hot peppers

dr. picked his first jalapeno today.  i had to beg him to pick it so i could make mr. john's black eye pea dip for the cook out we are going to tonight.  dr. actually says it tastes more like a bell pepper.  if nothing else grows we will be perfectly happy with our lone jalapeno.

pretty kitty

hi, my name is molly.  mommy and daddy adopted me yesterday.  i was a rescue cat. i don't know exactly how old i am but if i had to guess i am probably between 9-12 months. i was found in crystal springs, ms when i wandered up (with my sister) to a nice lady who fed us.  she thought we might be adoptable and went to a foster home for some social skills training.  i love to be held and also roll around and get my tunny rubbed.  i am very talkative and love to drag around toys.  one morning my foster mom found a 3 pound dog toy on the bed.  i never really hurt toys, i just like to drag them around.  sometimes my toys are socks, towels, or tennis balls.  i have a soft purr motor but a very loud voice.  i love big goofy dogs and other kitties although sometimes it takes me a few days to warm up to them.  i love to sleep in people's lap when they watch tv and love to cuddle with you at night.  my bathroom habits are impeccable.  i absolutely love to run track.

my daddy adopted me yesterday.  we surprised mommy when she got home from work.  my mommy and daddy gave me a new name because everyone called me non-squinty and my sister squinty.  mommy and daddy decided that we would change my name to molly.  i woke them up last night at about 3 because i wanted to play.  at that point they decided maybe carrot was a good name but i didn't like it so i let them go back to sleep and sleep on the name thing for a while.  luckily when i woke them up at 5 this morning, they had decided that molly was the appropriate name for me. yesterday i got to investigate the house and figure out where my potty  and food were.  my potty is in the bathroom that mommy uses.  last night when mommy was relaxing in her bath i decided that i would show her that i knew how to use the potty.  i don't really think she appreciated it very much.  i may have ruined her bath.  

today, i have helped mommy with the laundry and cleaning the kitchen and i helped daddy fix an air vent.  i like to follow mommy around the most.  in fact i have to go everywhere she goes.  i think she has had a cat before.  i am not sure if daddy has really ever had a cat.... the only reason why i say that is because daddy bought me a dog bed.  i laid in it twice yesterday just to amuse him. i do love it when mommy leaves to go to the store though.  when she leaves, daddy has to babysit but he really just falls asleep on the sofa so that means i can do whatever i want to.  when mommy is home she follows me to make sure i am not being a bad girl.

i love to look out the windows.  mommy and daddy said that in about two weeks, once i have decided i like it a lot here, they will let me stay outside whenever i want to.   i can't wait! right now my favorite place in the house is in mommy and daddy's bed room or in the sun room.  i like the sun room because there is a ledge there that i can sit on and watch all the neighbors.  at night, i like to cuddle up to mommy because daddy kind of snores a lot.  last night i kind of tested them to see if they really loved me.  i slept a little but also woke them up a few times to see if they would play and they didn't get mad at me.  i do like to trick mommy.  every time she goes to the bathroom, i like to jump up on the toilet so she can't use it.  she has to pick me up and pet me to get me off.  sometimes i forget the lid is open and almost fall in.

when daddy came to adopt me, i tricked him too.  i pretended like i was asleep so he would think i was a lazy cat.  but guess what, i'm not!  just this morning i ran around the house for a whole hour!  i like to slide into walls and investigate things.  i got my first collar this morning too.  when i got it i was so excited I did flips and ran away from daddy whenever he came near.  mom said i get to get a tag with my name on it soon.  

south pole

yesterday i had my adventures in math.  today it was at the lunch table.  i get the fabulous perk of eating with 2nd graders everyday.  there are no cafeteria monitors so we get to sit (very quietly) at the end of the table.  assistant teacher on one end, me on the other.  you can imagine the things i get to talk about.  i use it as my "get to know you so you will like my class and not cause any problems" time.  it has worked quite well with one of my problem students.  this boy comes from a "rough" family and twice last year go mad in class and took off out of the school with his teacher running after him all the way home (we are in fact responsible for them from 7:30-2:30). he is a little bit bored in my class (he's "gifted") but doesn't have attitude problems... just problems sitting down so i let him stand at his desk and do his work.

anyway, i am getting off track.  my lunch time conversation.  i think it started with us talking about movies.  some student said his dad has made a movie and it is really scary ( i am not even gonna ask... just  don't want to know.... don't go there, right!)  somehow that took us into talking about the south pole and how cold it is there.  one of my little girls said she had been there but had to wear a sweater (ok, i thought.  hmmm interesting.... are we talking about the same thing)  then the little boy across from me said "well what about antarctica?"  i explained that the south pole was actually in antarctica because antarctica is at the very "bottom of the earth".  he said he would never go there and i asked him if he would never go there because it was too cold.  and he said  "no, i ain't goin' there because i don't wanna fall off the earth.  You know you are upside down when your all the way down there."

All I have to say is it is very difficult to try and teach a science lesson on gravity in 5 minutes in a cafeteria with a bunch of 2nd graders.  whew. TGIF

math placements

what a day!  we had math placements today.  math placements are untimed tests.  our test had 40 questions on it.  well, untimed tests are not necessarily fun when you have children on all different levels.  my smarties were smart enough to work ahead.  my others weren't smart enough and waited for me to read every single question.  most of the time we were waiting on one little boy to finish.  he is new to our school.  i have no idea what they taught him at his last school but i am not convinced he knows anything about math... at all.

here is an example of my wild day.  one of the first questions asked "what is 9+7".  well we all know the answer is 16.  this one child got this question right by making 9 marks on his paper and then making 7 marks on his paper.  he then counted them all and got the correct answer.  yay!  the next question said "what is "48-12".  this same little boy made his 48 marks and then continued to make his 12 marks.  after he got that far he was not quite sure what to do and i think probably just picked an answer.  after a few more questions, a tough question came up. the question was "what is 100+50+4".  so this little boy goes on to make 100 marks.  then he makes 50 marks.  and finally makes his last 4 marks.  after raising his hand, i go over there and say "oh, are you done already?"  he says (and these are his exact words.... i am in no way exaggerating this conversation)  "i made my 154 marks.  now all i have to do is count them".   wait....... what........ what...... oh dear...... houston we have a problem!  that is exactly how it went. 

and this part is true too.  a couple of questions after that the question says "which sentence below equals 212?"  the answers you could pick from were the following.  A. 21+2 B. 100+20 C 200+10+2 (which is obviously the correct answer) and D. 2,000 +100 +20.  After what had happened on the previous question.... and I saw the possible answer on D, I almost about fainted thinking about how the whole class was going to have to sit there while the little boy counted 2,000 marks and then not even come up with an answer.