First grade seems to be kicking Henry's ass. There's actual work involved, and it's all day instead of half-day, and because it's a 1st-2nd grade split, the work is even harder. Today he came home trudging up the driveway with a tale of woe about how he chewed his pencil tip off ("accidentally, I swear, mom!"), and the teacher didn't see him raising his hand to get a new one, so he got really behind on his math assignment, and he was crying but trying to hide it from the other kids. He was so upset because he thought he might miss recess, and recess is what school is all about for Henry (luckily, he didn't miss it). Also, he is discovering that hot lunch sucks, and he had really been looking forward to it, so it's back to cold lunch from home for him.

In a stroke of excellent timing, I had just been baking chocolate chip cookies, so he was right as rain as soon as he got out of his pants and into some cookies (uh, yeah, he only wears underwear when he's in the house, but that's a blog post for another time). Jack helped him with his homework in a rare understanding big-brother moment while I hit the sauce.