peeing pearl

We went out for afternoon recess and the girls were all over the place - some on the monkey-bars, some playing kickball, basketball, "super-secret-club meetings," etc. As I'm taking a turn for a potty break two of my girls run up to me. One begins with, "Ms. Miller, Pearl peed her pants. She was playing and she just peed her pants." to which I reply (to Pearl, not the liaison), "Pearl, do you still need to go to the bathroom or are you okay now?"

P - "No, I'm fine." (she's just leaning against the rail like nothing's wrong. Apparently this class has several 'pee-ers' so it may seem more along the norm)

Me - Well Pearl, did you pee a lot? Do you need to go change your pants?

P- No, I'm ok. My mom does laundry in the washing machine (As she casually twirls around and I notice a huge wet spot from her pee...)

Me - Ok that is good. Well Pearl, is there any reason why you didn't ask to go to the bathroom?

P - Yes, Ms. Miller. Mr. F (disciplinary guy/hall monitor/maintenance) found Suzie and I in the bathroom talking a couple weeks ago. He told us to stop talking and we didn't so he told me I wasn't allowed to use the bathroom again.

Me - I am holding back laughter at this point - I know Mr. F meant that she wasn't to have bathroom breaks and talk the whole time, not "You can never use the bathroom at this school." At this point I have escorted her back into the building with the goal of a change of pants at the very least then asking Mr. F to clarify his 'ban' from the baño.

/j/am. /j/ar. /j/et. /j/anazia. /j/ayden. /J/esus.

I was giving a lesson on the letter 'j' today with the 1st grade girls. They seemed to know the 'j' sound very well and any time I said a 'j' word they would clap. After a couple exercises I had each girl go around the room and share a 'j' word they knew. We went through the easy ones - jam, jar, jet, jug, etc. Then we worked through names - Jake, John, Janazia, Jazmyn, Jayden and then comes Jesus. One little girl says (all the other girls are instructed to have 'bubbles' in their mouths while a person is speaking) loud and proud "/J/esus starts with a 'J.' J-esus loves me and I love Jesus!" She looks around the room and one girl follows with, "I love Jesus too." and another "Jesus is God's son!" to which another girl responds, "We know, we know..." Apparently these 1st graders are evangelizing in their classroom and its old news already.

birthday dinner

Last night we celebrated. The 25th was my 1/2 bday and today is my dads 54th bday. I made him dinner - Chicken wrapped around thyme with prosciutto wrapped around it, lightly breaded and cooked in a white wine/tomato sauce. Creme brulee with a nice flame to symbolize a little candle action. We listened to a mix of van morrison, billy joel, stevie wonder, martin sexton, jose gonzalez, amos lee and some other new stuff. He told me about work and how he may retire soon. He stopped to see the girls and soak in the hot springs on the way up to Denver and seemed excited about spending more time with all of us after he was done working. He's a good worker so I doubt he'll be an idle retiree. He asked about my training plan for the triathlon, gave me some tips and we looked up some short runs we could meet up for this summer. I told him about my job at the school and asked him what he thought since he's been in the education world for the last 20-something years. It was good to just relax and celebrate life together.

Sometimes I look at men in their 50's and I wonder what my dad would have been like now. Would last night have really gone like I imagined? Would he be the type of dad to make road trips to see all his kids? Would we talk about important things? Would I be sheepish about my faults still because he was such a perfectionist?

I know this may seem a bit odd, but in moments when I miss my dad I sometimes pretend we live life together, like birthday dinner hang outs. He wasn't around for the ipod era or even for me learning to cook. He only dreamt about me going to college and who knows if he thought of what I'd be doing at 25 1/2. Its therapeutic for me to occasionally trace life over the past 14 years in light of how my dad would have impacted each season. I wouldn't be me without these 14 years... I walk the ridge-pole of appreciating the opportunities to learn and grow in response to all that comes with a single-parent family, other dads that filled in, etc. while on the other side I wonder what would be different - would life be less rich minus that hardship, would dad have stayed involved in our lives...? God is good and these are questions with no answers (and no need for answers really).

alien war

I was cordially invited to join an alien war today at recess with 1st grade boys. I'm "in" with the "in" crowd.