Snow day the Second

The snow day rituals are complex and require strict adherence. They are also a little unique to each individual and each region. For example some people will tell you that you must throw your ice cubs outside on the road or driveway while others insist they must be dropped into the toilet. Others require sleeping with a paper snowflake underneath their pillow. Virtually everyone agrees on doing a snow dance and sleeping with one’s pajamas inside out (and sometimes backwards if possible). So last night I did my version of the snow dance – trust me when I say it was perhaps the most ungraceful thing ever done. I tossed a few ice cubes in the toilet because I refused to go running outside in front of neighbors tossing ice cubes on the ground. I turned my pajamas inside out and backwards. However, I did not sleep with a snowflake beneath my pillow because I am one of the world’s most aggressive sleepers and it would not have stayed there very long anyway. So this morning I peeked outside and saw snow on the ground. Granted, the grass is also still visible but there is snow on the ground. I turned on the television and watched the incredibly long list of schools that were closed slowly move across the screen. On the first channel my school was not listed but that did not seem right at all, so I changed channels to the more reliable channel that I usually watch. Once again I watched the incredibly long list of schools that were closed parade slowly across the screen. Ever slowly…ever slowly…YES!!!! It may be just an inch or two of snow (and two is being generous outside my back door) but we are closed!! Inside out pajamas, ice cubes in the toilet, graceless snow dance – whatever works!!!
I really needed this snow day because my adorable, sweet, precious little germ infested children have gotten me once again. Over the weekend I had an issue with a sore throat that may or may not have been related to their lovely little germs. However, now I have a major cold that has taken over every available space in my head and chest that I am quite certain was given to me by one of the many snotty-nosed, coughing little darlings whose parents insist on sending them to school sick. I can’t seem to convince them that if their child is sick we really do not need them at school. We are not learning molecular biology or nuclear physics here – it is preschool, I promise if your child misses a few days it will be just fine. Especially with children who are medically fragile in the class I can not afford to have so many germs running rampant. And parents might want to consider that getting the teacher sick so often isn’t a benefit to their child’s education either. Then in that situation their child is in school but their teacher is not which rather defeats the purpose, especially because in special education a substitute is unlikely to know their IEP goals or how to incorporate them, etc. I do have a great assistant who does wonderfully when I am gone but it is best when everyone is present to teach. I miss my children when they are absent, but not enough to want them in school sick. Not when it could really harm another student or really make everyone miserable.
However, today is a snow day and I plan on enjoying whatever I can from it even though my best friends are Robitussin and Kleenex. It is a free day, an open day without responsibility because there is nothing I have to do today. I foresee reading cuddled under my favorite blanket while drinking hot tea, curling up on the couch and watching whatever old movies I find on TV, and anything else that happens to sound good to me. I love snow days!! And they are talking about another chance of snow next week – so my pajamas will be inside out and backwards again, I will recreate my ungraceful dance steps, and my toilet will be assaulted with ice cubes in the hopes of another beautiful, free snowy day!!