Today is definitely a go-to-bed-early and fall-asleep-quickly kind of day. Maybe because it’s so cold outside. And inside. If you step too far away from the fireplace, it starts to feel a bit chilly and just saps your energy. Which reminds me - I cranked up the heat in the kitchen while making supper. I’ve got to remember to go up and turn it back down…

So, in case you’re wondering, I didn’t get that two-hour delay that I was hoping for. But I did end up having just enough time to leisurely get ready and get in to work before the little ones starting strolling in. I found my desk and gathered up all of the supplies I'd need to get through the day. Then I headed down the hall to greet my class with a smile and a highfive. 

It was a pretty good day, too. Today was our 91^st day of school. We’re halfway through the year. My students have had 90 days to learn my expectations and to internalize the classroom rules. And for the most part, things are going very well. A couple of tears, a few flying pencils, one or two ripped up math pages. All fairly normal for second grade these days. A child threw up in the classroom across the hall, so it got a bit exciting over there for a little. But other than that, it was just a typical day. We put up our focus wall for the week, learned some new vocabulary words, talked about how to use number bonds to simplify difficult subtraction problems, and explored the characteristics of amphibians. Nothing all that complicated or tiring.

But then, we also learned how to leave the outside frustrations at the door of the classroom so they won’t disrupt our learning. We worked on taking turns and delaying gratification for a greater good later. We worked on smiling at strangers and giving grumpy children second, third, and fourth chances. We learned to ignore the child acting rudely to catch our attention. We worked on including and inviting lonely children into our social circle. We worked on dealing with the angst that comes from not being good at something that everyone around us is doing. We created hopes and dreams for our futures and brainstormed the first step. We listened quietly while classmates struggled with twisted tongues to tell us what happened to them over the long weekend. We lived. We learned. We grew.

And that can be downright exhausting.

So, I’m setting aside my plans for this evening. No doctoral work for me tonight. No checking in to class, or reading my book. Tonight, I’m just going to post this, brush my teeth, visit with my Abba, and then hop into my warm blanketed bed for a well earned rest.