YOWZA!

Well, I got a phone call around 7 last night letting me know my son's school would be closed today. That means I have a little extra time this morning, since I don't have to drive him to school. And, what am I doing with that time? Sleeping an extra half hour? Doing some dishes maybe? Laundry? NO! I'm reading freakin' blogs!!! I need help....

I've been up for a while now, and the temp is all the way up to
-17 right now. God, I hope my babies stay home today! Not for me, but for them. Just about all of them walk to school. It's too cold for them to be out there even for 5 minutes. Oh, I forgot to share this the other day...

Tuesday morning, my little darling that I call "David" came to school, hung up his things, and went straight to his seat. Doesn't sound like a big deal, right? Well, for David it is, because he's usually a little bundle of energy, and likes to run around the room, and generally just makes a lot of commotion. When I realized he was in his seat, I took a good look at him, and noticed his face was slowing screwing up tighter and tighter. I asked, "What's wrong, David?" and he immediately burst into tears and held up his hands. I knew right away what the problem was. His hands were cherry red, and ice cold. We've all experienced that horrible burning/itching feeling of being on the verge of frost bite (don't they call that frost nip?). My poor baby! I grabbed his hands between mine, and instinctively started rubbing, but then remembered you aren't supposed to do that. I took him over to my sink and turned the warm water on, and let him put his hands in there. As I was helping him, D.B. comes in holding up one of HIS hands, and is already crying. So, I took his coat and stuff off, and had him go stand in the sink with David. What a way to start the day! At the end of the day, I dug through my lost & found box, and made sure they both had gloves to wear home. Neither one of them came yesterday.

Today is far colder than it was yesterday, so I wonder how many kids I'll have. Chicago Public School NEVER close, but the kids don't always come. I'm pretty sure I posted about this last winter, but our charming mayor basically went on TV last winter and said that we (teachers) are basically babysitters. He tried to explain why CPS never closes, and said something to the effect of how the parents who work need somewhere for their children to go during the day. Oh, ok, I see! Thanks for clearing that up for me. So, I spent years of my life and 10s of thousands of dollars on my education so that I can babysit! Yeah, thanks. Oh, and by the way, OUR PARENTS DON'T WORK!!! Only one mom from my room, and two dads work. I know this for a fact. Now, obviously, this doesn't apply to the entire CPS system, but it still irritates me that this is his rationale for not closing school. OK, I feel a major rant bubbling up to the surface, so I'm moving on...

Well, I suppose I should start getting ready for work. I'm going to bring some hot chocolate with me today for the babies. They'll love it. I have another Disney movie ready for today, too. What a waste of a day, don't you think? Like I said yesterday, I would so prefer for them to be watching movies and drinking cocoa in the warmth of their own home, but whatevs!