School Daze

No pictures to share, but I feel compelled to blog. My parents wake up every morning, fire up the PC in what we've always kind of oddly called "the entranceway" (read: the first room of my childhood home after you open the front door) and miss not seeing a picture or reading a story about their New Jersey grandchildren. So this post is just to alleviate that crushing sense of disappointment I can feel wafting south from Rodman.

The start of the school year has us in a somnolent haze here. The routine lulls us into complacency, I think, although by all accounts everything is going well so far for both kids. To wit:

We're eight days in to third and first grade. Lincoln's first grade teacher, Mrs. Dorton, was also Greta's. Greta's class has 15 boys and 7 girls. Her youthfully exuberant teacher informed the class on the 12th anniversary of 9/11 that she was in seventh grade when the planes flew into the World Trade Center. Lincoln's favorite thing so far about first grade is he can sit anywhere he wants in the cafeteria. So he and his BFF Charlotte break bread together daily. Greta is enjoying her science class, where she learned this week that she has two rocks in her collection that they also have in class. She keeps calling it "appetite," but I'm certain that's not the name. Greta was the first kid to sit in the "reading chair" last Friday -- a weekly reward for good manners. Lincoln started to fall asleep during morning meeting on Monday, but says he snapped out of it without getting in trouble. He has to rank his behavior daily and so far has deemed three outstanding, four good and one great. So far we've lost a water bottle and a coat, although I think the coat is just misplaced, not gone forever. They have new Thermos bottles for warm lunches, which makes the evening ritual of lunch prep a little easier on Carey. Leftover goulash and chicken alfredo pasta were big hits. The bus driver has been mostly on time, picking up the kids within a few minutes of the scheduled 7:41. Tomorrow is the first after-school PTA function, an ice cream social. I have the day off in the wake of my weekend work at the Toronto Film Festival, so will try and take some photos then. Carey's off to Chicago for a couple days on business, so cue the Mr. Mom movie.