Spoiled!

I'm feeling pretty spoiled as of late.  Last week was very low key, as so many of my kiddos were off on their Voyage (yes, I know I promised to explain Voyages...soon).  Of course we had yesterday off to celebrate MLK, and we have a professional development day on Friday.  These three and four-day weeks are nice.  But we 'pay' for it in the end.  We truly do!

Today I saw my 1st graders for the first time in 6 days!  That's a lot of days when you are a six-year-old struggling reader.  Being away for an extended time like that does funny things to a little guy (or gal)...it's similar to the Barometric effect (see earlier post)!  If you don't believe regression can happen in six days...think again!

Out of the many kiddos I saw today, two of them cried and one wouldn't even speak to me.  It's not me (at least I don't think it is), they just have to get back into the groove.  Just like teachers do.  But we don't cry...well, not that much anyway.

One little guy could not for the life of him read the word 'ball'.  Really?  At first I thought he was just messing around.  He likes to stall so that he can linger on the page and look at the pictures.  Nope.  He wasn't stalling.  He really forgot the word 'ball'.  And 'by'.  He kept reading 'here' instead of 'where'.  As I felt my exasperation rising, I had to remind myself how hard it was for me to focus at my meeting this morning.  Then I had to reread a particular email 3 times before I could really comprehend what it said.  AND,  I spaced out an interview a coworker had scheduled with me even though she reminded me just a few short hours earlier.  So...I get it.   I regressed too. 

It helps to have empathy (another of our character traits)!  Kids are great for that.  They can really help you to step back and say, hmmm...in the scheme of things, is this really a big deal?  Sure, I can get upset that little Johnny forgot some high-frequency words (words he knew just six days ago)! Or, I can choose to delight in the fact that I get to spend 30 pretty awesome minutes with some pretty amazing kids!  I get to hold little Joey's hand while he cries for 10 whole minutes and hear the story of one little guys brand new baby brother!  Not a bad way to spend my day.  Not bad at all!

I still like four-day weeks  :-)

We had dinner at a friend's house tonight and enjoyed some yummy wine but, I forgot to ask what it was.  I know it was red...

~Cab Lover

Not sure what wine we had...but this was dessert!!!!