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I helped out in the school library this morning. There was a substitute. She took a really hard line with the fifth graders (apparently, she'd had them before and had had trouble) but was a lot easier going with the second graders. The second graders took an online test today. I'm hoping that those who finished it early knew to click the submit button. If they didn't, they'll have to take it again.

I stay for two classes. A third class comes in as I'm finishing up the shelving. Today, I stayed long enough to check in their books. There are only about four kids in that class. They're all special ed, emotionally challenged is the phrase I think the administrators use. Today, one of the kids lost it and hurled a thermos at the sub, hitting her in the hand pretty hard. She sent me to get ice while the aide took the boy in question back to the classroom. She said she thought her finger might be broken, but she wasn't sure.

I believe the classes for the emotionally challenged kids will still be at the school in the fall because one of the positions they're advertising for is a teacher for such children.

Last night, Cordelia's teacher held a meeting for parents to talk about fifth grade camp. There wasn't a lot of new information, but it was good to have it all in one place. I think parents for about half the class were there. The mother who's been handling the fund raising efforts said we should have enough money not to need extra from the families (part of this is that the kids are going for two nights rather than three). We also talked about fifth grade graduation.

Cordelia says she thinks she can go to camp if I go, too. I'm going to e-mail her teacher about that. Transportation is going to be the big difficulty. I can't ride the bus with the kids, so I'll have to find another parent who's going and beg for a ride there and back. I'll have to fill out the background check form, too. I didn't do it last night because Cordelia had been saying that she didn't want me there at all because it was too embarrassing.

I don't much want to go. It'll mean being offline for three days. It'll mean sleeping on a bed that hurts me. It'll mean a couple of days of nothing much to do. (Anything I take, I'll have to be able to carry, and electronics are discouraged, so my e-reader isn't an option (not that I'd have a way to charge it if I did take it).) It'll probably mean riding with people I don't know. I'm not sure how long the drive is to get there. It's Camp Eberhart, a YMCA camp in Three Rivers. I'm not sure how far Three Rivers is from here.

Scott's parents aren't going to make it to Cordelia's soccer game this week, either. They have a funeral to attend. There are still two games left before Scott's father's surgery, but I don't know if they'll attempt to come to either. We'll figure out something for getting Cordelia up to Scott's parents' place for her Saturday overnight.

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I've decided to try to refresh my Spanish. It's been twenty-five years since I did anything with it, and the words have simply gone. At one point, during college, I passed a proficiency test in Spanish, and for several classes, I did research in Spanish. Now... Well.

Fortunately, our library has a pretty good selection of books in Spanish. I'm going to start on the easy end of things, with Rainbow Magic, the Magic Treehouse and similar books for young readers. I thought about starting with picture books, but I kind of suspect that those might be harder than the early reader chapter books. They're also a lot shorter and wouldn't take me as long to read. I'm hoping that the early reader chapter books will have the right combination of length and a starter vocabulary.

I need to dig my Spanish-English dictionary out of Cordelia's room. For some reason, she wanted it. I don't think she's done more than glance at it, and I doubt she'll notice it's gone if I don't tell her I'm taking it.

The library has books on CD in Spanish, too, but those will have to wait quite a while. I don't think I'll be up to spoken Spanish for a good long time (though who knows? It might all come back to me quickly). I'll have to figure out how to prompt the online catalogue to let me browse them. Eventually.

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I'm trying to figure out when to have Cordelia's birthday party. Her birthday is on a Saturday which ought to make it a no brainer, but Scott's family is having their gathering for all four May birthdays on her birthday. There aren't any other options for the family gathering. The weekend before is Mother's Day, and the day after Cordelia's birthday, Scott's parents head to Cleveland for his father to have surgery.

We probably wouldn't want to have the party on a Saturday anyway. Cordelia's best friend has religious school Saturday afternoons and wouldn't be able to attend.

The day after Cordelia's birthday might work, but it would be complicated. Her Girl Scout troop has set that day aside for an activity as yet unspecified at a time as yet unspecified. If the Girl Scouts don't do anything until three or four, we might be able to sneak in and have the party early. I've e-mailed the troop leaders to ask what's going on, but there may not be a decision until the meeting on the 4th. We also have to work around her cousin's schedule-- Her cousin has a dance rehearsal late in the afternoon.

I don't want to go to the next weekend if we can avoid it. That hits my birthday, and I'd rather not be supervising a party on my birthday. Also, Scott may have to go to Cleveland, assuming he can get time off for it. His sister doesn't want their parents to be alone down there at all, but she can't stay the whole time, and Scott's brother's family is in Seattle. It's not impossible for Scott's brother to fly in; it's just cumbersome.

I want to get the party invitations out this weekend if we can. Two weeks notice is barely adequate.