Weather: Brrr! It was only in the low 40s when we woke up this morning, and the temperature never rose above the low 60s all day. It suddenly feels like fall.

Amused by: Daniel and the bass fishing game. He's just learned how to adjust the drag on the line and is disappointed when he hooks an easy fish. "You aren't a fighter!" he berates the little one- and two-pounders he catches.

Back to School Night

Tonight was Back to School Night at Daniel's school. My mother-in-law stayed with the boys so that both Tab and I could attend.

First the parents assembled in the big room upstairs where Miss Pat, the director of the school, addressed us. We sat on tiny little kiddie chairs that are only about a foot high, the seats of which are designed for much smaller backsides than mine.

The room was packed, and Pat started off by congratulating us for the turnout, saying our school always had a much higher proportion of parents attending Back to School Night than did any of the other sister schools. Pat then introduced the staff and talked about the school's plans for expansion. She also brought up the issue of parking, a sore point with me. Daniel's school is located on a narrow street in a crowded part of the city. When there is no parking available on the street in front of the school, parents dropping off or picking up their kids are supposed to park in the lot of a restaurant a half a block away. The problem is that a fair number of them decide to double park instead. On several occasions in the past month I've been blocked in by the double parked car of someone who was too lazy to walk the extra half block. It really annoys me.

When Pat was done, the parents were requested to go to their child's classroom. Tab and I went downstairs with the parents of the other first graders and kindergarteners. Last year Miss Dawn (Daniel's kindergarten teacher then and his first grade teacher now) was extremely nervous as it was her first year of fulltime teaching and her first ever Back to School Night. This year she was much more confident.

She went over the schedule and explained how she juggles the two age groups. An innovation I particularly liked is that each day one of the three first graders reads a story to the kindergarteners. As she says, it's good practice for the first graders and it is also good for the kindergarten students to hear someone just a little older reading well.

When she asked for questions, I mentioned that Daniel occasionally forgets what he's supposed to do for homework and that it would help if she could write a reminder. She said from now on she would write homework assignments on the chalk board.

As the meeting was breaking up, I overheard a conversation between two of the kindergarten parents. Apparently one of the kindergarten students is scheduled for major surgery tomorrow. I don't know much about this boy, but it was apparent to anyone who saw him that he has some health problem. He is very small, for one thing, shorter even than the twins who are more than a year younger and who themselves are small for their age.

I heard this boy's mother telling another mother that he had already had open heart surgery several years ago. She also said that they had not told their son that he was going to have an operation tomorrow. "We didn't want him to be upset about it for weeks before hand," she said.

The boy seems to have found out about it anyway, however. The mother said he's been waking up with night terrors for a week and just this evening he told her he wouldn't be going to school tomorrow because, as he said, "I'm going to the doctor's."

While I can understand this woman's desire to shield her son for as long as possible, I'm not sure hiding the truth from him was a good idea. Children are highly observant creatures, amazingly sensitive to the nuances of adult behavior.

My heart goes out to that family. I can't imagine--don't want to imagine--facing a major health problem in one of my children. When we arrived home, I gave Daniel an extra big hug. The twins were already in bed, but Stephen sat up sleepily when I walked into their room and gave me a kiss.

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