Bethay likes to try new things. She particulary wants to try things that she sees the kids at school doing (except for eating what they eat, more's the pity). Her latest obsession was that she wanted to be absent from school. She'd been pestering me for weeks to be absent.
I didn't really get the point. I mean, she's still at the age where school is a lot of fun. She'd get to go to school, and see her classmates and play games, and most importantly, have recess. I tried to tell her that kids who are absent miss class and have extra homework. She'd miss out on whatever was going on that day. None of it made a dent. She still wanted to be absent.
Finally, I gave in and told her that she could be absent on Thursday, October 6th. Her whole face lit up, and she was content. I neglected to tell her that there was no school that day anyway because it was a Teacher Development Day. I figured that she wouldn't know the difference, and she'd be happy because she got to be "absent".
I underestimated my little girl. By the time the Wednesday before had rolled around, she'd figured it out. She became upset again, because all the kids were going to be absent that day, so it didn't really count. She decided that she was going to be absent on the "third Thursday". The Thursday following the teacher prep day was parent/teacher conferences, so she just decided she'd go for the Thursday following that. I tried to tell her that it wasn't going to work that way, but she was set on it.
As it turned out, it was a moot point. Meagan had been getting sick. Nothing serious, just a light cought and some congestion. It wasn't really enough to keep her home, but she and Bethany both had had a rough night, and were pretty tired. I went to get them up the Wednesday after parent/teacher conferences, and they were completely out. I was tired myself, so I decided to just let them sleep, and went back to bed myself. Meagan, Sean and I eventually got up around 8:45, but Bethany just kept sleeping. I'd thought about sending them to school late, after Bethany decided to grace us with her presence, but she didn't roll out of bed until 10:00. By that time, it wasn't really worth it to send Meagan to school, and Bethany was so excited to be "absent" that I just let it go. I decided that if she could sleep that late, then she needed a break. She came down and watched TV with Meagan and Sean, saying things like, "I'm sick. That means I get to be absent and stay home and watch TV." It was kind of cute and funny. The best thing of all, though, was that she got her turn to be absent, and hasn't bothered me about it again.
Friday, October 28, 2011
The Storm that Wasn't
I'd been hearing rumors of a big storm coming our way, but hadn't really paid it much mind. It was Tuesday morning, and I was on my way to the Commissary for my weekly grocery shopping trip. To my surprise (and annoyance), the place was packed. I couldn't figure it out. It wasn't payday, or the beginning of the month, or anything else that I could think of that normally draws large crowds there. I wove my way through the shopping carts and finally got my shopping done.
Later, I mentioned to Nate how busy the place had been. He said it was probably because of the predicted storm. People were stocking up so they wouldn't run out of anything and have to go out (or go without) during the big snowstorm. This peaked my curiosity, so I went to weather.com and the local news webpage to see what the fuss was about. There was a rather large, nasty storm predicted to come our way, starting that night. We were supposed to get 6-8 inches. There were parts of Colorado anticipating one-two feet of snow. Granted, that was up in the mountains, but still, that's a lot to dump all at once. One bad aspect of the storm was that it was pretty warm Tuesday, so it started off with rain that night. Nate was afraid the rain would freeze, then snow would come down on top of it. Not a good combination.
As I was looking at Facebook that night, I saw that many of my friends were making plans for the pretty-much-taken-for-granted snow day the next day. Plans involved sledding, curling up with a good book and hot chocolate. Me, I was looking forward to getting up with my alarm, checking the weather and confirming the snow day, then going right back to bed. Mmmm, bliss.
So imagine my disappointment the next morning when I got up, and there was only a light scattering of snow. The roads were wet, but not in the least bit icy or snowy. That equaled no snow day, not even a delay. Bummer.
Undaunted, many kids were still expecting an early release day, since the storm was predicted to last all day. Nate thought he'd be teaching his morning classes, but by noon all nonessential personnel would be sent home. Well, it did continue to snow all day, but it came down in teeny, tiny little flecks that melted on the roads, and only slowly accumulated on other surfaces. We did get a total of several inches, definitely enough for the kids to play in, which they gleefully did, but it was nothing like what was expected. There was no early release, either. The school kiddos were left disappointed, and I was left wondering what all the brouhaha had been about.
Later, I mentioned to Nate how busy the place had been. He said it was probably because of the predicted storm. People were stocking up so they wouldn't run out of anything and have to go out (or go without) during the big snowstorm. This peaked my curiosity, so I went to weather.com and the local news webpage to see what the fuss was about. There was a rather large, nasty storm predicted to come our way, starting that night. We were supposed to get 6-8 inches. There were parts of Colorado anticipating one-two feet of snow. Granted, that was up in the mountains, but still, that's a lot to dump all at once. One bad aspect of the storm was that it was pretty warm Tuesday, so it started off with rain that night. Nate was afraid the rain would freeze, then snow would come down on top of it. Not a good combination.
As I was looking at Facebook that night, I saw that many of my friends were making plans for the pretty-much-taken-for-granted snow day the next day. Plans involved sledding, curling up with a good book and hot chocolate. Me, I was looking forward to getting up with my alarm, checking the weather and confirming the snow day, then going right back to bed. Mmmm, bliss.
So imagine my disappointment the next morning when I got up, and there was only a light scattering of snow. The roads were wet, but not in the least bit icy or snowy. That equaled no snow day, not even a delay. Bummer.
Undaunted, many kids were still expecting an early release day, since the storm was predicted to last all day. Nate thought he'd be teaching his morning classes, but by noon all nonessential personnel would be sent home. Well, it did continue to snow all day, but it came down in teeny, tiny little flecks that melted on the roads, and only slowly accumulated on other surfaces. We did get a total of several inches, definitely enough for the kids to play in, which they gleefully did, but it was nothing like what was expected. There was no early release, either. The school kiddos were left disappointed, and I was left wondering what all the brouhaha had been about.
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