Monday Update, Meeting the Students Edition

Looks like it's about time for new spectacles.

So the semester begins with me teaching three days a week rather than five. This is a change from my usual regimen, especially with the twist (for me) of a class that meets really late in the day. The easy thing about spring semesters is that I know most of the students already, so in many ways I can pick up and start working at a much faster pace than otherwise.

For the first time in eight years, I am not teaching a british lit survey. Feels weird.

Lefty is nearing age three, and the closer he gets, the more he exhibits the kind of belligerence and moodiness that drives The Runner absolutely crazy. She readily admits that she doesn't like three year olds. He is, however, cooperating remarkably well in Operation No More Thumb-sucking.  Because of said Operation, we are probably at the end of his afternoon naps (considering that he has kept the nap up for months and months longer than his brothers, it was probably time).

Little Red is having a growth spurt, we think. His typical breakfast is something like two waffles, two eggs, a bowl of cereal . . . and then a snack of fruit an hour later. And then there's the constant refrain of "but I'm even hungrier" pretty much all day long. And then the energy . . . good heavens.

Number One Son has re-accustomed himself to the demands of the school day, for the most part. He is also enjoying his basketball practices, though he is showing all the athletic prowess that his father has historically shown, poor guy. He looks so little and awkward out there. But he has a great time, he says.

Winter in NWTN is unpleasant in just about every possible way. It's either muggy and too warm for the season, or it's cold without being cold enough for snow (which, when it falls even in negligible amounts, disrupts everything . . . just this evening, there were events cancelled because of the possibility of wintry mix . . . which of course did not fall). It's brown and grey and muddy and windy.  Thank heaven for things like warm houses and good company.

And thank heaven for The Hobbit, which we're finally reading as a family. Probably not for the last time.

Thank heaven also for the circuit training class The Runner and I are participating in. It is part of her attempt to help me with my mental health during a time of year when I'm easily put into a grey funk. The benefits are beginning to stack up already, and I'm only now in week four.