Shouldn't We Have Nap Time in 3rd Grade?

I need to put a note in the Suggestion Box. I could have plopped down on the linoleum tile floor of my classroom and taken a really good snooze today. The first day of school is e x h a u s t i n g! Within 15 minutes of arriving before school this morning, I was racing, frizzing, and yes . . . I was stinking. Yuck. Non-stop all day long. I think I might have sat down when I read a book to the class, but I don't really remember.

I have 19 really cute kids. They all wanted to know when they could have homework (?!) and when we'd learn cursive writing. Gotta love it. I'm happy to be back. It just takes the first day to hook me again and I love being there.

I have a kid-tracking system. It pre-dates GPS, but it works for me. I need to know where each student is at all times, and with 19 kids, it's so easy to send one to the nurse and one to the lav, and after 2 minutes realize that I have no idea who went out of the room and where they went. So here's my system:

Each child has a clothespin with his/her name on it. At the beginning of the day, the clothespins are clipped to the "I'm Not Here" sign. When the kids arrive, they clip their pins to the "I'm Here" sign, divided by boys and girls. I also have other signs for "I went to the Boys Lav," "I went to the Girls' Lav," "I'm at the Nurse or the Office," "I'm at my Reading Group," and "I'm on a mission for Ms. R." The mission sign is used when I send a student to be a messenger or go on an errand. Thought I was all set. Sounds like I covered everything, right? This afternoon, a dollfaced little girl asked me if she could go to get a drink of water. When I said yes, she asked, "Where do I put my clothespin?" Hmmm. Don't have an "I went to get a drink of water" sign. So I told her to clip it to the "I'm on a mission" sign and that she was on a mission to quench her thirst. She looked up at me and said, "You're fun." It's those little things that make the racing, frizzing and stinking completely worthwhile.

My boy started high school today. It was terribly painful for me. He was SO excited about school until we got in the car to drive there. When we pulled in to the parking lot, he wasn't sure which doors were the correct ones to enter. I saw kids being dropped off and going in a set of doors and pointed them out. M. thought the kids looked "like seniors" and that maybe he shouldn't go that way. Poor thing. I encouraged him to go, saying he just needed a door and a hallway and he'd get to his homeroom. He got out of the car and walked slowly, and stiffly, toward the building. He looked like he could have shattered into pieces if tapped on the shoulder. My stomach hurt. I was so thankful that I had a job that would keep me busy so I couldn't think about him all day. I thought about him, of course, but not in that teary-I'm-going-to-be-sick way. After school ended - an hour after M.'s school let out, I had to meet with a parent who had a lot to say. I didn't get to call him until 3:35. He was home. He was happy. He liked it. I took my first deep breath of the day (then I realized I had to pee because I hadn't gotten a chance to go all day, but I'm getting off track). He told me about his Math class - (in a low key way - not bragging, thank goodness) He's one of only 3 freshmen (he's a freshman!) in his Algebra II class. The rest of the class are juniors. I'm so proud of my boy.

Just a little funny that he said to me the other day when we were talking about school: "Mom, you could never be a high school teacher." "Why not?" "The kids are so tough. You couldn't handle it. You'd be emotionally distraught." (This from the same boy who once looked at my hair and asked if I'd thought about seeing a stylist.)

On a knitting note, look what came for me on Saturday:

"Hey there,frecklegirl has invited you to Ravelry! Here you go! Thanks for your interest in our little site."

Little site, my you-know-what. This place is amazing! I became an overnight Ravelry addict, putting in all my projects and finished objects, looking at all of the patterns I want to knit next, checking out everyone's beautiful knitting, entering my needle and hook inventory (so great!) and checking out some of the groups. Yarn Harlot is on Ravelry and she has a ton of beautiful projects she's done. It's fun to be able to see what everyone is doing. Several of the SnB girls are on Ravelry, and more are getting closer to their invitation. You'll love it!

Another thing related to nothing:
I was watching (oh, I so hate to admit this) "Scott Baio is 45 and Single" (gag now, please - get it over with). He went to a jewelry store with his friend to look at an engagement rings for his girlfriend. He said, "Why don't we just get the chromium zucchini and she'll never know the difference." Cubic Zirconium. I actually snorted.

Bed time.