The more you know

When you hang out with your kids a bit more than usual, you get odd glimpses of their life at school that you'd never think to ask about. For instance, Archer volunteered this morning that independent reading time started at 10:15 am. I asked him what he reads, and he said he reads books from his book box. Examples? I queried. The Best of Times, he reported, and The Hershey's Kisses Addition Book. I should have known.

My mom and dad left around midday, flying back home to St. Simons Island. Now we three are left here to wait until Noel's return on Thursday. We occupy our time with thirty-minute sessions on the Wii, with bead crafts and knitting, with computer games and homework and buildings made of blocks and tiles.

Just now Cady Gray came into the room where I'm working and asked to see the weather in Georgia. We checked it together, and Cady Gray sat beside me and rattled off all the statistics on the Weather Channel page: 80 degrees and mostly cloudy, UV index 0/Low, visibility 10.0 miles, dew point 75 degrees ("if it's 75 degrees, it will be foggy in here," she explained to me in an aside). She's talking non-stop about visiting her grandparents in December, when we have an after-Christmas trip planned.

But she also said that her dad gets back on Thursday, "and then everything's back to normal." I'm ready for that, too, sweetie.