Sue, the director of Neko's school, former science teacher, and long-time family friend and I have been working on some print materials together. In a correspondence late last night she said I needed to come to school and take a trip down to the pond to see something. Apparently, something memorable happened the other day when Neko and her kindergarten class visited the pond during science, but I needed a visual to understand.

We had a bunch of errands to run, but I decided that none of them were mission critical, and we had time for a walk. Plus, we're having magical fall weather, so there's really no excuse to be inside.

After school had dismissed, we made sure all three kids had shoes and made our way down to the pond. Sue and Neko made me look at the ground while they put me in position. When they finally let me look up, I was facing a sea of plants (the name escapes me at the moment). The picture doesn't even begin to capture these magnificent things. One of the leaves is on Neko's head in the second photo for scale, but they're larger than dinner plates.

So here are all these leaves, cupping upward toward the sky. Apparently while they were collecting specimens from the pond, Neko looked up and declared, "It's a finale!"

And she's so right. All those huge leaves, trumpeting up toward the clouds, rivaled the end of any musical on Broadway. I almost expected the conductor to peek his head out of the pit and the orchestra to chime in with the wave of a baton.

I feel compelled to post an update on Neko and her transition to school.

In the last few days I've seen a sudden change in her behavior. She seems to be getting into a groove, and is far more herself when she returns home. I've also begun the tactic of having a snack waiting in her booster when I pick her up. By the time we get home, her blood sugar has had a boost, and we seem to have cut down on quite a few tantrums.

I'd be remiss in not mentioning school itself, which she is clearly loving. This week her class got some hands-on time with the monarch project that has been going on at school. One of the parents raises monarchs from eggs and then tags and releases them on their journey to Mexico. He works as part of an organization that studies monarchs, and is raising a group at school. For Neko, this is a little slice of heaven, and she has been coming home rhapsodizing about the cute baby caterpillars and how a butterfly emerged today and they got to let it go. (I was on photo alert, so I ran over to school to quickly take a photo for the web site, publications, etc.)

And speaking of Mexico, she can't stop talking about "Me-hi-co" and the Spanish words she's learning. I have to keep correcting myself when we talk about it. This has gotten me thinking about trying to learn Spanish myself. My high school Latin left my head years ago, so I feel like the dumb American who only knows one language. And since they learn Spanish until sixth grade, it's not going away any time soon. Anyone know a good way to self-teach a language?

I digress. Until next update…adios!