The two schoolboys are assigned classrooms in different buildings on campus this year. I reassured them that they will see each other during the day, at recess, at lunch. My husband quipped, "... in the principal's office."

The newly-appointed principal was not present yesterday. A sudden death in the family called her out of state. I know an experienced principal, a neighbor, who could fill-in until she returns. I would even offer to pick her up on my way to school each morning.

When the former principal was fired / resigned, whatever the story is, late last spring, some on staff and many parents vowed to leave with her in sympathy. Most of the parents followed through on that vow. None of the staff did. One assistant who was particularly vocal about the whole messy business ... and I remember the ladies' night out dinner when the wine consumed with the meal enabled her to express a full opinion uninhibited by good taste or modesty, has her own office. It's nice to know that everyone has a price.

Overall, I am happy with Timmy's class. There are two Jr. K. classrooms, directly across the hall from each other. Some of his friends from last year are in the other class and that's ok. One girl from last year whom we saw in church recently is very kind to Timmy and helps him, especially in getting from point A to point B: he just follows her curly red hair. He had homework last night and the older one didn't. He was interested in doing his homework. His teacher said that he had a good first day yesterday.

I have concerns about Kenny's class, as always. It's large, about 12 students. Unlike last year when there were so many "first-time students", I think that most of the children have some prior school experience. So, I won't expect as much remedial work as we saw last year.

Back-to-school night in a couple of weeks will tell me for sure, but I wonder how the "specials" have changed this year. There's a new computer teacher, for instance. That may be a good thing. One of the gym teachers left and a Health class was added. So, even though they still have gym three days a week, I think that one of those days is in a classroom rather than in the gym. So, that concerns me because I picked this school for its frequent PE instruction. Kenny is very good at sports without any extra-curricular experience and I want to keep it that way. I don't want to be taking him to soccer or baseball after school to supplement what he should be learning during the school day.

His Spanish work is taking some shape. For the past two years, it has been simple vocabulary: numbers, months, days of the week, colors, family members. That's about it. Yesterday, he came home with a bit of a conversation. Still the typical stuff, ¿Como te llamas? Me llamo Kenny. But it's progress. As long as he is learning to read English, maybe I'll have him try to read some Spanish. It's not the language, per se, although Spanish is more practical than anything else these days, but it's grammar and things like that.

So, of course, he came home with a list of things that he needs for class. Things in addition to the initial list that we received in late summer. Extra comp. books, extra folders, markers. I almost bought markers because I thought it odd that the first list didn't have markers on it. Fortunately, I had extra comp. books from last year ... books that Tim never used. And I habitually buy extra folders because I buy the paper pocket ones instead of the plastic coated ones and Kenny destroys them quite regularly. I just don't like the plastic coated ones. I know that they are more durable. So, I wrapped clear contact paper around the paper pocket ones to increase their durability.

That's about it. I actually ate some bon-bons yesterday like I'm supposed to. It wasn't very leisurely ... I was on my way to the laundromat to wash "big ticket items" like comforters. Last week, Tim baptized his bedroom in baby power, an entire container. So, I had to wash the bedspreads and left the rest of the mess for the housekeeper. And she gave Tim a tongue-lashing.