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Yesterday Mr. Wow didn’t show up for class. This is a first for him! Instead, he came in two hours later for Miss Dolphin, Mr. Hypochondriac, and Mr. Bug’s class. I was informed after this class that this was going to be a permanent alteration in the schedule. I wasn’t consulted, and would have argued if I had been. They’re at least all in the same textbook, but Mr. Wow is way ahead of the other three. And thanks to Mr. Bug’s entrance into the class last month, that group - which used to be really good! - is already pretty chaotic.

I really wanted Mr. Bug in a class of his own, because he’s three years older than the others and, as I predicted to the manager when he suggested this idea, has some self-esteem issues about being stuck in with younger kids. Especially younger kids who are more advanced than he is. I really wish I’d been wrong about that prediction, but no, Mr. Bug is really rebellious about this. I have no goddamn idea why they wouldn’t let me put him in a private class - it’s not like my schedule’s all that busy, and I didn’t get the idea his parents had a really tight schedule to fit. It’s going to be even worse with Mr. Wow in the class, getting absolutely everything right on his first try. Mr. Bug already hates him, and I don’t think Mr. Wow likes Mr. Bug, either. I didn’t think Mr. Wow ever disliked anyone…

So this was not a great way to come back from vacation.

Also, I made Zoh cry. Zoh is pretty delicate - she’s a major hypochondriac, she gets upset if it even looks like she’s losing a game, and she’s not very good at memorizing stuff. Luckily Zip is her best friend in the world, and is good about throwing games she’s winning when Zoh starts getting upset, and helping her with stuff. (Though it may be that some of Zoh’s problems come from Zip’s constant mothering.) So Zoh gets upset sometimes, but I’d never actually seen her cry before.

Yesterday she was playing with this packet of Pokemon tissues and not paying attention, so I took the tissues and sat on them. The younger girls like playing with anime tissue packets - I use this maneuver a lot, and usually they laugh and try to fight me for them, and I hold the tissues for ransom either until they’ve answered two or three questions or until the end of class. Zoh, however, just burst into tears. I had to take a time-out and let her calm down. Fortunately, Zip had her giggling again in a few minutes. I hope she was just tired, and I didn’t make a scary jet-lag face at her or anything.

Goody Proctor and the Devil were Goody Proctor and the Devil, and Mr. K was absent. He’s been missing a lot of classes recently - I hope his parents aren’t having major scheduling problems. I’d hate it if he quit.

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)