Loooooooong week (and it was only four days!)

So today we had the last of the NWEA's, which is a computer test all students at my school take twice a year except for the special ed kids who take it three times (to more accurately measure progress). We can't read the reading test to the kids (kinda defeats the purpose of a reading test) but we can read the math test. Now, one of my kiddos who can be quite volatile at times-- he's one of those kids that you do all you can to keep him from getting frustrated because he it is inevitable that he will blow his top. He also doesn't like to be touched or talked to when he is concentrating--it just makes him lose it even faster. Well, it was best that an adult sit right next to him to quickly diffuse any frustration or anger he had just in case, and I decided to volunteer. Some of the questions he didn't need any help on, and others he just needed me to read one word to him (like "perimeter" or "estimate"), and still others he needed me to read every single word. Well, he really took his time and even attempted (and succeeded at!) some of the harder multiplication and division problems. When the test finally was over, this kid took my hand and flashed me this enormous grin, and proceeded to dance down the hall, happily skipping and bouncing. He would occasionally come back and give me a huge bear hug and walk with me, still hugging me, and then he would skip around a few times. I have never seen him so proud of himself. It was weird. It reminded me, strangely, of this book when Fletcher bursts out of the egg and he and Alexandra go skipping off, all covered in mud splatters.

So after school my best friend Cassady and I went to the House of Pizza and hung out--she loves the socks, by the way, but is afraid to wear them any more because she's worn them about seven times and is worried about how to wash them! Awww. (Hint: machine washable in cold water, lay flat to dry.) She is plodding through another school year, trying to make it through 'til June. My Mum calls her "the singing teacher" but to tell you the truth she hasn't done a lot of singing lately, and that makes me sad. I'm thinking she needs more than a pair of electric-blue knee-high socks to make her feel better.

But anyway, that's another story, and I need to go to bed, so I'll leave you with this random cat picture: