Tales from the Steppes

2005-09-20

10:41 a.m.
Tuesday, September 20

Well, I love the way we communicate
Your eyes focus on my funny lip shape
- Tori Amos

I thought I would take a few minutes before my next meeting to write some happy thoughts. I tend to write such dreary gruel when the reality is that life is far more positive than negative. So, here is my attempt to focus on the positive.

• The YM's teacher appreciates him and does not want to change him. She might like it if he danced in the hallway a little less but she thinks it is cute and even demonstrated how he does it. She is ok with the fact that he has his own thang going on and is singular in the way he approaches life. He apparently behaves himself and does a good job of listening, even if he is moving while doing so. And she really did like his drumming.


• The SU tried to let me sleep in this morning. Normally, I am up at 6am to get the EM to her bus stop by 7am and then on to work. But he knew that I worked until 2am, so he volunteered to take her to the bus this morning. Ok, so it didn't work out. They were late, came back home, and I had to drive her to school and was late to work. But you know, it really is the thought that counts. Major brownie points.


• I had a major "Duh" moment on my thesis last night. Basically, I figured out that if I tied my interview questions back to my site selection criteria more directly, I had a much better way to interpret my results. Not that all of these influences aren't interrelated and it is difficult to tease out motivations for behavior. But if I add enough caveats and maybe change my questions a little, this will really add weight to my findings. Perhaps I should have thought of this a bit earlier. But at least it occurred to me before I started interviewing people.


• Claudia, the babysitter, is working out quite well. I arrived home yesterday to find her helping the EM organize her binder. Unasked. She just thought it was a good idea. And of course, since it was Claudia that did the suggesting, there was no drama. If I had brought up the subject, there would have been a theatrical display.