I realized recently that one of the reasons I haven't posted is that I'm worried about taking the time to write a post. So I put it off, then spend easily twice as much time surfing Ravelry as I would have spent typing a post. That's just dumb.

I had a great midwife appointment yesterday. I'm still not gaining much weight; I've had a total gain of 12 pounds in 28 weeks. However, the baby is still growing by leaps and bounds, and I'm right where I should be in terms of size. Meanwhile, I've noticed and others have commented that my face seems to be thinning out. I think my double chin is a little less pronounced. For now, I'm not going to worry about the gain (or lack of it). I'm certainly eating whatever I want; I ate a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's the other day in one sitting. Mind, that's no model of dietary intake there, but I offer it as evidence that this is my body's doing, not my will's. I'm not dieting. I promise.

At the appointment, I was able to hold a model that's about the size of The Parasite and weighted to mimick his density. All curled up, the little doll fit neatly in my two hands, and Jackie held him against my belly in the position we believe he's taken now (head-down, left-side and facing my spine. Textbook). I had to fight the urge to cradle the doll and coo at it; I'll save it for wee Parry.

High School Drama; Feel Free to Skip

New drama at Burgundy's school with band. There's continued drama with the bullies; Burgundy elevated the issue to the Assistant Principal. Then Burgundy re-twisted her ankle at the game Thursday night, and Saturday morning, the directors put someone else in the show to march for her. On the same day, the doctor told her she could march again. Monday, she told Band Director #3 (there are 3 total; I'm labeling by rank) that she'd been cleared to march, but she knew she'd been replaced in the show. She asked him what she should do? BD#3 told her he wanted her to do something in the show, and he'd tell her at practice.

At practice, she was instructed to sit down and watch. About halfway through the three-hour practice, she got up to help the sound guy. BD#1 yelled at her to sit down because he didn't want her to hurt herself. After practice, confused between BD#3's affirmation that she should help and BD#1's insistence that she sit out, she went to the directors again and asked them what they needed from her. BD#2 replied that they wanted her to march. Burgundy implied that this was said with condescension and the intention of humiliating. Neither BD#1 nor BD#3 bothered to point out that she'd been instructed by both of them specifically not to march.

Burgundy came home, and we talked it over. I concluded that the three BDs must not be communicating clearly and told her that she needed to ask them where they wanted her to serve them and the band. She did so after class yesterday in their office, and when she did, BD#1 yelled at her, told her she was sending mixed signals, and she needed to decide what she was going to do.

Burgundy went straight to the AP's office and called me sobbing. I went straight to the school and had a good long chat with the AP. This afternoon we have a meeting with BD#1 at 1:45, and we'll decide what to do from there.

High School Drama Concluded; Feel Free to Tune Back In

Well, I've said you can tune back in, but I have nothing more to write.

I Hated High School the First Time

And now we're doing it all over again. I hate so much the turmoil Burgundy's suffering. She's a really bright girl who enjoys learning, and in the right environment, she'll break her back to make the teacher happy. I feel so much sadness when she has teachers who don't or can't recognize that, but I don't know if I would be able to recognize it either, in the teachers' shoes.

Regardless, we're trudging through. Last night was the Winter Concert for Burgundy's band. As we sat through the first two bands and listened to their selections, we all agreed: The Junior High band directors were just better. Even the lower level bands at the Junior High sounded better at times. Now there are logical explanations. The bands have spent the bulk of the semester in marching band and region band preparations, and they've spent relatively little time working on the carols for the winter concert. All the same, I really believe that Burgundy is not getting everything she can out of band anymore. She's not being personally challenged or personally encouraged. Sure, the music is difficult and frustrating for her, but it isn't personal. And I don't think she cares whether she triumphs over it. This is Burgundy's dilemma to resolve, of course, and it's all a part of growing and becoming more mature. All the same, I'm a little disappointed.

For what it's worth, Burgundy's band still sounded fantastic. They played a gorgeous rendition of Carol of the Bells, and then they played the famous classical setting of Jingle Bells (with the sound of hoofs and the whip cracking and everything; darn those percussionists are good). They wrapped up with a really lovely setting of several different carols and songs, but I'm not sure what the name of the piece is. Apparently, the Symphonic Band usually doesn't play it. Usually, that falls to the Wind Ensemble, but they're going to Chicago instead.

We spent every other waking minute of the evening working on a paper due tomorrow in debate. She has everything she needs to write it except the confidence to tie it all together and say what she really wants to say. The topic is financial accountability, and I know that she has strong opinions on it. She's researched it to death and is trying to hit it from all angles. She's researched it so much that she thinks she hasn't researched it enough. This morning I told her to pretend one of her friends has told her that she's about to get her first credit card. Burgundy can't respond verbally at all; she can only hand her friend the paper. What would she want the paper to say?

Julia spent most of the evening baking with one of her friends in preparation for her French Club's Christmas party tonight. She said they had trouble because they did the baking at the other girl's house. Both girls are German exchange students, and they other host family didn't have the crazy plethora of baking tools that I have. Most notably, they don't have a scale that works with either grams or ounces, so the girls couldn't figure out how to do the recipe conversions from gram to volume measurements. She said they decided to wing it. Throw a bit in: Does this taste right? Does it look right? How's the consistency? Based on the deliciuos samples that Julia brought home, I'd say both girls should be bakers, because they demonstrated a profound ability to bake scrumptious goods on the fly.

That's it. I'm off to construct traceability matrices!