Weird Day

What a day!

First I overslept, and after having to pack two lunches and figure out my breakfast, barely made it to work on time, but then forgot to clock in. Fortunately (or unfortunately) it isn't the first time I have forgotten, and whenever this happens I get an IM around 8 am that says "ARE YOU HERE?" I am lucky.

Then, I can't shake this cold, so I spent my lunch hour comparing supplements. I figure I clearly need some more vitamins or what have you.

Sometime after lunch there was this huge WHOMP!!!! that shook the whole third floor. It was kind of freaky until we figured out that a cubicle wall, a HEAVY cubicle wall had just...fallen over. It was mostly freaky because the last time a big WHOMP shook my building there were rumors around here that there had been some sort of covert military operation or there's been an explosion or... nobody knew. Eventually there was some sort of statement saying it was a sonic boom from a military flyover. Anyway, I heard that WHOMP and I ducked. Then I went to investigate. It wasn't until I was on my way home and heard reports of the 5.8 or 9 earthquake that hit the east coast today that I wondered if my office building had somehow felt a bit of that even though we are so far from the epicenter. Cubicle walls don't usually just fall over.

Then I got home and my mom said to me "Lilli has something to tell you and I told her that YOU WILL NOT BE MAD AT HER". Turns out that while Lilli was supposed to be resting for her quiet time that she was playing with spare change she'd gotten a hold of. Well, despite being a big girl supposedly, she can't keep stuff out of her mouth. Except her fingers or a binkie back in the days when I was trying to prevent SIDS by giving her something to suck on. Those she wants nothing to do with. Anyway, my mom and Elizabeth were out in the living room reading when Lilli came out crying hysterically. It seems that she'd managed to lodge a quarter in her throat long enough that she started to panic because she couldn't breathe. Instead of running for help though, she was apparently self-possessed enough to REACH DOWN HER THROAT WITH HER TINY FINGERS AND GET THE QUARTER OUT. She was badly scared but otherwise unharmed. She didn't even throw up. And thank heavens she got it out on her own. I was furious (and had to work really hard at "NOT BEING MAD AT HER") but also really thankful and kissed her a whole lot tonight.

Despite her trauma she was pumped up for her violin lesson this evening, and I'm patting myself on the back because it went extra well. Her violin is a 1/8th size instrument. That's pretty tiny. And while she's a champ at the fingering and reading the music and pizzicato, she's really been struggling with holding the violin properly while she uses the bow. Her teacher said last week that he thinks the 1/8th size violin is still actually too big for her and that he thought she needed a 1/16th size. Well, I really don't feel the need to pay for an even tinier violin (can't find one to rent) so I assessed the situation. I decided that the problem was actually with her shoulder rest (too tall) not letting the violin fit under her chin properly, and after messing around with it for a while tossed it to the side. Well, in today's lesson we debuted what we have been practicing with- a kitchen sponge rubber-banded to the violin. It works perfectly. She can hold the violin properly so her arm doesn't get as tired, and her bow use improved dramatically. Ahhhhhh. Also, the sponge was less than a dollar. A 1/16th size violin? At least $60 for a low quality one, up to over $200.

THEN, after dinner and snuggles and stuff, the best part of the evening. Only it involves me bragging about Elizabeth a bit, so just skip this next paragraph if that bores you.

Still here?

Ok, so Elizabeth has a GREAT kindergarten teacher. She's new to Elizabeth's school, but not new to teaching, and she's super high energy, and she's not letting the kids get bored for a second, even this early in the year. She's got systems and plans, and all kinds of awesome activities and I adore her even though I've only met her twice. So, long story short on how and why we set this up, but tonight she came over to our house to talk about Elizabeth. Actually, we thought we were going to decide on a plan for E, but the teacher came over already prepared with a great one, so we are happy to go along with that. First, she showed us Elizabeth's reading assessment. We don't get to keep a copy, which is kind of a bummer, because I would splash that thing all over everywhere. I might frame it. She basically aced it. Perfect on everything, and she is super fast and accurate at reading. She got a score of 2.7, which places her at reading at the same level as a child in the 7th month of second grade. If you know me at all, you know how important it is to me that my children read, read well, read fast, and love it. Another reason why David is an awesome daddy is because he's taught both the girls to read. At any rate, I'm proud of her. She is smart in other areas, and she has a memory like a steel trap, but reading is her...specialty or whatever. So I am really happy to have her skill known. Her teacher asked the reading specialist person at the school what she would recommend for Elizabeth, and her suggestion was to move her to 1st grade. Well, that is nice to hear, but David and I and the teacher are all on the same page that she isn't ready for first grade socially, and I'd much rather have her be the oldest kid in class than the youngest. The part I want to brag about though is that her teacher said that she has referred her to the gifted program (where they apparently learn French and chess among other things- gotta love an Arts school!). She said that she never refers children before Christmas break, and this is only the third week of school! I am proud of my big girl and her brain. It may have funny wiring, but there's no doubt that she's a smarty pants! Her whole class is smart though, so she isn't going to be bored. They're all doing first grade work in a lot of areas, they're the only class that is doing vocabulary (glimmer! frantic! comforting! linger! intimidated! I'M INTIMIDATED), and they're the only kindergarten class that is doing addition. Like addition in the vertical style like big people have to do. Kindergarten is way harder than it used to be!

So it was a weird day, but it ended happy!