Today, Henry started school in earnest. No more of these adaptation period false starts. Last week was a tease: An hour here, an hour + 15 minutes there, finally up to 2 hours. No. Starting today he’s jardín from 9 AM to 2 PM! And his babysitter still comes 2 PM to 6 PM! I am excited about all the extra time in the day. Not that I don’t love playing with Henry. In fact, there will still be 5 or so hours each weekday and then 12 or so hours each Sat+Sun+feriado for us to read, sing, crash trains, spill glue and argue over what he eats. I love all that stuff and wouldn’t trade it for the world.

What to do with all this new-found, Henry-free time? I think I’ll start by touting some impressive friends' upcoming events.

1. Ollie Balch’s book, Viva South America! is out March 19. Check out vivasouthamerica.com for details. I can’t wait to read this one.

2. Later this month, Tim Phillips is going to run/walk/crawl 250 km, across the Atacama Desert, for 7 days. It’s not just cocktail party conversation anymore. I read about it in the Buenos Aires Herald (link not available, but I should scan + upload the article). There will be a pub quiz on Sunday, March 22 to help raise money for the Argentine + Colombian charities Tim’s race is sponsoring. Visit: justgiving.com/atacamacrossing2009 for more info on the Argentina-based charity, Todos Juntos. (You can email me for info on the pub quiz.)

3. Looking ahead to next month, Mei-Ling Hopgood’s memoir Lucky Girl is out April 29. Visit mei-linghopgood.com for details.

Finally, Goodairs’ own Ian Mount, more than a friend to me, is all over the latest issue of Monocle. He wrote the cover story on the Falkland Islands—or, Las Malvinas, as we say around here to avoid a punch in the nose.