Kiss My Knits!

My day, my planned evening, and a monkey head.

My daughter: “Today, a new girl came to class in the cafeteria! But we had to be very quiet in the cafeteria so she would appear. And she did! Her name was Elizabeth. She went to my class. And then a backpack appeared on her back!”

Further questioning reveals that her new classmate Elizabeth has black hair, a red shirt, and green pants. Hmm… where have I heard that before…

I’m so thrilled that she loves her doll enough to turn it into a new imaginary classmate. It makes all the trouble worthwhile.

Although I wonder if this means I’ll have to knit her a backpack.

My birthday is on Friday, and my husband got a mysterious package from Hello Yarn today.

Hmmm…

Just when I needed a little lift, I got one!

You may recall that I knitted a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. Well, by so doing, I was also entered into a drawing for a prize. And I won! The prize arrived today.

It’s a beautiful skein of handpainted yarn from http://www.scoutsswag.com . 400 yards of worsted merino goodness, in colors that I think are very festive and valentiney. With 400 yards, if I paired it with some of the leftover Cascade 220 in my stash, I’d definitely have enough to knit a sweater for Emily. Wasn’t Scout generous to donate this? I’m definitely thinking of her site next time I need a gift for a knitter.

I do something nice, and lo and behold, I get something nice in return. Yay, karma!

Meet Elizabeth!

So it’s not all doom and gloom, my daughter’s report card came home today, and she did improve in most every area. Her teacher says “she did extremely well on math quarterly testing” which was a concern for us, and her words-per-minute fluency jumped from 44 to 76 wpm.

So that’s good.

I finished Emily’s doll, and it looks good. I put it in the car next to her seat so she’d see it when I picked her up from school. I was looking forward to seeing her reaction.

Unfortunately, when I got to school, Emily’s teacher was waiting in the car line with her. Emily got in and was entranced with her doll – or so I think, because all I really got was a vague happy and excited vibe and something about how her shirt was finished now, because I had to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. Which wasn’t good.

Apparently Emily didn’t wash her hands after using the bathroom on the way to lunch. The bathroom monitor reported this, so Emily was sent back in to wash them, which she did angrily, jerking her hands and doing a perfunctory job. Afterwards, she had a huge screaming crying fit that had her on the floor multiple times in the hallway on the way to lunch. The teacher had to call the vice principal to take the class down to the lunchroom while the teacher took Emily to her resource classroom.

She didn’t calm down there, but stayed upset for a good half hour of continuous full-on hysteria. During that time, the principal and the school psychologist were also called in, to no avail.

Obviously, we didn’t go to Starbucks, which is reserved for good behavior days.

Her teacher says that’s the first time something that major has happened this year. Which, considering years past, I suppose is progress, but it’s not as much as I’d like. I’ve put in an e-mail to find out what finally calmed her down, since I didn’t think to ask at the time. Usually it’s time and solitude that help, so if they were calling in more and more people, I can see how the situation could escalate. It’s understandable – I think anybody would naturally want to call in more people to help. I’m curious to see if they know what finally got her to break out of her cycle and relax.

I’ll post about the doll later. I’m a little discouraged at the moment.

My Personal Dna Report

The tough thing about quizzes like this is that while my personality requires very little notice before going to a party, my life requires a great deal more. So if I answer questions honestly about what I would do in a given situation, I come out more staid than one would expect.

However, I think they’re probably spot on about me trusting people to such a high degree. What can I say? I’ve led a charmed life where the people around me are good and kind and honest. I’m very fortunate!

Emily: “Why do you have to hold onto a bicycle’s handlebars?”
Me: “So you can control it. That’s how you steer the bicycle. Do you think you’d like a bicycle for your birthday?”
Emily: “Yes. Also, a can of snakes.”
Me: “What would you do with a can of snakes?”
Emily: “I would open it and they would fly out!”

She gets that from her Grandpa. No doubt about it.

This kid’s on a roll today.

In which Emily loses a tooth and is greatly relieved.