Morning Rush and Zuzu's New Name

This daylight savings time adjustment has been kinda tricky. The upshot of it is that Coco is ready for bed at 7pm and Zuzu is ready for bed at 8pm. The downside is that I am ready for bed at 8:30pm, which means that I fell asleep last night instead of finishing the two chapters of The Return of the Soldier, which I am teaching today. (Fortunately, I've read this novel at least five times and it is short and also SO FLIPPING GREAT and also devastating in the best way possible).

In spite of our early night, we were sluggish this morning. In fact, Zuzu actually got out of bed and then fell back asleep on the rug in her room, next her to clothes.

Coco was feeling better this morning. I gave her another dose of medicine and went through the typical morning routine, feeling like I was two steps behind where I ought to be, and texting with David at the same time.

(Update on Gma Peppa: The cancer is back and in the past five weeks has spread everywhere, very aggressively. Previously they'd been able to pinpoint her lymphoma to two specific places in her lymph nodes. Now it's everywhere, and the strain on her organs has caused them to become enlarged, which is really painful. Although she has non-Hodgkins lymphoma, she'll try a new chemo treatment with the kind of chemo used for Hodgkins disease. If all goes well, it will wipe out the cancer and allow her organs to recover. There's some reason to be optimistic, as her body responded well to chemo before. However, this is her only option. If it doesn't go well, then there's not anything more they can do for her in terms of recovery. Not exactly great news. David will be staying with her until his mom arrives later this week, and then his aunt will also be flying in from California).

By the time we got out the door, I knew that I'd be at work on time, but I don't usually have to drop off both girls (David and I typically divide and conquer), so I suddenly realized that Zuzu might not make it to school for the start of Montessori Work Time.

We were told at Parents Night that Work Time is Kind Of A Big Deal as in, Don't Be Tardy.

So I picked up the phone to call the director and explain we might be just a few minutes late. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Hi, this is Zuzu's mom, Brooke. I just wanted to let you know we are running a bit late today and I'm afraid Zuzu might not be there right at 8:30 for the start of Work Time.

Director: Oh, okay. Well, this morning we are having our Native American Naming Ceremony, so we're actually going to be starting a little later for this celebration. Do you think you'll be here by 8:45?

Me: Uh... Yes, definitely.

Director: (sounding very relieved) Oh, good. Well, she won't miss anything then.

I was sort of laughing, mostly because the director was so totally serious and matter-of-fact. OF COURSE the day was beginning with a Native American Naming Ceremony, and THANK GOODNESS Zuzu wasn't going to miss it. Oh, this school is so crunchy and charming.

I told Zuzu that my Native American name was Little Running Water. She asked me what her name would be.

I suggested Little Screaming Eagle, but she rejected that choice.

In the end, we made it to school by 8:30am.

And in the parent message I received today, I learned that Zuzu's name is Spotted Elk.

I'm not sure how these names were chosen (The parent message did tell me that they are authentic names of actual American Indians, the names have been passed down for thirty years from graduates of the school to newly enrolled students, and it is an honor for each child to receive his or her name), so I'm curious to see what Zuzu thinks of being Spotted Elk.

Do elk bite people? Because maybe that's where it came from...