Milestones, in random order

It has been a busy weekend. My class was not canceled, so I spent most of Saturday teaching. I have some exceptionally dedicated students, which is always exciting. Six hours is a lot--I was pretty drained by the end of class, and some of the students appeared to be in that glazed-over-stupor that comes from cramming several weeks of learning into a single day (those of us who procrastinated before exams know it well). I am pleased with our new textbook. It actually had enough good exercises that I can use some for the chapter review! Our previous book suffered from a dearth of usable material, which provoked many profane thoughts on my part. The exams for this one are also much, much better. The new book is definitely worth the hassle of switching again, although it isn't quite as good as the one we had before all the switching started, in my opinion.

Joelito turned three years old--wow! Expect adorable pictures in subsequent posts. He is such a sweetie. It sounds far-fetched to think that a baby has a sense of humor, but even as an infant he had this way of crinkling up his eyes as if he was laughing at the absurdity around him. At three, he definitely loves to incite smiles and giggles. He looks at me sideways out of the corners of his eyes whenever he has done of said something worthy of note (alas, he classifies all mischief under the heading of "funny", as well). He is so physical--always running, jumping and hugging--but recently has gotten very involved in acting out pretend play with an assortment of toys. He especially adores superheroes and villans right now, and is intent on classifying all of them into good guys and bad guys. Last night we listened to a lengthy dialogue between Green Dinosaur (aka Fing Fang Foom) and Blue Dinosaur (whose alter ego I cannot recall). I wish I remembered it. It was hilarious.

For his birthday cake, we had a chocolate chocolate chip cake (this guy loves chocolate as much as I do. What can I say? He started young, and he is a wise young man). Not being able to use corn eliminated commercial frostings, and anything that calls for powdered sugar. I vaguely remember a recipe that uses cream of tartar and is boiled or something, but instead I just melted white chocolate, and painted it with food coloring and sugar. I am not an artist, but he was uncritical, and even recognized Captain America, Iron Man and Spidey. He loved having balloons and seeing everyone.

Poor Ariana came down with something Saturday night--swollen eyes, runny/stuffy nose, lots of coughing--but seems to be doing a little better today. She seems to be more prone to catching the bugs that go around than the rest of us. She is also the most vaccinated one, which may not be connected. I've shared in other posts, but for me, not vaxing isn't about autism, but about auto-immune issues.

Finally, what an amazing day today was. I watched the inauguration looking at Sasha and Malia and thinking of my own kids. I know there is a lot of racism, bigotry and hatred left, but I am so grateful for the progress that has been made. Ariana and I talked a little bit about it. When I told her that some people used to think that others weren't even really people because their skin color was different, she looked at me as if I were demented. What a stupid idea! How could they think that? She rolled her eyes and sighed as dramatically as any teenager. I am glad that it is so unfathomable to her. I am praying for our President and his family, and excited about the future of this country.