Blogging from work

I'm writing a blog post from my office.  Unusual.  It's the weird beginning-of-the-semester time of year when classes are going but I don't have anything to grade.  In a few minutes I'll check in to my online class, but am avoiding that due to the extremely annoying student I have in Statics, who addresses me by "Madam" and posts approximately 3-4 questions a DAY.  It's like he thinks I'm his private tutor.  I've done more extra examples this week than I did in a month of dynamics.  And dynamics is harder.  This is review! 

I'm also waiting for a phone call from Allison's pediatrician, so I brought my cell and the home cell into work with me.  We're trying to adjust her ADHD medication.  Ack, it's not going well.  What I need is an Allison Avatar, where I can test different therapies and/or medications and see what the outcome will be before giving them to the real life Allison.  Instead, we have broad-based statistical studies that say "this will increase behavior x in 9 out of 10 attempts for 60% of children over a 6 month timeframe."  Life is full of trade-offs.

Here's one thing I love about Allison.  She made me a "git well" poster while she was with Leslie after school and I was having surgery.  Jacob, upon realizing that HE didn't do anything, went home and made a "get well son" decoration.  Allison, upon seeing Jacob's poster, gave him a super hard time about misspelling "soon."  Ha, she cracks me up.

Jacob passed his N-level reading test, which is what you need to pass by the end of second grade.  (Thank you - "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series).  He has declared himself done with second grade now.  Jacob was also intrigued by the penguin postcard that arrived from Grandma and Grandpa while they were in Norway.  He wanted to know what kind of penguin it was, so we looked it up - Rockhopper.  Then he noticed the map of where they live - the Antarctic.  But how did it get to Norway?  According to Jacob, it must have taken a plane or a boat to Norway so that a photographer would take it's picture and put it on postcards.  Clearly, the most logical explanation.  I believe that it's proof that we look for explanations that fit with our previous assumptions, even when young.  Belief - there was a Rockhopper penguin in Norway.  Contradiction - Rockhopper penguins live in the southern hemisphere.  Reconciliation - the penguin must also be on vacation in Norway.

I've also noticed that when we sit down for dinner, for example, we ask the kids about their day and they have virtually nothing to say.  "It was fine."  But when we are late for school and I'm trying to get them to get their snow pants on and get out the door - suddenly they have a whole crap-load of things to tell me that are so important we must stop everything and listen to the story about how classmate A plays the guitar and in school yesterday yadda yadda yadda yadda.  Sigh.