Thursday, January 28

Matt broke into the house again last night, the second time in a week. It's a good thing we didn't have any food out on the counters. Or pills. Something is happening with him and he wants to exert his alpha-male prowess. So we will put eyelet clips on the gates.

Kevin was in rare form today. He was in a good mood in when he came in, almost jovial. The first hour went well. But then, when I tried to do a writing assessment, he first made angry scrawls all over the paper, then crumpled it up and threw it in the trash, and finally ripped it to shreds. I made him retrieve every little piece from the trash and hand it in to me. He is so easily angered about work. And so far behind. At lunch I met with the principal and told him I wanted to have a team meeting with everyone involved in Kevin's education. I can't give him a slot in our intervention program if he's not going to try, and he won't learn much at all until his attitude improves. He needs help psychologically, emotionally and academically.

B. has also had another difficult week---funny noises, aggressive/antisocial behavior, and a strange distance that makes me worry about his emotional stability. It's not asperger or anything on the autistic spectrum; I think it's some kind of unbalance.

Sam and another had gotten it into their heads to hide every time the recess bell rang. They'd been doing it at daycare and experiencing some degree of satisfaction, so they thought they could have the same fun in regular school. After I left the entire class lined up outside the door to look all over the yard and the classroom for them, they were found in the first grade boys' bathroom. The first day it happened I told them they were off the yard until they could assure me they would line up when the time came. Sam had a real boring lunch in the office the next day, and it seemed like he had gotten the message. But as soon as I let them back on the yard, they did it again. I had to speak to parents and will most likely have a meeting with Sam and his.

You were called in early for chemo. I had planned on going with you at 3:30 but you called at lunch and asked if I wanted to go bike riding since you were already in the 'chair'. We had a nice ride. The sky was clear, they had done a preliminary cleaning of the bike path, and it wasn't cold. My new helmet and jerseys arrived in the mail, and it was exciting to get to wear them. We rode to the beach and then doubled back to the creek riding almost to Lincoln. A woman was throwing bread crumbs on the pedestrian side of the creek bike path, and the birds were flying all around her, including some beautiful pelicans. Two fat and handsome ones had perched on the end posts on either side of the bridge. Like sentries they were, bookends, lions guarding the entrance to the castle, stone still not even watching those who passed by. We stopped right by them and marveled at their majestic stoicism before we continued back up the jetty toward the creek path. I stopped and took some pictures of a pelican on the banks. As we rode on the number of birds diminished and, as we approached Lincoln, we spotted two dead pelicans on the concrete embankment. Did they choke on trash? Did they get poisoned by the polluted run-off from the rains? It was odd. We'd never seen dead pelicans before. My new favorite animal.

We had a farewell happy hour for Lael at El Torito. It was fun. Just as I walked in they all pointed to the table to the left. There sat one of my students and her family. What's a kindergartener doing in a bar? Eating dinner, that's what. I ordered a giant peach margarita and stood the menu up in front of it. Drinking from a straw, in a darkened room, at the far end from the kid, she never knew. Shannon was there and taught me and Yano how to play a card game called 'Golf'. So, I was therefore drinking and playing golf in a bar. And that's the only kind of golf I can handle.

You went to meditation at the Wellness Community and then out to dinner with David. Your chemo seems to be having less and less effect on you. Your body is stronger than we had ever thought it could be.