Early Morning Magic

Mornings are my favorite times. Often when I get up Cheetah will also awaken. I’ll hear him moving around in his crib but that stops as soon as he sees me coming. He’ll coo and smile as I pick him up. When I turn the light on he doesn't cry or get upset, he simply closes his eyes and smiles. Sometimes he’ll put his head on my shoulder which melts my heart. I change his diaper and he laughs like we’re playing. Its a very special time. Then I carry him into the bedroom and the magic is over. He sees Jane and gets very interested in breakfast very quickly. The day begins and I have to leave soon after for work anyway. But I will always remember these early morning moments we have together.
Such grist is what eternity is made of.

This is me, in for Tarzan.

It Was One Of Those Times

There are times in life when things just click. Everything is magical and you can do no wrong. I’ve had a few of those experiences. My first was the time I hit a hole in one. It was during my mission at the golf course on the Grafenwoehr US military base.  I hit the ball and what I can only describe as a perfect tone radiated up and down my body. The experience made me think of Pythagoras’s Music of the Spheres.  I knew that I had made the shot even before I looked up to watch the ball sail straight for the green and roll right into the cup.

My second magical moment happened last week with Cheetah.  It was late and he was tired but he refused to peacefully go to sleep. Even though he was fussy I finally decided to put him in his bed to see what would happen. I laid him down and it was like a switch flipped off. As soon as his body touched the mattress, he stopped making noise and his body went limp. Then 5 seconds later BAM!, he instantly flips on his left side. Then 5 seconds later BAM!, he reverses and flips onto his right side. Silence reigns and Cheetah is finally asleep. The transition was so abrupt and so sudden I was very taken aback. When magic happens you just can’t explain it. Things are just for lack of a better word…magical.

This is me, posting on behalf of Tarzan because the firewall at his school does not allow access to the blog.

It's A Weekend

And here's what I supervised all day:

This has been a tough year academically, new principal at the school, lack of enthusiasm among the kids, late materials, Tarzan having a zillion things to do and it just isn't the same as past years. We're not as focused and the kids aren't as focused and it's all going to stink at the awards ceremony if today's results were any indication. We had one kid score a 1/50 on the math section.
Tarzan doesn't like math so we don't focus on math a lot - there are some schools with freaks that score perfect every year, so we never get close to that medal - but blindfolded I could do better than a 2%. Not to be vain but I really don't think he was trying very hard.
I was pleased with three of the students, not stellar results, but we can work with it and maybe get somewhere.
Of course, a team has nine students...
Oy.

This is me and it's not going to be good come February

Post ApocaDecathlon

And this is what the end of a zillion pages of material, 15 kids, nine months of chiding, scolding, driving, drilling, begging, crying, laughing, cajoling, praising, and commiserating and two days of competition looks like:

This is me and it's all over but the awards.

Asking For A Ticket

Saw a teenager driving a beat up old car today.
Seat laid back nearly horizontal.
And his left foot was out the window.
OUT the WINDOW!
He could barely reach the steering wheel let alone control the vehicle.

This is me and that is how traffic on the freeway ends up a mess.