Back at the Ranch...

We've had another good week here.  Not that we've checked off everything on my checklists, but we've done a fair lot, and attitudes have been pretty good.  That counts!

One part of my Plan to Make This a Great School Year has been the Exciting Breakfasts strategy.  My kids are not Early and Enthusiastic Risers.  And we need to start lessons at 8:30 in order to get everything (or close to everything) done.  So they need to get up at 8:00.  Which they don't want to do.  So I've been enticing them out of bed with fresh muffins, cinnamon rolls, etc.  This morning, thanks to the wonderful surprise gift received yesterday from my parents of Maple Syrup (Yum!!) we had pancakes. Mmmmm!  Unfortunately, we can't really continue to use this motivation many more weeks, both for economic and dietary reasons, but I'm hoping that when we quit the fancy breakfasts the good getting-out-of-bed habits will continue.

Yesterday, when I picked Speedy up from kindergarten, his teacher carried him over to me (he has fully functional legs) and told me at length about how he had talked non-stop in class and dropped his apple.  I made some remark to the effect that I was sure he would get the hang of kindergarten etiquette soon and wondered why in the heck they were giving him apples during class (the kid has one tooth, so it's not like he can Eat an apple, unless you cut it up small).  And I thought that if his teacher wanted him to act like a Big Boy, perhaps she should stop carrying him around like a Baby. But I didn't think she would appreciate my input so I just smiled and looked sympathetic.  But last night I was talking with my Zumba instuctor, who also has a kindergartener, and she explained that the "apple" was not a Real apple but, rather, a discipline technique.  "Dropping your apple" indicates that you have been Bad.  I think the school should have hand out a Key to Teacher Speak to the parents at the beginning of the year.

And.... speaking of Speedy (and Sticky!), they will have their first visit with their aunt and uncle this afternoon!  The social worker called this morning to update us on the situation, and she just couldn't say enough about how Wonderful these people are.  Responsible, orderly, sensible, loving, sympathetic, etc., etc.  And even after she has explained to them repeatedly and at length about the challenges of working with these kids, they are Game!  They really do sound absolutely perfect, and Speedy will be able to stay at the same school where, despite occasional apple dropping, his teachers really do seem to adore him. This afternoon's visit will just be a few hours, but by September they will have an overnight visit, and the social worker seems confident that they will be ready to leave us and move in with their new family well before October.  Happy days!

For Logic this week, Travis was supposed to find for class an example of the ad Hominem Abusive fallacy. This is a fallacy that avoids addressing the real issue by instead insulting ones opponent.  Travis found this gem, which I think is an excellent example of the type...



(Although I liked the one where the Mongolian goat herder is afraid McCain will bomb his goats, but, as Travis pointed out, that was a spoof. Not sure that matters, but it is his homework, not mine.)

And finally, Emma has finally found a more "cat-like" toy to steal from Katie's room and bring downstairs. Along with her usual haul of Barbie dolls, today she brought this...