today was Lauren's birthday. We were supposed to go out last night for "over-under" night at some nearby bar, but we were too tired and decided we would go out to dinner tonight instead, but we were too tired, and then we decided we would do something after study hall, but guess what... we were too tired to do anything, so we compromised by leaving our room for the grass in front of our little townhouse to sit around with people and talk and play hearts.

Today was not short of exciting, though. One of my girls left her retainer in the dining hall so after dropping the rest of the kids off, I had to go back with her to look for it. Couldn't find it in the vacinity of the table she was eating at so we donned plastic aprons and gloves and dug through the entire camp's breakfast trash. YUM. Still couldn't find it, but at least we tried.

Tonight I had to enforce Quiet Time during study hall. While I was explaining a problem on the white board and yelling for attention, I almost made myself puke when I openned my mouth and heard the all-too-familiar words: "I'm not doing this for me, you know..." The only thing worse than realizing you're turning into your parents is realizing you've turned into your middle school teachers. Surprisingly, I guess, what keeps me sane in that sense, is that my kids don't treat me like a teacher, which isn't so fortunate in the classroom. One of the boys has recently even become a little coy with me. It's sort of disconcerting. Yesterday during study hall I asked one of the girls why she wasn't working on the assignment.
Girl: "I can't concentrate."
me: "Why not?"
Girl: "I'm too easily distracted by him." [points accusingly at another kid]
me: "Then move over here and do you work next to me, I'm lonely on this side of the room, anyway."
The Coy One: "I'll sit next to you, Tamar."

Today he asked me for "my expert opinion" on whether or not he should grow his hair out "like Art Garfunkle." When I told him to stop swinging his lanyard (number 3 no-no on the CTY ten commandments) he said: "oh, Tamar, come on, it's me."
me: "And what's so special about you?"
The Coy One: "We go way back."
me: "We do?"

I don't know whether to take his demeanor as an insult or a compliment. Despite the coyness, he's one of the sweetest, brightest kids I've ever met. He's the one in the class I surreptitiously try to check my answers off of, to make sure I haven't overlooked anything or made a stupid mistake.