Notes:

~ I found a coffee shop with WiFi and other folks sitting and tapping away on laptops.  And pretty okay avocado toast and latte.  It is on a side street that is the size of an alley.  I had looked for it yesterday and couldn’t find it.  Clearly, it is a gem as there could not be much walk by traffic.  And I found a parking space.

~ Parking.  If I moved directly from Park Slope, Brooklyn, to Newton, MA, I would opine that parking in and around Newton was a challenge but not impossible.  However, having spent umpteen years in the midwest, parking in Newton feels close to impossible at times.  Also, having a line of cars behind me and no place to pull over and let them pass when I am looking for a parking space is uncomfortable.  I’ll get used to it, I know, just now . . . I am very grateful for early Jersey training in parallel parking.  The skill is like riding a bike.

~ Yesterday, due to my misreading of the school schedule — North has multiple dismissal times, at least during this first week — I was late picking up Julia.  She waited and texted me which was an incredibly appropriate use of her cell phone.

~ We went to school early today.  I volunteered to man the PTSO table selling planners.  As I stood behind a folding table, Julia wandered the entrance hall and did a lot of social bidding before the bell rang, or rather, the chime chimed.  None of it was subtle, some probably bothersome to her subjects, but she was there putting herself out there.  I do hope she finds her people.  Julia can be fearless.

~ After the chime chimed for the beginning of school, Julia did not wait for her case manager and instead insisted on walking to class alone.  She has wanted to insist on this for awhile now; however, at West she would get distracted moving around the halls, talking to people and obsessing over a few boys.  She mentioned this a number of time during the summer—she mentioned not wanted an escort from class to class—and I’ve reminded her that if she could get from class to class on time, no one would stop her from doing it alone.  (Note: Newton North has as many students as West and the building is bigger and spread out.  So the halls are less congested but still busy, distracting and confusing especially during the first week of school) Julia stopped by my table, told me she was going to find her first class and assured me she knew where it was.  And she did it.  Her case manager was following along at a discrete distance behind her and emailed me.  I could not be more pleased!  This is huge!

~ But then, the first call from her case manager, one of those calls that every sped parent anticipates and cringes when the caller says, “your daughter is fine, but . . . . ” Julia told another student that she was hit by her boyfriend.  Of course, she has no boyfriend and no one hits her. The responsible student told the teacher who told the case manager who called me. Julia has introduced herself to some students telling them she is a lesbian. Not an appropriate opener. My question: If she is a lesbian, could she be a little less boy crazy? Both of these, talk of sexuality and hitting get a rise out of listeners.  I think she wants the attention and I have no idea how to dampen the urge.  And finally, Julia wrote a note to her history teacher that she wasn’t interested in learning about world religions.  The world history class includes a good deal of culture which includes religion.  Not sure why she did this.  

~ And a big dilemma.  I’ve been hanging all sorts of small, relatively light stuff on walls using Command products.  Following directions carefully, I have been successful.  I also have three large pieces, all well framed that are too big and too heavy for Command.  A old guy at a hardware store advised a two-nail hanger and pre-drilling holes with the tiniest drill bit I’ve ever scene.  Yesterday, I hung one of the large pictures in my room and it looked great.  Last night, it fell off the wall, leaving a decent sized hole in the wall.  Nothing broke because there was an easy chair below the picture which broke the fall. I also woke up but did not jump.  I think I was anticipating this outcome. If I can’t put in a picture hook into my plaster and horse hair walls and there is not the type of crown molding to hang from, I don’t know what to do.  Oh, I miss my Madison handyman who could solve this!  The wall without the picture and with the hole doesn’t look so good.