Post drama.....

Soooo....well....nothing really happened. I think Bully was suspended for a day and that was it. The following weekend we discovered two bruises on his upper arm from where Teacher had grabbed him. Took pics of those and sent them to the principal. Principal said she'd follow-up with an investigation procedure according to school policy, but that we would not be made aware of any disciplinary action against Teacher.

Three weeks goes by and we hear nothing from Principal. At this point Bugman has said that Teacher is being much nicer to him, but I'm still curious about why we haven't been contacted regarding the investigation. Shouldn't they have additional questions for us? Wonder if we took him to see a doc? Contacted a lawyer? But nothing. So I email Principal asking where we are in the process and this is what I got back....

"As I think I explained, outcomes of disciplinary investigations are confidential, so I'm not sure what I can share with you at this point except to say that I did investigate and follow through on the "formal procedure.""

Slightly snotty, I'd say, wouldn't you? And how exactly did she conduct a thorough investigation without asking us or Bugman anything?

But in better news....SCHOOL'S OUT! Bugman will have a new teacher next year. And though policy dictates that we cannot request a specific teacher we did so anyway, because there's a 5-6th grade teacher that Bugman has a good relationship with already. On the last day of school I asked Principal if she could tell me who Bugman was 'likely' to have. Naturally she wouldn't tell me, but I made my point that we had put in a request and that it meant a lot to us.

Anyway.....Bugman and I have been playing the last couple of weeks. Not doing quite as well with studying math as we'd planned. But there's still time. My goal was to arrange at least 1 playdate a week and so far we've made 2 each week. We've been to the pool, to a Pokemon tournament at the library, have re-arranged the furniture in the living room and were the first ones in line to get the new Pokemon game. I still want to make it to the farmer's market some time this summer, and the zoo, and to pick strawberries, and....oh yeah....teach my son multiplication and division. Can't forget that.

We're all signed up for the library's summer reading game. Adults only have to read 5 books, kids have to read 10. Bugman wasn't too happy about that, so I agreed to read 10 too. Of course all I get is a coupon for a free loaf of fancy bread and he gets a free book. I wanna free book. But I'm 3 books into my 10 already, while he's at 1. I've read....

From Baghdad, With Love...about a Marine in Iraq who falls hard for a puppy and does everything imaginable to get the puppy back to the States. Sweet story peppered with real life scenes, often sobering, of what life is really like for our soldiers in Iraq. Made me really wonder what my Uncle did and saw over there during the first Gulf War. It's not exactly the long-range, impersonal way I thought modern war was fought.

The Good German...awesome story about a journalist trying to solve an American soldier's mysterious murder while also trying to track down the married German woman he's in love with. The movie with Cate Blancett (love her) and George Clooney (I'm female-love him too) just came out on DVD. Can't wait to watch it.

Lust in Translation...very interesting report of infidelity in other cultures. Did you know that in Japan it's not cheating if you pay for it? Or in Moscow, even men who do not have girlfriends will lie and say that they do because that's the standard? And in South Africa the men will seek out impotence treatments because they can only have sex once or twice a day and that's not enough to keep up appearances with their wife as well as their girlfriends? I found it very interesting that in so many cultures women clearly outnumber men, but yet we continue to allow ourselves to be treated poorly for a little financial stability.

Now I'm on My Father's Secret War....memoir of a daughter who discovers her ailing father was once an Allied spy in WWII, under cover within the SS. I just started it, but I adore memoirs, spy stories and anything to do with WWII, so this one doesn't need much else to hook me.

Oh, and I'm also listening to The Greatest Generation Speaks. Gosh how I wish I could be more like those folks. Live simply, do what you say you will, a sense of personal responsibility, putting family before anything else....I wanna be like that.