How to Make a Pinata, Step One

So JK is making a pinata for JT's birthday. First he blew up this balloon and used a mixture of flour and water to dip newspaper strips in. He coated the balloon with the strips and let it dry.
Step two is coming up later!

Yesterday my students turned in their first writing assignments, so I have to get cracking on the grading. They are also learning about Confucianism right now, so I have to plan my lessons with quite a bit of thought. For homework, I had them read their assigned bits of The Analects and write a response: does this seem relevant to our lives today? Tomorrow we are going to look at how two Confucist schools thought about human nature. It awaits to be seen whether the students will arouse from their mild slumber and actually discuss!!

Tomorrow is also JT's first (official) day at preschool. The plan is that papa will stay with him for a little while, then leave, and grandma will be on standby if someone needs to pick him up early. (I have to go in and turn in the mountains of paperwork associated with schooling before running off to teach section and attend the lecture.)
JT has become much more independent lately, and he even has begun interacting a bit with strange kids at the playground, which is a relief - his "takes time to warm up" stage seemed to last quite a while. He also has been wearing train underwear for the past few days without any major accidents (except yesterday during naptime), but I don't know how he will do with the teachers and using the school's "dora" and "elmo" toilets. Although when the other kids go, maybe this will inspire him!