#good montessori schools

[geekonomy]

kindergarten preschool early childhood education whitefield

kinfolk gives a strong foundation for your children's future success. admissions are opened

[themontessoriacademyofarlington]

Early Childhood - Outdoor Classroom

Conversation overheard:

“Get on the bridge or the crocodiles will eat you!”

(in a worried tone) “Are the crocodiles real?”

“No-they are nice crocodiles…”

"Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and, when the grass of the meadows is damp with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath it's shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning as it wakes every living creature that divides its day between waking and sleeping."  --Maria Montessori

[lesbian-gnf-archive]

Man public school is fucking awful why do they put kids through that

[montessorischoolofsaltlake]

What are some good schools in Salt Lake City for children?

Kindergarten classes in salt lakecity is an academic department introduced to standard school particularly for college students in kindergarten thru 6th grade. The kindergarten become born out of the principles and strategies of Robert Owen in Great Britain, J.H. Pestalozzi in Switzerland and his scholar Friedrich Froebel in Germany, who got here up with the word, and Maria Montessori in Italy inside the early nineteenth century. Read more: https://qr.ae/psCHyf

[ilseofskadi]

"follow the child" yeah yeah that's good and all i mean great in theory even but what if the child is a menace?

[moonbaetarot]

Pick a pile

what your going to be like as a parent

1. 2. 3.

Pile 1

Having kids and becoming a parent is going to heal you this was your calling and life purpose. These kids are what’s going to keep you going everyday. You’re going to be very gentle with your kids those are your babies you’re going to be more of a gentle parent. You will feel that these kids are truly a blessing given to you. You’re going to do a lot of hands on things with your children going to the beach, walks, playing in the dirt. For some You may homeschool or want to send them to a Montessori school. I see you having a girl and a boy. I see you being really excited when you find out your going to be expecting a baby I feel like you may have kids later in life I see your friends or family saying like “welcome to the club” lol. You may have a child born in November or fall time. Having kids is going to help you understand your own childhood a lot and why things did or didn’t happen. I see you being an overprotective parent in a good way you’re going to do a lot of research on everything you just want the best for your children. I see you having kids at just the right time in your life the enlightenment is perfect everything is going to make sense.

Thank you for reading loves! 🤍 if you have any recommendations for readings lmk I’d love to hear them!

Pile 2

I definitely see you changing your life when you have kids getting rid of bad habits or traits. When you first find out about this baby you may be in disbelief like “omg is this really happening” i feel like you have symptoms and in the back of your mind you think your pregnant but your just try to ignore it. You also may like to keep your life private when you have kids you will also keep their life private as well the whole world doesn’t need to know everything about the pregnancy or want the kids are doing all the time type of thinking. I see you wanting to stop Time and enjoy your kids while they’re still little I feel like the thought of them getting married moving out going to college makes you cry every time lol. You could have a baby born in June or in the summer. You’re always going to make sure your kids are financially supported you may get a new job or a rise of some sort. I feel like your kids are going to teach you a lot having kids is like the biggest lesson in your life. I see your friends helping a lot and support you with these kids. If there are traditions or beliefs you do when a baby is born you’re going to be doing them as well.

Thank you for reading loves! 🤍 if you have any recommendations for readings lmk I’d love to hear them!

Pile 3

I feel like you’re going to love singing and humming to them. Having kids is going to make you feel like a brand new person I feel like your going to look back at things you did when you didn’t have kids and your going to be like “omg I was really out there doing that”. I see you being really excited I feel like you’re going to tell everyone as soon as you find out you’re expecting because you’re just so excited. You’re going to know a lot of other people with kids and they are going to give you a lot of knowledge and help. As soon as you see that baby for the first time you’re going to know you made the right choice. I see you taking your own childhood the good and the bad and putting it into your own parenting I feel like you see yourself in your kids a lot. I feel like you’re going to have up to like 4 kids at max after that first you and your future spouse just fell in love with kids. I do see you’re very grateful for the kids you have. you’re going to be very funny with your kids they see you as a silly crazy fun parent. You could have a child born in January or the winter.

Thank you for reading loves! 🤍 if you have any recommendations for readings lmk I’d love to hear them!

[miley1442111]

Hi! I don’t know if you were already planning this but I was wondering if I could request a part 2 of your new fic ‘Regrets’? Maybe like a few years later they see each other again? You can decide if it’s a happy or sad ending, I love your work!

------------------------

------------------------

regrets, part 2- s.reid

------------------------

a/n: thank you so much for requesting, i think this is becomign a series !!! (aka it's got it's own google doc, yay!)

summary: 5 years after you and spencer call of the engagement, he's back in your life. For a case. obviously.

pairing: spencer reid x fem reader

warnings: fighting, brief spencer in prison mentions (nothing about the storyline though dw), set a few years after so ik he's 'no in the bau' but just go with it please.

------------------------

You didn’t see him. For 5 long years in your new town of Colorado. You became a nanny for a wonderful family, you were paid well, and you were happy. That was until one fateful day. 

When Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareou, David Rossi, Penelope Garcia, and Luke Alves, showed up at the doorstep of the O’Connor family mansion. 

------------------------

Knock knock knock

“One second!” you shouted, juggling Annaleise, the youngest of the O’Connor children, in your arms as you tried to peel a banana for Xander’s, the second youngest, breakfast. “Xander, stop playing with your porridge, eat it!” You playfully scolded, resulting in a laughing fit from Xander, and the surrounding four children. 

Annaleise was 2, Xander was 3, Jamie was 6, Poppy was 9, Juliet was 14, and Megan was 16. All the kids adored you, you lived with them as their parents went on various business, and pleasure trips. They were typical rich parents who didn’t exactly care about their children, but you did. You cared about them alot and you’d grown to love taking care of them.

“Coming!” You shouted as you bounced Annaleise in your arms and rushed to the front door.

You wished you hadn’t opened it. Then, the world wouldn’t have stood still. Then, you wouldn’t have seen Spencer. You wouldn’t have seen the awful dark rings under his eyes, his sunken and pale skin, the shock in his eyes when you came to the door with a child. “Hello?” 

“Mrs. O’Connor-” David started. 

“I’m not Mrs. O’Connor. She’s on a business trip with Mr. O’Connor,” you explained quickly. Had you not been making eye-contact with David, you would’ve seen how Spencer’s entire body untensed. The small breath of air he didn’t realise he’d been holding left his mouth in a spluttering cough of sorts and Jj had to slap him on the back to stop him from choking on his own spit. 

“My apologies, Y/n how are you?” David had always been kind to you. 

“Fine, I’m good David. Thank you,” you smiled. “I’m the nanny.”

“Do you mind if we come in to ask you some questions?” he asked, flipping over his FBI badge. 

“I wouldn’t mind if you came in but everyone is getting ready for school and this isn’t really an ideal time. Would you like to come back later?” You asked and Emily nodded. 

“That’d be perfect,” she smiled. “It’s good to see you Y/n.”

“You too,” you smiled and went back inside, 5 sets of eyes on you. 

“Who was that?” Megan practically screamed. 

“Old friends,” you lied, rushing back to get everyone’s breakfast plates away, and Annaleise in his chair.

5 voices were speaking over each other, aided by Annaleise’s incoherent babbling and you genuinely had to shout over all of them. 

“Get in the car!” You shouted. “We’re going to be late!” You reminded them. Soon, everyone was springing into action, grabbing their bags and packed lunches, and piling into the car, Megan and Juliet getting into Megan’s car to drive to their high school. You dropped Xander to his Montessori first, then Jamie and Poppy to their grade school. 

All was calm in the car as Annaleise babbled to you from the backseat. 

------------------------

“I can’t tell you anything,” you answered., “I signed an NDA.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed and he sighed. “This is a murder case Ms.-”

“And I will go to prison if I break my NDA. I'm sorry and I really wish I could help you, but I can’t.”

“Y/n, we can get a warrant,” Jj reminded you.

“Jj, I know that. I’d honestly prefer if you did,” you sighed. “What’s this about anyways?”

“Human trafficking,” David answered and you sighed. “When will Mr and Mrs. O'Connor be back from their trip?”

“3 weeks time,” you answered. 

There was a collective eye roll from the entire group. 

“Alright, Spencer stay here with Y/n while we get a warrant to search the house,” Emily ordered and both your faces fell. 

“Emily-” He tried but she gave him a look. One that made you feel that there was no room for arguing. 

“Right,” you stared at the ground, trying to find your footing in this new dynamic. “Hi Spencer.”

“Hi,” he squeaked out.

You sat in silence in the kitchen as Analeise slept in her bassinet in the next room. “Do you want a drink or anything?” You offered. 

“Just some water, please,” he smiled softly. You grabbed a cup out of the drawer and handed him a full glass of water. For the brief split-second where you two were touching, everything felt… different. “How are you?”

“I’m good, how are you?”

“I’m… I’m alright, yeah,” he clearly lied. 

“How’s your mom?” 

“She’s good,” he chuckled. “She misses you.”

You smiled. “Well, you can always tell her that I miss her too.”

Spencer chuckled sadly at your words and nodded. “I will.”

“I like your hair,” you smiled. “It suits you.” 

Spencer hadn't looked in a mirror in what… three weeks? He usually refused to. “Thank you,” he swallowed the lump in his throat. “Y-you look good too.”

“Thank you,” you nodded. 

“I should’ve never snapped at you like that,” he shook his head, trying to keep the multitude of emotions that were threatening to spill over at bay. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright. We’re both happy now,” you shrugged. "It was a long time ago-"

“I’m not,” he admitted. “Everyday, I spend my waking moments just thinking about you. Where you went, what you were doing, everything! Anything. And now you’re here in front of me. And I don't know what to do.”

“What do you mean Spencer?” you asked, suddenly the air was turning sour, just like your opinion of him. “You broke up with me.”

“And I wish I hadn’t-”

“But you did Spencer. You did. And I moved to another state to get away from it. And now you’re here, saying all this shit about ‘us’. As if there is an ‘us’ anymore,” you scoffed. “That’s a joke Spencer.”

He nodded, his eyes falling to stare at his dirty, broken converse. You’d gotten him a pair just like these. A red pair, to match the red scarf you’d made him. For his birthday, back when you were just the cool girl he had a huge crush on. Back before you were his. Back before he ruined it all. 

------------------------

“Happy birthday Spencer,” you smiled from your spot on his living room couch. He had been shocked that you’d even shown up, let alone brought him a present for his 25th birthday. “Open it!”

He did. And what he would find inside was a hand-written note (one that he’d treasure forever, with the rest of the notes you’d give him while you were together), a pair of red converse in his size, and a crocheted, chunky scarf that looked warm and comfortable. 

“I know you usually match something in your outfit, so I thought this would be good,” you smiled. “But there’s a gift receipt for the shoes if you don’t like them. The scarf is for keeps though.”

Both of them were for keeps. You were for keeps. 

------------------------

“If you’d just excuse me for a moment-” he started, trying to get up but you just pulled him into a hug.

“But I’d really like to be friends,” you whispered. “I miss all of you. But you most of all.” 

His hands felt into their rightful place, around your waist as you held him close. “I’d like that.”

“Me too.”

------------------------

criminal minds masterlist :)

navigation for my blog :) (criminal minds, marvel, top gun, challengers, the bear, the hunger games, obx+)

[llatimeria]

I think I'm actually just reinventing Montessori schools. I'm fine with that

I think that we should add arts and crafts freedom time as a recess activity. like along with the regular playground stuff there should also just be chalk offered to draw on the ground and maybe an entire art studio room with various basic kid-friendly art supplies for them to play with if they aren't in a running and jumping mood (or have issues with physical activity). also make the entire art room solid concrete so you can literally spray it down with a hose every couple of weeks because you cannot trust hundreds of children with infinite art supplies

[jakeowen]

pls talk about homeschooling (genuinely interested)

so ok here’s the thing. i was a montessori kid who went on to receive a private progressive education through college. i think progressive education is wonderful and important. my dad was a montessori teacher and i spent four years working in education access inside an under-resourced high school (including pandemic years). the reason i mention this is that i do believe that mainstream education (both public and private schools) is failing kids and ultimately society. i have a lot of sympathy for parents who want a higher-caliber education for their kids and don’t know where to get it besides at home. one of my best friends was homeschooled because his parents (both professors) couldn’t find a school they were comfortable sending him to, and he turned out very intelligent and perfectly ok, if weird. i’ve also seen other positive examples of homeschooling, including a homeschool program at a nature preserve i worked at and homeschool that incorporates the occasional class at a local high school or community college or what have you. all this to say, i don’t think all motives for homeschooling are evil and i don’t think every single child who’s been homeschooled has been mistreated or denied positive social opportunities or whatever. however, all that said, even the best, highest-quality homeschooling should not be fucking legal.

after i was done working at a school, i went on to work at an organization serving unhoused youth and also teens in dcf custody, so i’ve seen a lot of shit, way more than enough to make me firmly believe that children are a uniquely vulnerable and marginalized population who are at high risk for exploitation. and the vast vast majority of exploitation and abuse happens inside the home. frankly you only need to meet one kid whose “homeschooling” was religious indoctrination designed to teach them to submit to their father raping them every night to be ready to burn the entire practice down. children are safest when they are part of the community, when they have access to multiple and varied points of view and responsible, caring adults representing those points of view. no child should ever be wholly at the mercy of their parents or any other single entity. it is simply not safe, and even if it were, it’s not healthy for a child’s cognitive development to only be exposed to one ideology, no matter how much or how little i agree with the particular ideology. part of healthy growth and development is the ability to integrate or discern different perspectives—it’s how you develop a bullshit detector, it’s how you learn to form your own opinions, and if you don’t build that skill in youth you are more susceptible to exploitation and indoctrination as an adult.

not all homeschool parents are fundamentalists who limit the perspectives their children can be exposed to. but the practice of homeschooling allows for this. the practice of homeschooling allows for abusive parents to lock their kids in cages and starve them and get away with it because there’s nobody to notice. any practice that provides a safe cover for the worst kind of abuse and exploitation is not a practice worth keeping, even if it does have the potential to work out well for a few kids.

the good news is that we actually already invented a way for children to get educated: it’s called school, and it exists free of charge in every community in the country. if you’re worried about the quality of your kids’ education, you can get involved! you can run for school board or join the pta/pto. you can also seek out or provide educational enrichment opportunities for your child that incorporate whatever you think they’re not getting at school. sunday school is a classic example of religious education supplementing school. my parents discussed current events with me, asked my opinion on things, shared theirs, and honestly answered my questions about other approaches/beliefs, and i learned a lot from that. even better than laying out enrichment opportunities for your kid, ask what THEY want to learn or feel like they’re not getting at school, and honor their autonomy by finding that for them or helping them find it. education does not begin and end at school, but it does not and cannot begin and end with parents either.

[respocked]

I'm thinking about work anyway so fuck it

Star Trek Public Primary School AU 🛸 !

Kirk

-the headmaster!

-went into education because of his own unfortunate childhood

-has an uncanny ability to tell which student has a bad home life

-remembers everyone's name, even if you went to his school 5 years ago for 2 months

-misbehaving teenagers send to his office get some candy and a motivational speech that changes the course of their lifetime

-most days can be found hovering suspiciously outside of spock's classroom

-way better with older students, 12-13 - has absolutely 0 idea what to do with young children

-which is awkward when while waiting for spock outside his classroom he tries to make small talk with them (-so... son... read any good books lately? -i can't read!)

Spock

- teaches early education, 6 to 9 year olds

-greatly overqualified for the position, had a human psychology degree, interspecies child development degree, highly regarded in scientific community

-could be teaching university but prefers to spend his time sitting on carpets with children drawing clouds

-his class is extremely nontraditional - no desks, sitting on the floor, tons of meditation, classes in nature

-does not adhere to the program at all but somehow his classes always score the best on all exams

-turned down a position in a trendy montessori school for a public one

-parents either go out his way for their child to attend his class or request someone else - either from homophobic or xeniphobic reasons

Uhura

-the school's cultural assistant!

-also runs student exchanges with other countries and planets

-speaks every minority language that has representation in the student body

-also a substitute teacher

-she can give a super interesting lessons

-but takes 0 shit from students who won't respect her

-runs an extracurricular activity with spock when she teaches immigrant and refugee students to express their emotions with music

-is the best at pitching a project idea for funding, which is why her office and spock's classrom are the best equipped ones in the school

-spock's bestie, they hang out after work (gay/lesbian solidatity)

-still lives with her parents, they're super close

-wants to date but it's too boring compared to writing another lesson plan

Bones

-the school nurse! & in charge of nutrition

-teenagers are afraid of him

-small children absolutely love him

-takes his daughter to work and lets her draw with crayons on his important papers

-also constantly in spock's classroom, but to complain

-"damnit, spock! give them all the vulcan cuisine you want, but don't send them crying to me after they get an allergic reaction!"

-"meditation? maybe have them meditate on doing some real work for once"

-but when parents with pitchforks come to complain abt spock's methods he defends him like a lion

-he sends them piles after piles of scientific proof of why spock's method are actually the bestest and most efficient

-when kirk thanks him for stepping in he pretends like he doesn't know what he's talking about

Chapel

-teaches sex ed!

-the sweetest teacher ever

-one of those teachers that noone is intimidated by but noone disobeys because noone wants to makes her upset

-uses her Blonde White Straight Pretty Woman priviledge to convince reluctant parents to sign up their kids for sex ed

-goes All Out on halloween tho

-you know she is there, dressed like a witch, running an educational halloween themed activity! paper bats hanging from the ceiling!

-has gluten free and vegan candy in case the winners have a food sensivity!

-has a secret crush on Uhura and Spock both

Chekov

-teaches IT

-burned out miracle kid

-graduated university when he was younger than his current students

-lets students play roblox on the computers

-and teaches them how to torrent

-somehow noone from the faculty knows where he lives

-background check turns up nothing

-"did you know computers were invented in russia?"

-puts 0 effort in but somehow his students love him

-little girls take sneak photos of him to edit in a flower crowns

Scotty

-teaches a woodworking & engineering class and does janitor duties on the side!

-like kirk, absolutely 0 idea on how to treat younger kids

-strict

-has to be, no joking around power tools!

-but you know praise from him hits different

-will tell students he's proud of them when they make theit first little table

-can fix everything

-say "this interactive blackboard is broken!" three times to summon him

-marries to his career, teaching fulfills his paternal calling

Sulu

-teaches biology!

-rule follower

-stressed out about exams 3 years before his students

-not very inventive but everyone wants his class because there is a hamster in the classroom

-classroom full of houseplants

-if you agree to water them when he's away you will receive a 50 page manual on proper misting techniques

-not strict at all but will give a dressing down to a student who is seen treating a living thing badly

-can be bribed with plants

[geekonomy]

Top Preschools Near ITPL, Whitefield , Marthahalli In 2023

Best School for Montessori Kids. Kinfolk Montessori Preschool Admissions open

[hyukassubi]

🍪 02 | Of Roses And Cookies

♡𓂃 Pairing -> (Former) Knight! Huening Kai x Seamstress! Reader

♡𓂃 Synopsis -> Growing up, you never believed in purpose, nor destiny. Simply following the path of life, becoming a royal seamstress didn't at all seem like a bad idea. Only thing is, it wasn't your idea.

Your best friend who just so happens to be the crowned prince knows what it's like to grow up having limited choices, and Prince Kang Taehyun doesn't want the same happening to you. The commander knight, in turn, has other plans for the future. After Huening Kai closes a profound chapter of his life, he seeks refuge from the chaos of his past, opting for a cozier lifestyle instead.

... And it just so seems that those plans wouldn't be fulfilled without you.

♡𓂃 Wc -> 628

Tabby hands, scrappy clothes, Mary Janes strapped to your feet where ever you go.

Unlike Taehyun, just like Hueningkai, you did not grow up with a royal background.

Two high school sweethearts that started off as a fling had an accident, that accident being you. Your parents didn’t give up in raising their happy little accident, though. Sure, marriage wasn’t a privilege they had until way later, but you had a great time staying over at your mother’s bakery and your father’s florist nonetheless.

You always did.

The kids at preschool kept talking about the way you smelled.

How, every day, you’d be smelling of sugar and frosting, chamomile and roses, cookies and flowers. Seatmates betting on whether or not that girl will come in smelling like chocolate today, or perhaps pistachio, but then they get it all wrong and the room starts fuming of a lavender haze.

The attention was nice until you begin to notice how talk was all talk and no one really talked with you.

Except for one person— Kang Taehyun.

Boba-eyed, impressively pearly white grin, the face of a baby pumpkin, three year old Kang Taehyun was too adorable to be real.

The baby prince who, to everyone’s surprise, landed in a montessori preschool for toddlers who can barely spell their names instead of a high class Royal Academy for Babies. A small boy like him hadn’t yet any responsibilities bared upon him, anyway. There was absolutely no need to learn basic etiquette nor book-balancing on the top of your head at four years of age. And so, lucky was Taehyun for eating mud in playgrounds and zooming past the teachers in scooters when he should be tucked in a pillowed-up rectangular cribs for naptime.

For now, he was surrounded by village toddlers his age with sacked diapers and snot all over their faces. So, yes, perhaps the girl in the corner of the room dressing up chewed up barbies was a refreshener.

Taehyun whiffs the air, nose pointing to the ceiling, nostrils flared like volcano craters. “You smell nice.”

She looked at him for a second, and then went back to putting paper eyelashes on dolls in skirts and clay blobs for shoes.

Taehyun tilted his squishy-cheeked pumpkin head to the side, eyebrows furrowed in adorable concern. “Do you talk?”

No response.

“Don’t be shy, I think you should talk more. To me.”

You sat quietly for a moment, and… snuck a cookie out of the pockets of your denim overalls.

You split the huge chocolate covered goodness into two uneven excuses of semi-circles.

You gave the bigger piece to the baby prince.

You had always liked keeping the bigger piece to yourself.

The baby prince looked at the cookie, and then you, and then his relatively clean toddler hands, and then back at the cookie.

He grabbed it.

He never left your side since.

You thought you had to get on your knees and bow too after dismounting the carriage to meet the King and Queen at the corridor of the Grand Palace like your parents did.

And then Taehyun said, “It’s okay, a ‘Hello’ is enough for us. And no need to call me ‘Little Crowned Prince Kang’. ‘Taehyun’ is what I go by.” ‘Taehyun’ is enough.”

“What he said.” The King patted his son on the shoulder.

He must’ve been proud.

Your parents did not move.

You had no idea who you were, or what you want or could’ve been besides being the daughter of a florist and baker and the walking aroma therapy in your kindergarten, but you knew the prince had a warm heart and his actions might’ve left you feeling touched.

“Okay.” You replied. “Hello, Taehyun.”

The little prince smiled, and happiness never left him since.

Previous | Masterlist | Next

♡𓂃A/n: My personal favourite line: baby Taehyun sniffing the air and his nostrils puffing up like volcano craters.

What the little toddler reader saw that day:

FJKHKAUJJEHFOAI I cannot wait for you guys to devour the following baby reader chapters because they're sooooo cute

♡𓂃Tags: @sweetheartsaku @imcringebutimfree @i-like-to-read-at-4am @pengningie @marloree @stormy1408 @blossommi

Reblog & review if you like my work !!

[theunstuffedpepper]

Doing some major gardening over here this past week! In addition to the railing and hanging baskets that I enjoyed putting together last year, I also took the time to weed the front garden bed (which had never been planted by us since owning the house). I pinned down some gardening fabric after weeding and aerating the soil, and then planted what I truly hope are deer resistant plants — some dahlias, lemon coral sedum, and some celosia I had leftover from the baskets. I have a feeling they’ll eat the celosia, but time will tell.

I went on my first guided birding trip recently and it was amaaaaazing. It was just me, the van driver (my age), and the guide and two other ladies who all were in their 60s. It was fab. The guide has been birding for 50 years and I was soaking up ALL the knowledge. I added a ton of new birds to my life list — 8 types of warblers plus a few scarlet tanagers, ovenbird, grosbeak, a redstart, veery, red eyed vireo, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee and an osprey. We tried our damndest to see the blackburnian and golden winged warblers that we could hear, but didn’t catch a glimpse. So fun. Consider me hooked.

My back pain has seriously ramped up lately, so much so that I’ve made an appointment with a physical therapist for next week. Something’s gotta give. I’m doing stretches and whatnot on my own, but I need some help at this point. I can’t wait.

The nature school season is almost done and we toured a Montessori preschool yesterday. The teacher loved Holden and thought he would be a great fit. I’m so relieved because apparently I waited too long to start looking for preschools (why are the waiting lists so long?!). We secured ourselves a spot there, so he’ll attend their 4-week summer camp in June/July and then start for the school year in September.

All is more or less well over here, just chugging along with work. My MIL has officially retired and so far, so good with her helping with child care on a more full time basis. I’m very cautiously optimistic. Very cautiously, but still. I’ll take it.

Bring on this warm summer-like weather with all the gardening and birding and poolside days we can fit in. 🐦‍⬛

[rootytootypie]

Super curious about Batman- 😳💨🫘❤️(ships could be with anyone or people he's close to working with-ex: Superman)

💨: Bruce isn’t a gassy guy, by all means. Probably a 3/10. He only gets gas at charity galas and if truly forced to eat on the run; otherwise, his diet is extremely refined. But what he lacks in quantity, he more than makes up for in quality. If he fully lets it out, it’s loud as hell and smells like death. He can make them silent, but the stink almost gets stronger. He definitely resorts to any and all means of muffling the sound and smell, and generally takes it to the bathroom, spreads his cheeks, and muffles it with toilet paper. He totally has charcoal lined underwear, regularly takes mints for more than just breath problems, and even has a soundproof room in his mansion for total privacy.

🫘: Hoo boy…do NOT let this man around fattening foods. Other than beef and poultry, Bruce’s stomach is unprepared. Anything rich, filling, creamy, sugary, or generally having empty calories is gonna cause some rumbles. Salad dressing other than vinaigrette gets to this man. And fast food? The other reason other than poison gas the Batmobile has a high-tech automated air filter. It’s also programmed to filter human gas, something other Justice League members are thankful for for their own reasons.

😳: 12/10 on the embarrassment scale. He’s mortified if he farts in front of Alfred, much less anyone else. He has to emotionally decompress after every time he’s forced to let a silent one go, even though he almost always gets away with it.

His most embarrassing moment? Hands down, it was during an at-home interview with Vicki Vale. He had given her a tour of Wayne Manor (at least the parts on the dummy schematics used to ward off nonexistent suspicion). He made jokes. Charmed her and the photographer she brought along. Told a funny story or two about his antics in Europe (that he had invented after rereading The Sun Also Rises). Then it happened (in slo-mo, as Bruce remembers it): she dropped her pen. He went to pick it up. *BWWWWAAARRRRRRTTT!* And his rear decided to play the salvo of last night’s charity dinner - particularly the stuffed mushrooms.

He jerked back into a rigid stance, cleared his throat, and said, “Excuse me.” This took a gargantuan amount of effort, as the last time he’d undeniably passed gas in public had been in his nursery years at a Montessori school, and as soon as eyes went toward him, he’d run out of the room in tears, which he vaguely felt the urge to do now.

To her credit, noticing Bruce’s tomato red face, Vicki said, “We’ll leave that off the record” and changed the subject to the first edition Dickens novels in the study.

❤️: Bruce never intends to let anyone get too close. He never plans to let his guard down. Flatulence is his definition of too close. Especially when, despite his intentions, he starts romanticizing his boyfriend, then having breakfast in bed with him, and then telling stories about his childhood. Damn it, his emotional walls should be too strong for even Superman to break through, and yet the guy has sprinted through them like they were made of foam bricks.

Why in God’s name did Clark have to find out from Alfred that Bruce’s secret favorite dish is escargot, and then surprise him with it for dinner on his birthday? Did Alfred want him to embarrass himself? Because he was definitely close. Especially after Clark decided to gave him a deep tissue massage as part two of his birthday celebration.

Why were Clark’s hands moving towards his butt? Why wasn’t he yelling out stop, knowing Clark would immediately cease? Why hadn’t he begged off the massage and invented a reason to go on patrol?

All this went through Bruce’s mind as, with his active stomach gurgling and his back yielding to Clark like a pie crust, he relaxed too much and so did his hold on his gas.

*Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!*

“Good boy,” Clark said. “Now I’m sure you’re relaxed, Bruce.”

“Ha ha,” Bruce said joylessly. “Please forget that.”

“No, I’m serious,” Clark said. “I’m not teasing you. I’m just glad the massage is working. I’m sorry, Bruce. Please don’t be embarrassed.”

“I literally just farted in my boyfriend’s face,” Bruce said. “How can I not be embarrassed?”

“Because I love you, and would never hold something so natural against you,” Clark replied. “Also…”

And then Bruce’s sweet, doe eyed Midwestern boyfriend did something truly shocking.

*BBBBBRRRRRRRRFFFFFFFFFRRRRT!*

“Excuse me,” Clark said, blushing. “I think the garlic sauce made me a little gassy too. I didn’t mean to let out such a monster. I only wanted to make you feel better about your little slip. Less…alone in your mortification.”

Bruce sat up, turned over, and gave Clark a passionate kiss. “You’re the greatest love I’ve ever known,” Bruce said. “Thank you for being you.”

And that night, Bruce didn’t feel claustrophobic as the two men passed gas throughout the night, but instead an incredible sense of warmth and comfort he’d never imagined.

[upontherisers]

if you're feeling it, could i please request "playing with each other’s fingers" for an oc of your choice👀 — @shoshiwrites

happy (belated) bday my dear shosh. here is a very very belated prompt to celebrate. this is an AU i've had for years but @loveduringthewar's beautiful West Wing AU inspired me to get some real writing done on it. summary: poet laureate mattie james is dutifully protected by secret service special agent joe toye.

a friday in autumn, 2:19 pm

Joe finds himself in a chair across from Mattie, who’s surrounded by a gaggle of vigilantly curious middle schoolers as she holds his palm and moves his hand around.

“See?” she says, angling his fingers toward the fluorescent lights overhead, “it’s too big. So,” she lets his hand down once more and slips her wire work off his finger. “We gotta make it smaller but if we squeeze it—”

“There’ll be a bend, like, a little point.” One of the kids makes a ‘V’ with his hands and Mattie beams. 

“Exactly! Let me show you how to avoid that.” She sits back with the paperclip ring and the circle of kids closes around her once more.

Joe takes a moment to look around for help from any of the other adults in the room, hoping someone else is willing to jump in and play model while he gets back to his very serious job of protecting a representative of the state, but he’s only met with endeared smiles from the teachers and duty-bound refusal from his fellow agents. Bull’s at the door with a sympathetic but ultimately unmoved nod, Bill’s glancing over with a smug, thrilled sneer between chatting to one of the instructors, and Johnny shakes his head before looking at the floor. Joe knows what that means—you made your bed, now lie in it.

Or, as Mattie likes to say, grow a spine.

It’s not like Joe doesn’t have a spine. He spends his days telling people what they can and can’t do, where they can and can’t go, and who they can and can’t speak to, all without getting caught up in their pleas and compromises. This job does not allow for missteps; he’s not a man who takes chances. But this, and but is doing a lot of work here says the Mattie in his brain because she lives there now, this is different.

This is the fourth school they’ve been to this week and it goes the same every time. They arrive to a warm, overenthusiastic welcome from the teachers and an excited-slash-confused-to-borderline-hostile reception from the students. Mattie’s music isn’t necessarily targeted toward the middle grades, her poetry even less so. But she gets up there nonetheless.

Hi, I’m Mattie. I make music and I write poems.

Are you good at it? a kid will ask, always a boy—this one proudly introduced himself as Tyler, always towards the back of the room, always accompanied by giggles.

Mattie shrugs. Some people think I am, some people think I’m trash. And the shock of that admission, from an adult, from a capital-I important adult, breaks the spell of awkwardness and within a few minutes, she’s charmed the whole room. The kids are eating out of her palm. Even the ones who were determined to be difficult have either bought in or are about to.

Joe is now familiar with the mix of admiration and jealousy on a teacher’s face when they realize that Mattie’s nearing a participation rate that Maria Montessori would be jealous of. Johnny leans over to them with a grimace of empathy. It’s not you, it’s her. She’s a magician with this stuff.

Then, her least favorite part. She asks for a volunteer, just for a moment, just for a prompt. We can’t theorize our way into making art. We gotta do it. All the energy that had built up and the excitement on the kids’ faces fizzle. She’ll give it a few seconds and look at the adults in the room rather than the kids, half-pleading, half-resigned, then laugh like that was expected, like she asked them to skydive with no parachute. 

She’ll let off steam about it later, when they’re in the car, when they’re back in her suite at the Library of Congress. How hard is it to set an example? They introduce me like I’m Nelson fucking Mandela but as soon as I ask them to engage for the sake of their kids, crickets.

Mattie, Johnny’ll say, it’s not that—

It’s because they don’t take this seriously. All this talk about how important artistic outlets are, but God forbid you have to do that art yourself. Because that’s not serious, that’s not real. She lets her bag hit the ground harder than necessary and runs her hands over her face before ripping open her beat-up laptop, mumbling to herself. It’s fine. It’s about the kids, it’s about the kids.

Bill’ll send a get a load of this guy eyebrow around to the other three, but Joe usually finds himself nodding in agreement with Mattie. Poet Laureate is quite a title, but it doesn’t mean anything when no one’s listening. People should listen.

So, on this particular Friday as Tyler, who reminds Joe of Bull—well-built and curly blonde—takes the awkward silence to look at him and the rest of the agents rather than his teachers or Mattie, Joe decides that it changes today. He knows the answers to her prompts already—think of a fruit, apple; think of a color that’s not also the color of an apple, purple. A four-man detail has one redundant agent and all entrances and exits have been secured; the other three can spare him for a while.

He pushes off the eastern wall or the room and half-raises a hand before fully raising it when he sees Mattie’s eyes light up upon realizing what he’s doing. He answers her questions only slightly disquieted by the sudden amount of eyes on him, but as she starts her poem building exercise with a thankful wink, he feels pretty good about it. He’s doing the thing, making art instead of theorizing, setting the example.

More like sitting the example. In his two months with Mattie, he forgot that making art could mean… y’know, making it, not just writing it down. It’s the whole point of the exercise, actually. Ten minutes of silent work, discussion, ten minutes of work with light conversation—Mattie’s the queen of light conversation, then presentations from anyone who wants to. The only rules are that you have to make something, whether it be using the poem prompt she walks them through or something from the classroom supplies at your teacher’s discretion.

The kids who wanted to write set off with their paper and pencils and Mattie walks around for a bit before settling into an empty chair and fiddling with the paper clips a girl is using crafts. Tyler wanders by first, then two of his friends, next a few of their friends, and soon, there’s a bundle of 7th graders watching Mattie make a paper clip ring. And of course, they want to make one too and of course, Mattie needs a model for show because if all of the kids are making one and she’s teaching, then who’s driving the boat? And of course Joe gets pulled in because he volunteered so nicely before.

The circle of children parts like the Red Sea and he’s face-to-face with Mattie again as she wraps the ring around his finger, her hands working around his to fit the metal securely. She’s full of focus, eyes locked on where their skin meets, still in her shoulders and steady in her breathing in the way she only ever is when she’s in the zone. He wants to laugh at the dedication to this tiny strip of wire, but he won’t, not in present company; he can’t have them think he’s laughing at her.

Maybe you don’t have to have volunteers, Johnny offers after their third visit with no adult participation.

Mattie sighs. It’s about the principle of the thing.

Oh, Bill snarks, the principle of the thing.

The kids don’t need to follow the teachers, they follow you just fine, Bull says from his spot at the door.

Johnny nods sagely. Yeah, monkey see, monkey do.

Well, Mattie says, tilting her head in sad consideration, maybe I’d hoped there’d be better monkeys.

Joe is being a better monkey, so no laughing. Instead, he looks from her face to their hands, wondering as always what she sees and how she sees it. It’s not just metal and space to her because nothing is ever just anything to her.

Her brain’s wired different than ours, as Bill says. And Johnny says, your brain isn’t wired at all.

He’s sure she’s watching the steel atoms bump into each other or she’s far beyond, watching the solar system spin on its galactic arm, just a blip in the rapidly approaching collision with Andromeda. Or she’s in both places at once, and here with him, too, capable of holding onto every eon and tense and time zone at once. He doesn’t understand it, not yet, where the poet ends and the person begins. 

“There!” Mattie says, sitting back. Joe holds still for what seems like far too long as the kids investigate her handiwork and investigate him. Their inquisitive gazes wander from the ring to his face, some of them leaning in to squint at him, evaluative and unimpressed.

Most of them have figured what he’s doing here, with three other guys who have similar enough haircuts and stand with hands clasped at rest in front of them, plain clothed but suspiciously so. He likes kids, or at least, he’s discovered that he likes them more than he thought he would. They don’t understand that it’s some people’s job to fly under the radar. They meet his gaze as much as they meet Mattie’s instead of politely ignoring him and his fellow agents like adults know to do. And when they do look at him, they don’t care. He has to respect that.

He’s watching Mattie shape a paperclip for a kid when Tyler suddenly fills up his entire field of vision, staring wide-eyed like Joe is a fish in a tank. “Do you have a gun?”

“Okay,” Mattie says, reaching out and clapping Tyler on the shoulder, “it seems like we’re ready for presentations! Let’s take our seats.”

Joe bolts out of his chair and takes his place along the wall again as Mattie wraps up.

He doesn’t realize he still has the heart-shaped ring on until they’re back at the Library of Congress and walking into Mattie’s suite. It’s so light that he forgets he's wearing it and it’s only as she sets her bag down and the flower ring one of the girls gave her catches the sun that he remembers what sits on his finger.

He slips it off and holds it out to her. “Here.”

She takes it gently, turning it over in her decorated hands before flipping it back to him like a coin. “It’s a gift,” she says with a wink, “for being my guinea pig.”

His mouth opens to say something, anything, but the words die in his throat. Taking a moment, he studies it for the first time. It’s a delicate thing, slightly springy if he squeezes the sides, more of a square than a circle, and so very Mattie that he’d pick her if someone had him guess at the maker. The heart has been roughly colored by a red Crayola marker which she’d gotten all over a desk and apologetically wiped up and the imperfections of it—the bends that won’t come out from the original shape, the matte sheen from all the handling—makes it more beautiful. 

He doesn’t know where to put it. It’ll fall right off the chain of his cross, and he can’t wear it and risk it getting snagged on something, but he wants it around. He wants to be able to see it and remember a day that was good, a day when he felt like they made a difference, that he made a difference. He hadn’t had a day like that in a long time.

It ends up in his locker at the D.C. headquarters office. Bringing it home feels too… too close, but this is a good spot, halfway between head and heart. He places it on the little shelf in the back next to his spare sunglasses and his old dog tags. He can’t seem to bring those home, either.

Johnny shakes his head as he passes on the way to his locker.

Joe pauses. “What?”

“You can’t say no to that girl.”

This is what Johnny’s amusement was about earlier in the classroom. There was nothing wrong with Joe stepping up or sitting down for a demonstration—it’s encouraged actually, especially at schools, something about giving the Service a friendlier face. Johnny’s gripe is with who Joe stepped up for and why he did it. 

“No favorites, Joe.”

“You think I’m playing favorites?”

“I think you don’t understand her.”

“And you do?”

Johnny shrugs and shuts his locker. “No, but I don’t try to. You can’t let it go.”

“I think,” Joe starts as he follows the other agent down to check-out, “that if we understand her, we can understand this guy and get him.”

It’s the one thing that bothers Joe about this case. Lots of people get threats—protecting those people is eighty percent of his job—but there’s something about the ones Mattie gets that doesn’t sit right with him, hasn’t since the beginning. The letters are the one inroad that anyone has to solve this thing and as more show up with diminishing progress from the combined efforts of the Service and the FBI, he thinks it’s time to get a move on. Maybe the missing link is in the protectee and not the thing they’re protecting her from.

What’s the harm in trying? He keeps thinking about where Mattie gets stuck in her job, where she’s given status but no authority, and how she keeps returning to her painted corner with a brave smile, gracious to wait there until she gets called up to do her tricks again. People listen to poetry but they don’t understand it, she says and that’s not fair. When he looks at Mattie, he sees a girl who should be understood as completely as possible, if ever possible.

Johnny flashes his badge at the front desk sensor and looks back at Joe. “It’s not your job to understand. It’s your job to stand there. What if something happened while you were getting your ring sized?”

Joe’s offended. “Sitting down means I’m compromised?”

“Getting involved means you’re compromised.” Johnny’s facing him now that they’re both in the exit lobby, a pensive look on his face as his bag is slung over his shoulder. “Look, Joe, they’re not paying us to think on this one. If you think something’s up, talk to Dick, otherwise, this is not the kind of work you bring home.”

Right, ‘cause Johnny’s a family man now, with a wife and a kid and a baby on the way.

“I didn’t bring it home,” Joe says.

Johnny nods but his eyes are far away. “Yeah, but you thought about it.”

Silence falls for a moment before Johnny sniffs and shoulders his bag. “Who’s on duty tonight?”

“Talbert and Grant,” Joe replies.

Johnny nods. “Make sure they take a look at the cameras, see if they can figure out why they’re down.”

“Yeah,” Joe sighs and heads out with a nod.

The drive home is quiet except for the radio and as he pulls into the parking lot, one of Mattie’s songs comes on the folk station he’s been lurking on. He sits for as long as it takes to play—eyes closed, head rested on his seat—and lets her voice wash over him. She sings like she speaks, brassy and casual, effortless, not having to reach for what she wants, alluring, magnetic in a way that gets under his skin. He listens for anything that could teach him something and he’s so caught up in the mystery of the girl and the thing that goes bump in the night, that he doesn’t listen to the lyrics until the chorus.

But I’m in so deep, she sings, you know I’m such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, oh. Do you have to let it linger?

“What the hell do you know about The Cranberries?” he asks to the air, smiling softly. 

It ends too soon, but the cool night outside shocks the spell of Mattie’s voice from his system as he enters his dark apartment. His nights off-duty are more and more standard as this assignment goes on; he’ll check in with his older sister as he gets dinner ready—Mom’s arthritis is flaring worse than usual and his niece is deciding between swim and soccer camp, catch the Pirates highlights on ESPN, do the dishes, then do his readings.

He started them on a curious whim, just to see what the hype was about and ended up standing in the aisle of a Brentwood bookstore for fifteen minutes, engrossed, until the attendant asked him if he was going to be making a purchase. He bought three books, none of them very long, but he’s not a book guy so they’ve been a task to get through.

He read Letters from a Convict Child first because it’s the book that put Mattie on the map and wrote a man out of incarceration and he’s not sure that he got all of it—he’s not sure that he got any of it—but he understands her now, at least more than he did two months ago. Each poem that paints a picture of the world paints a picture of the writer, too, and sometimes he wants to look away as Mattie touches her own raw nerves to get the words out. But he stays for her, he stays because people always look away. That’s why she writes.

As of yesterday, he’s officially halfway through reading grow lemon grow poem by poem and as he finds tonight’s selection, he’s struck by the opening lines. 

Wire hurts my hands, makes my fingers stink But I bend another paperclip

He underlines in his shitty pencil and reads the poem over and over again until his eyes start to droop close and he drags himself to bed wondering what Mattie’s night was like, if she offered her dinner to Tab and Chuck like she does he and Johnny, what music she played. It was Nina last week, but she’d spent the morning humming the Lumineers. Did she skip eleven songs before settling on the twelfth, or did she demand silence and curl up on the chair in the corner of her patio, legs tangled together, and write until Tab had to shuffle her to bed?

Did she make them rings despite the way the metal presses lines into the pads of her fingers? What did she say? Did either of them listen? 

He jolts up in the dull gray light of morning, scrambling to shut off his alarm as his chest heaves. In the bathroom, he splashes his face with cold water until the scenes of his dreams—lemon trees, paper clip rings, the shredded and smoking hull of an armored vehicle in the desert, a shadowed figure slipping a letter under Mattie’s door—wash away with the chill. His phone dings.

From B. Guarnere: Ur on coffee duty. Hurry up

[tokidokitokyo]

2024年9月30日

This month was busy but not in that frantic way where I felt overwhelmed. So I spent a lot more time working on Japanese in September. I am embracing the fall atmosphere and enjoying the change of the seasons. I always feel like I am not doing enough to improve my Japanese, but in September I tried to focus on the progress I made. Learning new vocabulary, improving my speaking ability, and even incorporating more writing into my study routine have made me feel like I am improving in a tangible way. Let's take a look at this month's study!

９月も忙しかったけどそんなに必死に動かなくても良かったので、先月と比べると少し落ち着いていた。９月に季節の変わりを楽しもうとして、秋の雰囲気を大切にしようとしている。いつも日本語の勉強は足りないって気がするけど、９月は上達したところを評価してみました。新しい語彙を沢山習って、会話力を上達して、そして文章力も少し成長した。具体的に成長したというのは気づいた。これから９月の勉強についてまとめしようと思う。

September Progress

This month I checked out some textbooks from the Japan Foundation library on the Libby app, and I've been working my way through those. I will try to post some reviews of the texts as I work through them.

I spent a lot of time speaking with the ママ友 (mom friends) at my son's Japanese preschool, and I feel like I am able to understand more and more of their discussions and am able to participate more often. I still always feel like I'm 日本語上手, though, so I will keep working on my conversation skills.

My son and I have started writing hiragana since he knows most of the 46 characters, and he has started writing practice at his Japanese preschool. At school they do a lot of line work (straight lines, curved lines, zig-zag lines, etc.) so at home we are trying out simple hiragana. Learning to teach someone how to learn is interesting, and it makes me realize that hiragana such as つ and し are much easier to write than ほ and お. In the same way that Montessori for English divides up letters to make them less confusing (grouping s, m, a, t for example, and not putting b and d in the same group), I have to think of where to start that is easiest for hiragana.

Study Habit Check-In:

〇 = Great, △ = Decent, ✖ = Not Great

Read daily - read something almost every day 〇

Write sentences 4 times a week - I wrote sentences more like twice a week which is pretty good △

Review kanji and vocabulary flash cards daily - weekly reviews △

Review 1-2 N3 grammar points weekly - reviewed once a week 〇

Learn 1-2 N2 grammar points weekly - I learnt 1-2 N2 grammar points this month △

Listen to 1 podcast a week - yes! 〇

Continue to work on hiragana with my son - we are starting to write hiragana since he knows a lot of hiragana already and has been interested in writing it 〇

October Goals

Continuing my motivation from September, in October I'd like to continue with the study materials I have. I am not taking the JLPT exam, but I'd like to continue with a steady schedule to work through the N2 workbooks I have. I also need to finish up the textbooks I checked out in September before they are returned (there's always a waitlist!).

The goals:

Continue working through Sou-Matome N2 workbooks

Continue practicing with Sou-Matome N3 drill workbook

Continue working on Keigo textbook

Finish working through various borrowed Japanese textbooks

Read one novel and one manga this month

Continue with small daily study habits

Continue with hiragana writing practice

I think that these goals are manageable this month, with my schedule being fairly set. I will still be very busy, but I am never not busy ^.^

Looking forward to what this month will bring!

10月は安定だと思うので、この目標はなかなか当たりそうかもしれない。まだまだ忙しいけど、いつも忙しい人ですよ。（^.^）

10月も楽しみにしています！