"so much to say,

so much to say, so much to say, so much to sa-igh..."

noni got a new library card yesterday; apparently she already had one, but now she knows where her safe place is to keep it (because i made her tell me where the safe place was) and she knows how to check books out using the self-serve checkout system (because i asked the librarian to teach her) and she knows how to look up books on the card catalog and how to find them in the stacks, because it's just like a dictionary (once you get to the stacks that is) only using numbers and letters. she has a test on xylem and phloem next week so we chose three books about trees to find me 10 facts from. she did a great job finding age- and subject-appropriate books (with a little guidance) and she did an excellent job of finding ten facts about trees that she didn't know before. she's going to find me 25 more for our meeting next week. as i was leaving, i realized it was the first day i felt like i'd actually taught her something and i thought, this must be a tiny taste of what it's like to be a parent. all the other days, i've just felt like i'm contributing to the success of every child left behind. which i was. but yesterday, i taught her something that's actually useful. more than factor cakes (which always sound like urinal cakes to me), and spelling words, and science diagrams, i taught her (or at least showed her) what it means to learn all the time. and that's much better than getting good grades. so if you'll all say a prayer when you read this that noni doesn't lose her library card - not because she thinks she'll be in trouble, but because she wants to check out books - we would both really appreciate it.

this on the heels of an 11.5 hr day of roofing saturday. there are very few occasions when i've been so physically tired, or so mentally fulfilled.

god bless all,
love p