(no subject)

We went to the ribbon cutting for Cordelia's school last night. It was a little strange to do the ribbon cutting days after school started, but they wanted it to coincide with the PTO's welcome dinner. Cordelia and I got there on time; Scott was still in the shower having gotten home only about fifteen minutes before. There were a bunch of speeches that were fairly tedious. The PTO president took the opportunity to remind everyone that he's running for the school board. (He won't be PTO president for much longer. It's just that, while normally we have the election in May, it didn't make sense to elect the PTO board when more than half the families who'd be in the school in the fall wouldn't be there. The election will be sometime in the next few weeks.)

When they finally cut the ribbon, they tried to give a piece of it to every child present. Cordelia and the friend she was running around with both got one. After that, they let us into the building. Cordelia showed me her classrooms and the outside of her locker (Scott later saw the inside, but I didn't ask for that, and Cordelia didn't offer). Scott caught up with us in the second classroom. The sixth grade classrooms are on the second floor, and it was very hot up there in spite of all the fans that were going. It's no wonder Cordelia has been coming home feeling overheated.

Cordelia and I got in line for food. Scott had eaten on the way home because hotdogs and hamburgers don't fit well with his beef allergy. I got a hamburger and some watermelon and a chocolate chip cookie. They had the lunch tables set up in the gym so that people would have room to sit down. I found that I don't have the balance or flexibility to sit normally at one of those benches. I had to straddle it and sit sideways because there was no way I was getting both legs in. It was, of course, much hotter in the gym than elsewhere in the school.

After I ate, Scott and I wandered around the school a little before settling on a bench outside the front door. There was at least a breeze there. Cordelia was running around with her two best friends, so when the sky started to darken because of the incoming storm, we had a little trouble locating her. She decided that she wouldn't accompany us home. If we'd suggested that and her friends weren't around, she'd have tried to insist that we stay, but as it was, she was eager to stay without us. She did end up making it home before the storm broke.

They've repainted and refloored most of the school. They painted over the murals that decorated the walls before, and I regret that. Scott also commented that he remembers how hard the PTO worked two or three years ago to get parent volunteers to paint the halls (and how careful they were to preserve the murals). There wasn't money then to paint the school, and now they've done it and more. Scott also told me that, while I was at dinner, he saw some rooms with drywall waiting to be installed.

(no subject)

I feel like I've failed as a parent-- Cordelia's soccer team has a game scheduled for 1:45, but the coaches wanted the girls there at 1:00. Our ride came at 12:40, but I had to send them off without us. Cordelia absolutely and adamantly refused to go. She wouldn't even get dressed or eat lunch, and she's too big for me to manhandle into clothes or out of the door. I tried to insist that she go, but she refused to budge. Nothing I could do or say made a difference. She did say that, if Scott can get her on a different team, she'll try that. She also said that she's intimidated by the detailed strategy that the coaches were trying to teach. She didn't understand it at all.

I feel like I shouldn't have allowed her to get away with not going. After all, I took a position on going, and I had to change it. Doesn't that undermine my authority? Won't she do this again for other things? On the other hand, she was in tears and truly upset. She told me after our ride went without us that she didn't deserve lunch (I fed her anyway).

I just hope she doesn't pull this when we need to go for more immunizations. We're due for more in maybe a month, and it's a shot that will hurt a lot (the second HPV shot). I can't physically force her to go, and she knows it.

I really hoped that, if we could get her to a game, she'd rediscover her love of the game. She has always enjoyed playing a lot.

(no subject)

Scott got pinged on FaceBook with a meme to list ten books that have had a strong influence on him. That sounded interesting, so I tried to come up with a list. I'm not sure this is *the* list. It's hard to measure influence on me. I picked out things I read over and over. Most of these are kids' books (one of the two exceptions, The Chronicles of Amber, is on the list because of how many Amber campaigns I've run and played in over the years), and all are books I first read in middle school or earlier. The books aren't in any particular order, and I've pared the list down from over twenty books. GoodReads was helpful in reminding me of books I've read and loved.

Drujienna's Harp by Ellen Kindt McKenzie
The Treasures of Morrow by H.M. Hoover
The Turning Place by Jean Karl
The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones
The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Silence Is Deadly by Lloyd Biggle
The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey
The Silver Crown by Robert O'Brien

Scott said one's supposed to ping five people to do this. I'm not going to because I don't think that's fair. That said, I'd be interested in other people's lists.