Monday

Here is another one of Luke, who I see on the playground during the morning drop. He waves at me sheepishly from behind his mum and I give him a big 'hello' using his first name.  This gets a smile. I find that I know more kids then parents and, as Eitan reminds me, "you did wear a cow suit to school" so I suppose it natural that somehow I am embedded into the play ground psyche.   Tomorrow I will revisit that old favorite Kit-Kat-Cowboy at the invitation of Mrs. A, who otherwise informs me that she is aware of Kit Kat and Mr Electricity and Frank Capatola.  Apparently my story-telling makes the teacher's lounge and for this, I am proud.  When I tell Eitan about Kit Kat he is momentarily stunned until I raise the saving two words: "Madeleine's class."  He breathes a sigh of relief and then a cheshire grin: "Poor Madeleine - she is really going to be embarrassed," much to my consternation.  What could be better than dad wearing a gay cowboy hat and silver badge? Really.

Sonnet and I meet this evening at school for the year's first teacher-parent review - both kids enjoy glowing remarks.  Madeleine is "enthusiastic, determined and brimming with confidence" we learn from Mrs. A, and that she has sung, spontaneously, to her classroom "because she felt like doing so." Her hand-writing and literacy making "excellent progress" and "she is a joy to greet in the morning."  Despite Kumon, Madeleine needs to work on her maths and multiplication tables. She loves creatures, especially bugs and pets. Mrs. A aware of her new microscope, thanks to Gracie.  Eitan, we are told, has somehow raised the standards of his classroom by making it Ok for the kids to try different things .. Eitan reads two hours a night, so the other kids feel better about reading .. Mrs. B informs us of his love for words .. an example:  studying the Tudors, Eitan submits a story of a peasant boy who returns home with a single coin for his mother "whose back stiffens momentarily before she returns to chopping her vegetables."  Mrs. B shows it to the other teacher "simply brilliant" she squawks (how un-British).  Sonnet cries afterwards.  Silver - you get full credit for this one.

On our walk home, we meet neighbor Laura and her son Michael, who attends St Paul's. Laura from Phoenix, AZ, then Wellesley and now London, where she married a banker "who cannot count" and hence they have been here 16 years, instead of the five agreed.  She seems totally cool.  All in all, an excellent afternoon. One of the best, in fact.