Kindergarten Pictures

Kindergarten Pictures

At long last, we've shrunken down pictures of the Eugene Waldorf School's Rose Kindergarten, the room where Logan went for the Summer Arts Program, and where she now attends Kindergarten. John posted the few pictures I took of the empty classroom on "Flicker", so you can at least see what the space looks like. The school actually has three kindergarten rooms, as well as a preschool and occasional class for the younger-than-preschool age kids with parents.

The ages, in each Kindergarten, include 4, 5 and 6 year olds. Those who are six before June first are almost certain to move on to first grade next year, the others less likely. This means Logan is right in the middle of her kindergarten class, not the youngest, nor the oldest. Next year, unless something major changes, Logan will be one of the older Kindergarteners in Rose K. Since she adores Ms Marie Christine and Ms Kathy, that will be a good thing.

So here is Logan's classroom, and two paintings she did during the summer art class.

They don't all apply

But I'm surprised by how many do. And we're south of Eugene, really!

You Know You're From Eugene When...

You inadvertently own one or more pieces of tie-dye clothing You have ever owned or traveled cross-country in a VW van You used to play hacky-sack but had to give it up because you developed an allergy to the bag material You understand the difference between cafe au lait and a latte You know how to pronounce "Allan Brothers" but you don't care You had to quit coffee You find yourself humming along with the Grateful Dead, whether you like them or not You can't always remember who among your friends is lesbigay and who is straight You know what lesbigay means and how to use it in a sentence You have friends who really are bisexual You own a hand drum or know a friend who owns one Men with short hair look kind of odd to you, but you're not sure why You have potlucks down to a fine art You think channeling was responsible for getting the cross removed from Skinner's Butte AND opening up Willamette Street You understand how a reggae concert turned into a riot with the police You don't run if it rains suddenly and you have no umbrella You look up at the sky every morning and say "It'll burn off!" A day without sunshine is a month You have taught workshops and all your friends came You know the difference between 1st and 2d degree Reiki You and/or most of your friends are 1st or 2d degree Reiki You dig your weekly Rolfing sessions. You tone (with your voice, not at Gold's Gym) You know what LMT stands for You are an LMT You know how to whip out a good-looking flier in Pagemaker The people at Kinko's know you by name You know what days they clear the bulletin boards at Fifth St. Market You know that Fifth Street is actually Fifth Avenue You have ever worn Birkenstocks, even without meaning to Some of your best friends wear Birkenstocks, on purpose You buy "distressed" produce You get free produce from friends who work at any natural foods store You don't know anybody who works 9-5, Monday - Friday and/or wears a suit You call Eugene Weekly "What's Happening" When a friend gets something she wants, you say "Way to manifest!" You routinely use the female pronoun as generic in writing and speaking... You think the Jerry Garcia mural on High St. is the coolest piece of art you ever saw. You have ever attended a Grateful Dead concert at Autzen more than once. You consider the Oregon Country Fair the highlight of the year. You know the methods of growing marijuana without being caught. You claim that the marijuana is "industrial hemp" if you are caught. You understand the term "kind buds". You actually buy Frog's joke books. You know why Frog isn't supposed to sell the books directly to you. You frequent at least five clothing resale shop for the clothes, not the bargains. You miss Icky's Tea House. You are offended by one or more of the above sentences You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Eugene.

How I Spent My Birthday
By PC Jacob
Age 38

So I got up yesterday as usual, got a "happy birthday" from John, had my first cup of tea, which was good. Then on the second one there seemed to be an off taste. Well, that happens sometimes. I didn't feel much like eating, which also happens sometimes, so we just went through the other getting ready to get out of the house things.

John headed for work, Logan and I headed for school, through the fog again. Par for the course. As we drove, I realized that I seemed to be steadily feeling worse rather than better. Not a good sign. But all I had to do was get Logan to her classroom and then I could be off for a while. We got there, and I let Logan go in ahead of me, being a Big Girl (who is still supposed to have a parent's presence at drop off and pick up times) and managed to stay through her change of shoes and stowing of stuff in her cubby before returning to the car in a fog of my own.

I napped in the car for an hour, after checking in with John to say I felt like Hell and wasn't sure I'd be up to driving home again if this didn't back off. And checking in with Joana since we'd planned to have a birthday lunch together to celebrate our co birthday. After the nap, I checked in again and told John I was pretty much sure I wasn't going to be able to drive home, and asked Joana to come and eat lunch with Logan, so that I wouldn't have to face food. Then I moved the car to a shadier area and napped some more before finally being driven inside in search of a bathroom around 11.

The kids bathroom was full, so I asked the front office people if there was another I could use, because I was sick. They showed me to single room staff bathroom, which I promptly monopolized for the next hour and a half. For all I know they quietly and politely taped a sign on the outside of the door saying "Plague, do not disturb" or something similar. I was mostly relived not to have small children running to alert someone of a person sick in the bathroom. And not to be where I could be spotted by Logan's class, especially since one child delights in reporting that someone else's big brother wets the bed, I could just imagine her glee at being able to report (over and over) that Logan Genevieve's mother had vomited somewhere!

The stomach ache turned out to be diarrhea, with a bit of vomiting in addition. I ended up sitting on the toilet while hugging the trash can (thankfully lined with a nice plastic bag so I could avoid leaving anyone else to clean up my mess). Sorry Dad, I didn't count heaves, although I'm pretty sure that I noted the day before's lunch going past a second time. Eventually I felt half way human again and made my way out to wait for Joana's appearance and Logan's end of class.

Logan was delighted to go eat lunch and play at a park with Joana. She appears to think the words "Joana" and "jungle gym" are synonyms. (And on that note, she also reported that monkeys live in the jungle gym. I was entertained.) I continued to inhabit my chair in the community room and reassure people that someone would be picking me up fairly soon. Sometime before John arrived I decide it was prudent to move back to the bathroom. Where John eventually tracked me down, interrupting my fairly peaceful napping while hugging the toilet to make me think of things like whether I could stand up, and whether the car had a place for me to sit.

I gave John directions and the cell phone, so he could track Joana and Logan down, and returned to my friend the toilet. Eventually he reappeared again, and cruelly made me move, and even walk out of the building and down to the car, which I valiantly managed without stopping to puke in any of the bushes. Although I did consider it as an option. Then I settled in to the car, and a second by second debate of whether to vomit or not. John continued to torture my by actually daring to move the car, driving over gravel, and bumps, and pits, and mountainous rocks, and even around curves, to extend my misery, all the way to the local grocery store. There he got me a cup with ice pieces in it, which made my mouth feel better, and Gatorade, which I drank small sips of despite it tasting good enough that I wanted to gulp the whole thing.

And somewhere along there I managed to go to sleep. I did note Logan stating she wasn't sleeping, she was being quiet so that mum could sleep. And I more or less slept until we got home, and then walked very carefully in to the house. Logan settled herself on the couch and promptly went back to sleep (why does she never do this when it's just me and her and I need her to sleep?), and I headed for the shower, after John removed the stray earth worm from the tub. Eventually I extracted myself from the shower, drank some more Gatorade, and went upstairs to bundle up and sleep.

I was up for something like an hour and a half later in the evening, then went back to bed from 8 until almost 1 running a fever. I got up for about fifteen minutes of not being in bed, and drank some Gatorade and some water, and then went back and slept fairly soundly until alarm clocks started going off in the morning.

Of course here at SNAFU Central there's still more to the story. John took Logan to school, somewhat disgruntled but expecting that he could miss work because he'd left instructions for what needed to be done, and all of his work knew he had a sick spouse. So at 10 he called me, waking me up from dreaming that he'd forgotten about picking Logan up from school and come home without her, and said that work pretty much needed him in "or else" (my word choice). We agreed to give Logan the option of leaving with him then, or staying for aftercare. She's asked to be allowed to stay for after care almost daily, so I didn't think that would be a problem. John checked with her and with the school and arranged it. He is now driving from Eugene to Myrtle Creek (basically 2 hours) to start some samples, and then get out of work again in time to pick Logan up in Eugene at the 5:30 cut off for Aftercare.

John said he expects that work will pay for the day care, and his mileage. This sort of thing happens pretty much every time John has to miss work though. He gets call after call, and half the time ends up going in. They did their best to demand he come in when he was too sick to drive at one point, and I suspect the only thing that stopped him was the knowledge that he couldn't drive. For all his good intentions, John ends up dragged to work even when I am too sick to be the Parent On Duty with Logan. And it seems as if the more he is needed at home, the more likely it is he will be needed at work. Ha. And they say social work jobs look for codependent people.

By the end of today John will have spent six hours driving. I may be up to trying to eat solid food instead of mint tea, Gatorade and Jell-O. And Logan will be planning for the class play that happens during school hours tomorrow.

Thanks all for the cards and calls, I'll try to appreciate them more a little later on when I'm feeling more human again.


PS Happy birthday to Big Blog Tool too, four years old yesterday.

Blog down, Blog up:

I heard from mom that the blog was down yesterday and, I think, the day before. John agrees. He said there had been a server problem, which he and Ruzz-The-Blog-Fixing-Guy have fixed. I hadn't even noticed.

My has been Monday: New Crown from dentist (my first crown!); Tuesday: filling at dentist (damn teeth!), then volunteering with Handwork teacher in second grad classroom to help unknotting yarn for kids; Wednesday: Windows On Waldorf tour - brief visits to six class rooms at the Waldorf school with some other parents -- very interesting!; Thursday: hunting for a new backpack that will actually carry the laptop plus whatever so I can walk from Logan's school to the internet cafe on days I don't have too many other appointments, then folding newsletters for the school and stuffing mailboxes; Friday: today, chiropractor and then back for day two of Handwork Volunteering with the second graders, which is great fun.

I haven't been on line so much as normal. And when I do get on line once I'm home, in the later afternoon or evening, my brain has already turned to mush for the day. I have a million and one things to write about, but haven't managed to do it here yet. Next week, with luck, I start morning yoga for one or two days a week, which will also interfere with my off time, but will, I hope, get me back some of the flexibility I've lost this year.

Let's see,

Andrea, yes I have some classroom pictures, I just have to resize them and upload them, and it's been on my list. . . um I'll get to it Real Soon Now.

Mom & Wilma: yes, Logan is loving school. She comes home singing some of the songs they sing in her class, and reporting about her adventures in the free play time or on the playground. She would like to stay for Aftercare as well, and I've told her that we'll arrange it one day. She and I have been working at assembling things for our lunch baskets, so we can try to be more regular about taking our lunch rather than having to stop at the grocery store after school. We've got metal plates, thermoses, a small enamel cup for Logan, which she doesn't actually need, but likes. We still have to look for the correct basket, and figure out some food to take that we'll both eat.

Erin, do you have a Greta in Kindergarted report? I'm out of touch, again, I know! *sigh*