Seven Whole Years Old!

Shockingly, my daughter is seven. I was staring at her this morning. Looking at her sturdy legs, her straight back, her smooth cheeks. While seven is a crazy long time, it is a shockingly brief amount of time for her to have gone from the infant prised out of me to this strong and capable girl. I can't quite reconcile it. I guess it goes with the territory, huh?
So in celebration of that craziness, we have eaten more cupcakes than any human should consume. The day before her actual birthday, Jamal and Jessica came up and had dinner with us, decorating cupcakes afterward. It was very cozy, I loved it. On her day, we went out Tino's for dinner, came back for cake and presents. Very nice. Then today, we had the actual ruckus. She and her buddies trekked down to Mt. Vernon and Jungle Playland for the party. It's a fun place. Slides, ball pit, inflatable maze, you know the drill. Very cool. The topper for my girlie had to be when the fire alarm went off. You know how hyper she is about fire...something went screwy with their dryer and somehow the alarm was triggered. We all got hustled outside and Trueby held it together pretty well. A few tears, little clingy after, probably get a nightmare tonight, but ok overall. She's seven after all!
I'm super proud of her choice to forgo gifts and ask instead for donations to a charity that helps out children in emergency rescue situations. They've been snagged from unsafe homes and don't have anything to call their own so this organization puts together duffles of blankets, teddy bears, art supplies etc. Just things they can grab onto and feel safe. Our generous friends donated some really great stuff and we'll pack it all up and hustle it along. Nice.
So it's official. She's seven. Her birthdays always make me go a little Cat's in the Cradle and I can only see this getting worse as she gets older. Good times, good times!

Soggy California

Sunny California is quite the misnomer today. Which is just as well since I'm here for a conference and am supposed to be concentrating on the task at hand! The hotel is a few steps less cush than the January conference with the legendary bathroom mirror, but awfully nice nonetheless. The conference may not be top of my list, but how can I argue with a trip that gets me in a bed all by myself, minus a six-year old kicking me in the back for two nights AND a visit with my brother's super sweet family? Aces, baby!
My room is in the "tower" and there's a gorgeous European bakery I have to walk past every time I go to my room. After about seven trips past this joint, it finally occurs to me that Hey! I really should pick up dessert for when Khalil comes to get me tonight! Hooray! In case you're wondering, I got an apricot strudel, cappuccino pyramid cake, and this honey...hazelnut chocolate mousse. Throw in some sugar cookies for the kiddies, and we're off to the races!
Emma and I shopped for a little something to bring for each cousin, and while Anwar and Sophia's gifts were well received, with such good manners!, neither was as exciting as the silly straw glasses for Gabe. Watching the drink bubble around past their goggly eyes was adorable! Love it.
Super selection of Thai food (Khalil even badgered me into trying mango shrimp after he picked out all the shrimp for me) for dinner, lovely company. Even made sitting through five lectures at 90 minutes each worth while!

good parenting

Here's a story. As I'm on my way to pick up the girl for basketball yesterday, I see that I have a message on my phone from a number I don't recognize. The message runs Hello, this is the principal from school, this is NOT an emergency, but I want to discuss a conversation I had with Emma this morning. Again, NOT an emergency. Call back...yadda yadda.

What the hell? If it isn't an emergency, why in world would my perfect child's principal need to talk to me? I leave a message with him, freak out Daddy seeing if he knows anything, and zing along the lake to pick up the kid for grilling.

When I walk in her daycare, she looks at me and her face just about breaks my heart. I do the usual "Hi honey, let's get going for basketball" and her face crumples up and she says she has an earache. The instant we step outside, she just dissolves, wailing "I got in trouble!" and starts sobbing! She is terrified to tell me what happened but finally sobs out, "I didn't want you to be mad so I l-l-lied! I wasn't going potty!"

A little background: last week she told us twice that she'd had to get a late note because she'd spent so much time in the bathroom before school that she'd been tardy. She is a total bathroom lounger so we didn't think anything of it, just telling her she had to go before school and yadda yadda yadda.

So after a LOT of cajoling, "I'm not mad, but you have to tell me what happened," and "I'm going to talk to the principal anyway, you might as well tell me your side," etc, she finally spilled that she and a friend have been sneaking into a bathroom stall in the morning and playing Littlest Pet Shop and writing on the wall of the stall!

I talked to her principal after dropping her off crying in the gym and apparently (and sadly this is the part that worries most after the lying) they got nailed because MY kid was dopey enough to SIGN HER NAME TO THE GRAFFITI! Oh the agony of having the ding dong delinquent for my kid!

I think we may have done alright in dealing with it. She wrote a letter of apology to her custodian for creating extra work and is going to do some community service by cleaning up the playground on Sunday. We told her she isn't being punished, she's being given a chance to right a wrong. She asked what that meant and we talked about it and I think she gets it.

I'm pretty sure she's been scared straight, but then, I was pretty sure she was straight to begin with! My little Miss Rule Follower! I'm so shocked. She was beating herself up pretty badly last night, couldn't eat dinner, no energy for anything. We talked about not making choices that make her feel that bad but I just wanted to cry when she said, "I don't even want to be alive." Poor kid. She hates that her parents, and worse I think, her teacher, don't think she's the Golden Child anymore. I am glad, I guess, that it's (hopefully!) done with. The principal clearly had no idea who I am, and I like it that way just fine! My goal is to get through public school without any principals' phone numbers looking familiar on my phone!

10 Things in Random Order

1. Clearly, my family. I really hope they know.
2. Individually, Emma True. Not only that she is brilliant, funny, kind, beautiful, perfect (she'll grow out of that whiny thing, right?) etc, but also that I haven't screwed her up... yet.
3. Gordon. You could not pick a more perfect family man out of a catalog. The best.
4. My friends. OK, I know it sounds trite now, but really!
5. My job. Even with the occasional blind-side, I really really like what I do.
6. Funny. It's what I love about my kid, my husband, my job and pretty much everything else.
7. My camera. It's fun, it helps me remember the important stuff and has changed the way I look out at stuff.
8. Everyone is happy and healthy. This is pretty cliche, but I really mean it.
9. This break, and that there's another one soon. I know, I know! But wowza, it is time to recharge!
10. All y'all. Have a great holiday and remember everything good in your lives!

Pippa Lonstocks

So Trueby doesn't quite know what it's called, but she had a great time! We got to see META's production of Pippi Longstocking today with Sarah and Lauren. It was fun, we really liked it. The girls were amped to sit up in the balcony and we had good seats. I think Emma especially liked it. I had the kid who played Mr. Nilssen the monkey in kindergarten three years ago. He was so great! Emma kept saying, "There's the monkey!" every time he came on. At the end, we went into the lobby and I thought she'd take a picture with him. Absolutely not. Totally scared of the makeup. Sarah got in there though. Way to go, Logan!

On a totally unrelated note, I saw this driving to school in the morning. I don't know why I think it's so awesome. Maybe because I picture some little old man coming out one morning and his tree's over. "Damn it!" Heh heh, beavers are funny.

Master of All I Survey

I had the very funniest bit of news shared with me today. I saw the mom of a student I had a few years ago who's in middle school now. So the mom says, "Oh! I totally have to talk to you!"
Apparently, the daughter had a geography assignment where she was supposed to make a poster of a place using all the geographical terms. So she created Shameemia! The mom said it was all about me, with Emma and Gordon as well. There's Emma Bay and stuff like that. First I laughed like crazy, but then I got a little weepy. The sweetness of it just made me so happy.
So if you're looking for a perfect vacation getaway, come see the white sandy beaches of Gordon Cove and the cool leafy solitude of Emma's Woods. Shameemia has it all,baby!

Losing to a Six Year Old

Trueby and I are battling YET AGAIN over her cleaning up her room. She tends to stuff things in bags, bags in the closet, call it good. So she has this huge pile of books in a drawer in her closet because they are "special" and can't go on the bookshelf, which, incidentally is a lot harder for her to do than just dumping them in a drawer. Frustrated, I say, "What makes these books so special?" She starts flipping through the pile saying, "This one is Kevin Henkes and I love Kevin Henkes. This one is Halloween and it's almost Halloween...etc." She has a reason for every one of them. Then she gets to a Wild West retelling of Cinderella and I can tell it's a struggle, but she comes up with, "This one is a text connection." I jump in, "Dude, what text connection do you have with this book?" She says, "I have to work all the time." I retort, "You AREN'T working! You're just shoving stuff in the closet!" In the world's snarkiest half-under-her breath voice she mutters, "How about a bossy mom?"
I laughed so hard and so long I thought I was going to stroke out. Karma is a bitch.