Well I made it through a very rough long weekend, school-wise, so I thought I'd give an update. Can't really remember much of what's gone on, so I'll just fill in what I can.
On Friday, we had gorgeous weather - temps in the 50s, mostly sunny. Strong winds, but it was still nice. I took Ronan to the zoo, partly in an effort to wear him out (he seems to have given up nap time). We had a lot of fun. He loves watching the penguins (which are the first thing you see when you enter). He ran along the glass barrier as they swam by and when they'd go out of his range of vision, he'd say, "Where'd they go?!" Then when they came back, he'd say "fish!" (We're still working on that - he only calls them fish when they're in the water.) He also really liked the flamingos. His other highlight was going down the slide that had a giant mud puddle at the bottom (I stood next to the slide and grabbed him before he reached the end) and chasing after leaves. He also had fun at the jellyfish exhibit - there's a little play area at the end with a rock wall and tumbling mats. He had a lot of fun just doing somersaults and then laying on the mat watching the other kids. He also tried the rock wall a couple times but couldn't get anywhere with it. It's so much fun to watch him - he would say goodbye to all the animals and even said "thank you" to the automatic doors when they opened.
Of course, the nice weather did not last (alas), and we now have six inches or so of snow (I can hear my Minnesota readers snort in derision). Yesterday after my afternoon class, it took about 2 hours to get to Ronan's daycare and then back home, when it normally is about 45 minutes. I've learned the past two years that driving in bad weather is even more harrowing when you have a child in the car. I hate the thought of getting into an accident and having something happen to him. But luckily, it was just slow-going, and we made it back fine.
As I alluded to at the beginning, it's been a stressful few days. The students in the class I TA for took their first exam, so I had 57 tests to grade by 10:30 this morning. It takes a really long time to grade exams and Friday-Sunday, Ronan's home with me. So I was grading almost constantly (or so it felt) and I must admit that Ronan got watch a lot of PBS. But I managed to finish them up last night. Of course, that wasn't the only work I had to do, so it was a bit tense trying to get everything done. On top of my normal work, I also had to prepare a lecture that I gave today (on the John Adams and Thomas Jefferson presidencies - I know you wish you could have been there!) plus study for an exam in my political science class. Well, I got the lecture written (but didn't get a chance to practice) and that went fairly well (or so I thought - it's really hard to judge those things and the professor wasn't there). I didn't get a chance to really study for my exam, but my friend who's in the class with me drew up a great study guide and that really helped. Plus, the test was a lot more manageable than the study guide led us to believe. So hopefully that went well.
But now that's done, I'm going to call it a night. Sweet dreams!
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