now where will I find some good picadillo?

"My kids needed motivation, and in the absence of that I just didn't think a whole lot of learning was going to occur. We were sorely tempted, because interest-led learning would have been a lot less work for us, but, knowing our kids, we knew it just wasn't a viable option." - Paula Penn-Nabrit in Morning by Morning.

So right, sister.

Scene, this morning:

Me: "Wake up, Alexander! You have yet your last assignment to finish before Catherine gets here!"
Him: [toss, turn, toss] "Ugh. Mmmm."
Me: "Up! Up! Up! Up!"
Him: [turn] "Mmmmm.....?"
Me: "Up! Breakfast! Up!"
Him: [toss, turn, toss] "Why? Mmmmm....."

Paula Penn-Nabrit's boys wound up at Princeton and Amherst College. I keep telling myself that on days like this.

Yet I do not blame Alexander for not wanting to get up. He is working on a tricky section with Catherine in Le Petit Prince . Why do grown-ups prefer numbers - les chiffres -first, to learning the nitty-gritty about things and people? Why can't adults, for example, be happy just knowing that a house has beautiful brick, gardens and columns, instead of qualifying its beauty by asking its price? "It's 5 hundred thousand francs!" "Ah, yes! What a beautiful house it must be!" A bit trite the message, but unfortunately and sadly true for many of us.

"Letz gooo too ze moozehuhm next week, Alexander!" I gotta love Catherine. She has also lavished us with free passes to concerts at Lincoln Center that she receives from her other, more artistic, job. How did I find her? Tpft, tpft.

Alexander will also hopefully be participating in a student overseas program to the South Pacific this summer. The program coordinator conducts her meetings in Long Island. A bit of a hassle. Today will be our first-ever trip on the Long Island Railroad. I have no idea what to expect. I feel as anxious as before my first rail trip in Europe when I was 16.

Really.

And sadly, I must now find another decent Cuban restaurant in my neighborhood. The cook at the one I always go to has sworn that he must date me and marry me. "Te cuido tu hijo!" Sure, you will. He even delays the preparation of my dinner to sneak in more "getting to know you" time. Ay, yay, yay.