first day of school

Second grade.

She was so excited, she raced down the hall to her classroom without even a look or a wave back. I was equal parts crushed and proud.

My little girl grows up and up and up.

remembering josh

I recently found out that a dear man I know died unexpectedly. Joshua Beasley was not only a wonderful guy, but he was a wonderful teacher. He was part of a team of teachers at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center. Josh was primarily the center's afternoon enrichment teacher, but he would also fill-in as needed, in all the classes, from infants on up. My daughter started out in the Center's infant care at the age of seven months and graduated from the kindergarten last year, so she knew Josh most of her life. She always liked Mr. Beasley, but last year, when he was her teacher every afternoon, she grew to love him.

Talking about Beowulf, swordsmanship, the Bodleian Library and the Bayeux Tapestry

My daughter has always bonded with her teachers and has loved them all, but I think that Mr. Beasley was her favorite. He touched something in her, and in me, too. I was able to participate in a few of his lessons last year and was amazed at his ability to deftly include my show-and-tell of the Bayeux Tapestry into his ongoing lesson on Beowulf. Yes, Beowulf, for kindergartners. Josh interpreted classics like Beowulf, Hamlet and Sherlock Holmes for five and six-year-olds and he made them always fun, brilliant, and exciting. He was so excited himself about learning and transmitted his joy and enthusiasm so well that I know my daughter will take that excitement for learning with her throughout her life.

Lessons learned

We moved away from the area last year—moved on to first grade, so it was unlikely that we were going to see Mr. Beasley anytime soon. But I feel so bereft to know that not only will we never see him now, but that his wonderful magic with learning, his interactive method of teaching children, and his own personal pursuit of knowledge is at an end. There is no explaining or understanding something like this. It is just tragic.

At kindergarten graduation

I see no reason at this point to tell my daughter about Josh. What purpose would that serve? If we were still in the area, and there was a chance she might see him while visiting me at work, then that would make sense. My heart goes out to all the on-the-spot parents and children and colleagues of Josh who have to deal more directly with his loss. My daughter still talks about him a lot, whenever she sees or hears something that reminds her of him. With his love of Tigger, and expertise at drawing Disney characters, that can be quite often. She has wonderful memories and associations, and right now I do not need to taint them with sadness and regret. We've had enough sadness for a while. When she's a little older, if he comes up in conversation, maybe I will tell her. Maybe. Maybe someday she will read this.

I do know that when we walk through a bookstore and her voice suddenly rises to a delighted, excited,squeak as she says, "Oh! Mr. Beasley had that book!" or, "Mr. Beasley drew that picture for us!", I am happy, too. I know that Josh would be pleased to know that he had such an impact. And I hope that my daughter will continue to remember and enjoy what Josh taught her, sharing what she's learned, and realizing how fortunate she was to have had such a great teacher. A teacher in a lifetime.

first day, first grade, new day, grade a

Feeling Good

Birds flying high you know how I feel

Sun in the sky you know how I feel

Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel

It's a new dawn

It's a new day

It's a new life

For me

And I'm feeling good

why am i the only one who's nervous?

We went to my daughter's orientation today at her new school. Her first grade teacher was super-nice and the school looks great. There were tons of forms and a few fees that took me by surprise, but somehow I wasn't unprepared for the lack of preparedness or availability of information for new students. Seems to be the way things work in our country's under-paid, under-staffed school systems, no matter where you live. But they're all nice people presumably, and we'll figure it out as we go.



My six-year old girl will have to function more independently from the get-go - I can't even walk her to her classroom. She will "pay" for her lunch by punching in a key code on the cafeteria line. It should be interesting. I remember crying through my first semester of kindergarten, but it was my first time out of the house and out from under my mother's wing, so my growing pains were more severe. I hope. Anyway, we'll work it out.

Up very early tomorrow, quick breakfast (for her) and then we walk to school. Shades of Tom Sawyer, Florida-style. School's out early, 2pm (?!) so I signed her up for the part-time after-school program, which will give me a few more hours of my own and give her the opportunity to socialize a bit more with her new friends. There's a music program that's offered, but I'm still debating whether to go for that or not. One day a week, baby-violin lessons. Could be interesting.

But I'd have to get her a violin . . . And so it begins . . .

reason 5,987,645,321 i effin' hate windows

Grandma bought the kid a PC netbook last Xmas. I took a deep breath and welcomed the evil empire into my iHouse. The little crappy thing has kept her amused, although I had to uber-secure it. She was able to access the PBS Kids Sprout website, some reading and math games and not much else.

The other night it crashed for the umpteenth time and when we rebooted it came back with the latest Windows update—in German, the one language I have absolutely no clue about. It couldn't freak out into Italian, French, or Spanish? I have been trying every night since to try to get it back to English, with the help of Google translate. No matter how many times I try to restore it to a previous moment in time before the reboot or change the Regional-und Spracheinstellungen [Regional and Language settings] back to English it stubbornly stays German. Scheiße.

Das iPad in all seiner Pracht [Behold the iPad in All Its Glory]

I'm about at the end of my rope. I've been toying with the idea of an iPad being in our future, but I really wasn't in much of a rush. But if this p.o.s. doesn't respond soon, the kid may get to share with Grandma a much more user-friendly versatile tool. And I bet it doesn't crash once a week, either.

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