One of my most challenging yet favorite 7th graders: "I hate gravity! Why can't I sleep on the wall gravity, why?!" all said while wearing a huge cape and taped glasses because it's Harry Potter day today.

Jacked up the background on my laptop, should be sleeping instead of messing around with such lame things, and while searching for a new background picture, I ended up browsing through old videos Em created on one of our little hikes. I'll never tire of her giggle, and I'll keep doing dumb things to hear it bubble out.

Things to Remember:

1) 7th grader whispered, "I know where eggplants come from! You start by burying an egg in the ground ..." I turned around, rubbed my eyes, and laughed a lot.

2) Helped with PE today, loved every second of it. Me to a 9th grade lazy butt, "Hey! I can hold your jacket for you, happy to do it. Perfect. You can earn it back by running the entire two laps you were asked to. Off you go, good luck, so proud of you!" Sucker. The gym teacher did say that he's never seen the kid run so hard before.

3) During an afternoon 7th grade class, one boy was riddled with the hiccups. I quizzed him on every little stupid detail about everything he had eaten today. I finally stopped asking him about his intake and followed up with, "Are your hiccups gone?"

He stared off into space, "... Yup!"

I said, "I'm a smart little Ms. Bateman and not just math smart huh?" I'm so proud that I can make a class of 30 twelve year olds laugh.

I caught the boy with his elbow on his desk, his hand cradling his head, then in a bit of a sad voice, he plead, "Ms. Bateman, can you make them come back?"

4) Went to my parents' house after school for potential climbing with Em. The garage door was shut, and Em's car wasn't out front, so I assumed the front door was locked. Fortunately, out came Jay right when I pulled up. He looked happy and didn't have his shoes on.

Me: "Hey Jay! Wait ... why are you only wearing one sock?"
Jay: "It's upstairs," said in a sassy where-else-would-it-be tone.

I want to start running trails in Corner Canyon. My sisters agreed to check out some trails this morning and Jay ended up coming with us. His hair was gelled, his jeans were pulled up high, and his water bottle was shoved in his back pocket. I encouraged him not to bring his big jacket.

Along the way, he and I had the following conversation:

Jay: "You hear the good news?"
Me: "Nope!"
Jay: "I have a new friend."
Me: "Oh yeah?"
Jay: "At the young single adults activity, I met a new friend."
Me: "Cool Jay, boy or girl?"
Jay: "I don't know."
Me: Pause.
Me: "You don't know if your friend is a boy or girl?"
Jay: Super happy, "Nope!"
Me: Mumbled, "This conversation just got a lot more interesting."