Playing the Odds

There was no school yesterday.

The ground was wet and bare until 4 pm.

Argh. The kids COULD have gone to school today, but because a storm was predicted, the districts went into a panic about getting the kids home, and so cancelled the whole day. Ane was terribly upset.

There is snow now, and it is frozen. So, odds are, there will be no school today either. That means that Tad is officially out of school until after the New Year. His teachers sent home all his paperwork, and a small gift from them, on Tuesday, betting that it would be their only chance to do so. And I, working those same odds, brought them my back-up Christmas gifts – Starbucks gift cards.

Tad’s school sent home a note a week ago saying that it being the holiday season and since people like to give teachers gifts, they prefer homemade items, but they also have a binder in the school office called “My Favorite Things” in which most of the staff (teachers, para educators, speech therapists, etc.) have filled out forms about the things they do like. I was surprised at how detailed it was – there were restaurant preferences, stores they actually shop at, their favorite types of foods and books, and if they have any allergies and have to avoid something. Both Tad’s teacher and speech therapist had filled one out, but not the teacher’s assistant. I discovered that Tad’s teacher prefers red wine, and her birthday is in February.

After dealing with Tad for that many months in school, I’m thinking she’s going to need a good, stiff drink, and maybe we should provide it.

Anyway, both lists indicated a love of coffee – so I hit up Starbucks before picking Tad up from school and gave the teachers and the speech therapist Starbucks gift cards. It’s probably the most common gift card given around here. In Seattle, even if you don’t drink coffee, you’re probably in promixity to a Starbucks every mile and a half you go, and if you really don’t want it, it can always be regifted. I just was relieved that I’d gotten that done, because I was not sure we would get back to school this week.

And now, with fresh snow on the ground, odds are that we won’t.

Ane has half a chance of making it to school on Friday, depending on how the roads are. Still, she’s missing school with every fiber of her being – and Cubbies was cancelled last night, so she hasn’t seen any of her friends since Sunday.

But Ressis, Little Cousin and Baby Cousin made it in yesterday afternoon – well before the new snow came down! The Webmaster and I picked them up from the airport and drove them back to Grandma’s house. When Little Cousin walked in, she squealed with excitement and called everyone by name. “Ane!” There was a big hug between the cousins. “Grandma!” Another hug. “Auntie!” A pick-me-up hug.

Ane was stunned. “Hey, Little Cousin can TALK now!!” We all laughed, because it’s sort of true. Both Tad and Little Cousin have speech delays, though Tad’s is more severe. So Little Cousin can definitely talk, but the same issues exist. Ane knows this, but was thrilled to hear her cousin call her by name.

Yes, the “twin” cousins (they are two months apart in age, Little Cousin being older) both have speech delays. What are the odds?

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 12:24 am and is filed under Children, Family, Life in the Pacific Northwest, School Days.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed and Both comments and pings are currently closed.