everyone.  "Oh,great," I thought.  "So much for all my blood work."  Just then, my worries were confirmed as a member of the "Hospital Transport Team" arrived to take me for a chest xray.  I tried to protest, explaining that she had the wrong hemisphere.  The nurse came in and they checked the name on the xray order.  Big surprise.  It wasn't mine.  I wouldn't be responsible for the xray copay!

I got up to use the restroom, which was down the hallway.  As I stepped into the hallway, Alvin came by, almost knocking me over.  He was pushing a bed with a woman on it, yelling, "Need a room!!  Got a baby crowning!!"  He yelled over his shoulder at me, "I told you not to say the B word!"

The lady ended up next door to me.  The walls are thin.  About 30 seconds after her bed landed, I heard the baby crying and the nurses cheering.  It was a boy!  More cheering.  Alvin came into my room looking for a blanked to wrap around the baby.  Someone eventually found a rolling baby bed.  Alvin came back to lean against the wall in my room and rest for awhile.  He told me that I should be proud of this woman.  She too had driven herself to the hospital and Alvin had pulled her from the car.  About this time, the nurses were informed that a baby born outside the delivery room is considered "dirty" and couldn't be allowed in the nursery.  One nurse suggested that maybe it would be better for the baby if there weren't so many people breathing on him.  I'm not joking here.  Apparently, all the nurses backed off, because a couple minutes later the charge nurse started yelling, "You people didn't really leave this baby alone, did you??!"  She wasn't joking either.

In a short while, the doctor arrived to tell me that I was about to pass a 5 mm kidney stone.  As she questioned my celebratory cheering, I explained that I had done this myself, without needing surgery.  The doctor wrote my prescription for pain pills. I got dressed and was ready to leave when I realized I still had a needle stuck in my arm.  I was seriously considering going home. It would have taken very little effort to pull the needle out myself.  But, the nurse caught me and offered to help.  I stopped to say goodbye to Alvin on my way out and congratulated him on the successful delivery.  He congratulated me on my successful delivery as well.

I got in my car and headed for the pharmacy.  The "low fuel" warning light came on the dashboard.  I'm not kidding here.  However, I managed to make it home in time to meet the bus.

After yesterday, I expected to have a quiet weekend.  I took the laundry to the basement while the girls were still sleeping.  I opened the front loading washer and discovered about 10 inches of standing water inside.  It took about 2 seconds for the water to cover me and the laundry room floor.  Now, how on earth could that happen?  There wasn't water in it when I opened the door last time.  Hey, maybe things are just getting back to normal around here.