Mousey, Ms., and Martha

Woke up uncharacteristically early today at around 7:30am. Feeling like I need a really productive day-- emptied the dishwasher, did dinner dishes from last night, read (finally finally almost finished with The Feminine Mystique), and am now watching The View. Oh yes, I've become a regular View watcher since I've been off. It's actually quite informative. Martha is also on at the same time so I switch between them. She can get on my nerves a little, her filler commentary is sometimes awkward, but last week for Valentine's there was just the cutest decorations and desserts. Ludacris--shockingly!--is on today, but totally cleaned up wearing a men's v-neck sweater over a button down and he's making sea bass to highlight his new Asian restaurant in Atlanta. hilarious.

While I was reading in bed, I happened to look up and spot a little mousey running along the floorboard under the desk. Though this was the first time I've seen a live mouse in the house, I didn't scream or make a single noise. Saw it, thought hmm wait, is that? and then it scurried and I knew it was a little mousey. Now I'm mostly wondering where the heck it went to. We haven't caught any in awhile, I think they got wise to the traps, but there is less evidence in the kitchen so maybe only a few are left. Nice thought, I know.

Finally feeling better, got so much sleep though that I would have been really concerned if I hadn't gotten better soon. Read an interesting article in Ms. yesterday about the importance of early learning. By the time a child is 4, a child of higher-educated, professional parents will hear 32 million more words than a child of lesser-educated, lower-income parents. In addition to the complexity of the sentences and wider vocabularly. It's sort of crazy. The article also talked about how people think of the achievement gap between higher and lower income kids as being evident in elementary school, but it can be detected as early as 18 months. Entering Kindergarten isn't some magical new entry into being able to learn, that it starts much much earlier. Essentially the article was highlighting Obama's campaign platform and commitment to early education and funding, more federal money needs to go to programs like Head Start that get low income children ready for school.