Merry Exhaustion

Today was a grueling day at work...seriously, it was. I have been going through several changes with the paraprofessionals in my room. Sol was a unique aide for one of my students. Then she became my full-time para and Miriam became the unique aide. But Sol, who is a really nice person, has had a hard time letting go of her responsibilities toward my student (she believes she is helping the new UA but she is merely making things more difficult for the student), and hates doing lunch duty, which, as a full-time para, she has to do. It's a much longer story than I care to write, but the three of us ended up in the principal's office. I was in the clear....Mrs. Vega (my principal) was trying to ge things straightened out with Sol regarding her position and duties. I have to say that Mrs. V has great patience, for I was losing mine as Sol wanted to have her cake and eat it too. I later found out that the student who gets the UA was taken to the Asst. Principal's office and suspended for getting out of control (which he cannot always help due to his disability). I only knew, after the fact, that a referral was put in on him and that his mom came to pick him up. I found out in an e-mail that he had been suspended and that Sol had not gone through the "chain of command" but went directly to the AP,which was a no-no. Soooo - I think it best, as do the Principal and the ESE specialist, that Sol work in another class and not with my student at all. I have a very hard time delegating, and also hate to say things that will hurt another person's feelings, but when Sol did ask me my opinion about her going to another class, I told her that she really needed to, for HER sake and peace of mind (not that it won't do ME any good either).
This out of the way for now, I had our kindergarten team meeting till after 3, then I had report cards to do, organizing for the holiday party (which is this coming Friday),other paperwork, and didn't get out of school till after 5:30. Tonight is Gerry's night to play pool so I headed to the mall to holiday shop. As head of our Sunshine Committee I do all the holiday gift shoppping for the office staff. Of course, I took a few minutes out here and there to get little things out of the way too...gift for my niece Skylar (necklace from me, bracelet from my mom); my brother Dusty, who is 15, gets a T-shirt; jazz CD for my secret santa pick; some chachkas for my kids to go with their gifts (oops, don't read this Alison); and the staff gifts, of course. Didn't get home till 9:30.
I had a nice greeting today at work. One of our teachers rushed to me, all excited. She had watched me knit a while back and decided to go for it too. She went to a yarn store in Plantation (that's south of Ft. Lauderdale) and the woman helped her get started on a scarf. She is using two "yarns" that together make a really funky, thready scarf, and she is using massive but short wooden needles so the holes are large in the scarf. I was so happy that I inspired her and warned her that this may become an obsession. I am looking forward to seeing my dear friend Carla when she visits Fl. this month, and teaching her how to knit. After all, look what a one lesson did for my daughter Alison!!! She instantly became as consistent a knitter as Madame LaFarge!!