I'm back.

With a vengeance... had to get up and make it to work today.

Not a great day to go in, really. The climate in John Day always messes with me. I can't stay hydrated enough there, no matter how much I drink, so I dry out.

So now I'm home, where it's a little more humid, but it takes a few days for me to adjust. One of the little adjustments is that my nose has a tendency to bleed off and on for a day or two.

After my shower, when I blow my nose, it bleeds. After I sneeze, it bleeds. If my nose itches and I rub the outside of it, it bleeds.
::sigh::

If the past is any indicator (and usually, it is) the nosebleeds will stop sometime tomorrow.
What's funny is, each of us is ending up having a day off every week for summer, and this week I drew Tuesday.
Should have traded with someone so I could have had Monday off, but didn't think about it until it was too late to trade with someone.

Ah well.

So where to start?

Molly* joined us today at summer program.
She will be in my program in the fall.
Cute little one. She'll be in first grade. I had her big sister in my program a few years ago.

She is in the habit of slapping people to get their attention. On the arm, shoulder, stomach.... if an adult is having a conversation with another child or adult and she has something to say, she will walk up and slap. She doesn't slap hard, she's not trying to hurt anyone, but I don't really like her method of trying to get my attention much.

I ignored her while finishing explaining to Drew* that throwing rocks across the playground isn't a safe thing to do, and that it is against the rules.

Slap. On the arm.
Slap. On my other arm.
Slap. On my shoulder.

I didn't rush to finish what I was doing.

When I did finish, I took her aside and explained that it's not polite to get someone's attention by hitting them.

"If you'd like to talk to me, Molly, you'll need to wait your turn and be polite. It isn't nice to slap someone when you want to talk to them."

She didn't like it. Clouded up a bit and got a snotty look on her face. That look was on her face the entire time I was talking to her.

I kept my tone even and matter-of-fact. No anger, annoyance or impatience in my voice. Just a simple statement of how things work.

I'll continue to handle the slapping the same way with her.

Want to take any bets on how long it will take me to break her of that little habit?
I'm betting it won't be very long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've mentioned the playground butts up against the nature trail that winds its way all through the Portland metro area. A 'greenspace' to use one of the favorite phrases of our local population of new age fern sniffers.

The trail provides a great getaway route for people who like to rob and run. It's also a bike trail, a route to several homeless camps, and a great place to meet someone to procure or provide drugs.

Three of our boys found a glass crack pipe today near the fence.

One of them was Dave*, who will be a second grader this fall. He's in my regular program.

Despite the fact that they've been lectured countless times about finding things on the ground and LEAVING THEM ALONE, they handed it to each other to examine. I saw them looking at it and walked over to see what they were up to. Whereupon they guiltily handed me the pipe.

And I made them all wash their hands all the way up to their elbows.

The pipe ended up in the trash can, as it was on its way to the dumpster.

I called law enforcement on my way home and asked them what I should do the next time we find something. And we will. That's only one of the interesting things we've found on our fenced and 'safe' playground.

The officer I spoke to said that if at all possible, I should put the item in a ziploc bag and give them a call.

I hope I don't need to call them.

Now I understand that if you're stupid enough to try meth in the first place, you're probably not bothered by the idea of choosing a good location, but a school playground? Really??

Jesus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a new little guy who will be joining my program in the fall. He's attending this summer as well. Brody* just got out of kindergarten at a private school. Cute kid. Can't sit still. Can't keep his hands off his little friends. Can't keep himself from doing things that get him in trouble. There is no mean attitude in him, and he's not trying to be troublesome, he's just a boy. A stereotypical boy.

He thinks it's fun to kiss girls. An idea that many boys in the past and many in the future will also think is great. Of course it's not appropriate for our setting and group, so we've had to speak to him about it more than once this summer.

Last Wednesday, he decided to kiss Annie* on one of her bazooms. He didn't lift up her shirt or do anything horrifying, he just didn't try to aim for her lips.

::sigh::

I have a feeling that between Brody, Molly, the returning Jennifer and Dave, my school year will be... busy.

But despite that, I'm looking forward to getting back to my regular routine. Not only is summer a killer financially, it's just not my favorite way to run a program.

Too many cooks. Differing behavioral standards and playground rules.

If I had a buck for every time I've heard, "But Stephanie* lets us!!!" the summer financial drain wouldn't be a problem.

Stephanie isn't a bad person, really. She's just not as invested in keeping things running smoothly and seeing the potential for accident in everyday activities.

Here's an example.

She lets kids do cartwheels.
On the pavement.

Am I the only one who cringes when pondering that?