Tales from the Steppes

2006-10-19

9:53 a.m.
Thursday, October 19

I am trying really, really hard to have a good attitude today but seem to be failing miserably.

Yesterday, it was announced that we are having a day-long retreat next Tuesday. A full day spent with my coworkers, management up to division chief, and a facilitator, talking about our problems and how we are going to solve them.

Please.

I have been to this sort of thing before. What will come out of it? A bunch of large pieces of paper with notes all over them. Management will say "Look, we listened to our employees."

And nothing will change.

I hate being this cynical.

On to happier things. Things that actually matter.

The YM has really surprised me with his attitude about school this year. Every day when I ask him how his day went, he says "Great". He is so enthusiastic about learning, as well as dealing with the mechanics of school. For example, they are working on some reward system dealing with looking at the person who is talking. His goal yesterday was to get 4 stars. Instead, he got 6 stars and he was overjoyed. I cannot remember either elder mongol ever being that excited about getting a pat on the head.

I have been impressed with the EM's maturity this year. She has been handling her schoolwork on her own and generally does her homework at ballet before class starts. Since she goes to the studio straight from school and sometimes has 2 hours to kill before class, this seems like a good use of time. But she still has her same organizational issues that she always has had, we just aren't arguing about things anymore. On the way home from dance yesterday, we were talking about school and she asked me to help her organize things. Much much better for her to recognize that she needs a bit of help than for me to tell her she does.

I realize that I do not talk about the MM as much as I do about the other two. I think perhaps I have been spoiled by him and have come to expect too much. That is a real problem, as I should never take it for granted that he should have to be as steady, mature, and smart as he is. I never watch him and wonder why he does the things he does. While he is certainly not perfect, he is far more together than I have any right to expect, much more so than any other boy his age that I have met.