Huff and puff all you want

I told a couple of my students yesterday that I wouldn't be at school today. I had to miss school to close on my condo.

"Why won't you be here, Ms. Heathen?" my favorite little seven-year-old queried.

"I won't be here because I'm moving to a new house," I explained.

"What color is it?" she asked.

"It's brick," I replied, surprised that this was her first question (I wasn't surprised by her second question: "Will you live there with your sister and her baby?" She's a little bit obsessed with my sister and her baby these days.)

"Oh, that's good," she responded with no hesitation, "Brick houses are strong. They won't fall down. It's much better than having a straw house."

"That's true," I said. "If the big bad wolf came, he wouldn't be able to blow down my new house. I hadn't thought of that."