Happy birthday to Paela. She turned two years old this week with much fanfare. While I was impressed with how boisterous our festivities were, Rebecca reminded me that some parents invite 50+ guests, rent a moon-bounce house and buy a pony for the toddler. We didn't spoil Paela, but it has been a long time since I have felt a birthday celebration was so ... celebratory.
Columbus day, Monday, is an odd holiday. I don't recall it ever being as important as Labor Day, and yet when we tried to go swimming -- per Paela's request -- we found that pools are open on Labor Day but close on Columbus Day. Which is, in our area, the state of most things on Columbus Day: closed. We tried to do putt-putt golfing after our failed swimming attempt. When that failed, we were astonished to learn that bowling is too expensive for a little girl to do.
Instead, we went to the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. The city was offering a free-admission day with many activities throughout the day for children. Admission was free, but the only available parking was 14$ for an hour and a half. So, essentially, it wasn't free at all. But Paela enjoyed playing with clay and she was mesmerized by the latin dancers. All week long, she has been "dancing" everywhere. She dances with her bath towel at night, waving her towel around like the dancing lady waved her skirt.
Tuesday I ran my first critique at school. That is to say, I collected my first assignments. I have run critiques before and the discussion went well. What did NOT go well was that of my 12 students, only three came to class with the project finished. In my class, I have a strict "no late assignments" policy which can be unhinged on a case-by-case basis, permitting for leniency as well as fostering a healthy discussion between student and teacher about the student's needs. But what do I do when only 1/4 of the students have their project turned in?
My theories currently revolve around how I must not have given them enough time. The conflict to that resolution is that only those students who had the project finished were the students who utilized all the class period to work on their project and did outside class work. I can EASILY tell who those people are. But if I have a class full of students who will fail, how do I deal with that?
The day before Paela's birthday, we did all the preparation we could think of: Rebecca decorated an amazing train cake, we put up streamers and bought a fancy balloon. And the morning of her birthday, Paela was so excited about all the decorations. Victor, Camilla and Cameron came over to play with Paela and they did projects all day long, such as painting Halloween masks. Paela had a difficult time falling asleep for her afternoon nap.
Presents went well and we thank all of you who contributed present and cards and emails and calls. We must remember that Paela is a much slower present un-wrapper than most children her age. This year, we rushed her faster than she wanted to go. Last year, we opened presents throughout the day, giving her time to work with each one. For Christmas, we will have to spread the gifts out through the day. And for Friday, we woke up to a snowstorm, a belated birthday gift for Paela! It was cold, but didn't stop us from visiting the Acton Discovery Museum [yay for discount tickets through the local library].
Saturday morning we woke up early and drove north to the Flume Gorge state park. Rebecca and I like national/state parks which are full of waterfalls and this one was definitely worth the visit. The two mile hike was a bit much for Paela and she had a very late nap, but she enjoyed the waterfalls even if her hands were as cold as ice [and there were icicles on the rocks in the gorge, so we're not kidding]. Must remember the mittens from now on.
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