Fan Girl!

I'm so geeked out right now! I went to pick up the Trube from her daycamp today and who should stroll in to pick up his daughter as well? Ryan Stiles! I played it totally cool (Gordon doesn't buy that for a minute...and he's right. I was so giggly!) and pointed him out to Emma who immediately got giggly too, squealing, "Go say hi to him!" So when he finished watching his daughter on the climbing wall, we went over and said hi. I WAS super cool, shut it! And he was crazy nice. I told him we'd just seen the Who's Live show and loved it and showed her some YouTube clips that she loved and we both just wanted to say hi. He was lovely and asked her name and seemed genuinely glad to meet her. I asked her if she wanted to tell him her favorite part, it's the line she squawks at random and cracks me up every time. Check it out I told him about it and he totally laughed, "Oh yeah!" He was aces! I've seen him around town a couple times, but have never said hello. Totally glad we did!

Lovely Weekend!

Great sakes, what a good time! We had the best weekend. Friday night after school we got Trueby's favorite dinner, yep, Subway, and grabbed a good spot to watch the Jr. Ski to Sea parade. Her daycare had a float and she was excited to go, but they only took big kids. She was super disappointed, but she wasn't letting anything rain on her parade...sorry.Oh, but Saturday! We left Trueby for her first sleepover ever at Sarah's. Granted, with zero expectation that she'd make it through the night. But, whaddaya gonna do? We trucked over the border for a night out, baby! The rarity of not having the chick with us for dinner was overwhelming. I was so torn...do we go fancy, which we never do for the obvious reasons, or Indian, which we never do for other obvious reasons? Indian takes it! A tiny hole in the wall that was actually pretty good. I got a thali platter that could realistically fed 8 people. Yum! There was a totally Wonka candy store across the street and we got a little sweet there afterward. Nice.
And then...We finally got to go to the show I've been WAITING for! Eddie Izzard played at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and sweet Marie, he was so great!
He built his act around the bizarre fact that when people don't believe in God, the burden of proof is on them to disprove the existence of an invisible, intangible, unprovable being. Funny stuff, right? Throw in jazz chickens, giraffe charades, Jeff Stone...of the Stone Age, and moon landings...Dude. Love that guy!
So we go home and the Trueb, against all odds, has fallen asleep at Sarah's house. Ruthlessly, we drag her home. Poor thing. I completely underestimated her. Thought she would never make it in a strange house, but she was out like a light. Now we'll have to set up another time for her to do it right. Sorry Chris and Lauren!
Sunday she got to celebrate a birthday with her super good friend and it was the most beautiful thing. All these happy seven-year olds and sunshine and a parade of them down the block with instruments and flags. Lovely.

If all that isn't enough to erase the horror of the science MSP last week, apparently I'm just gonna have to live with it until August.

Terrified!

Let me preface this with the acknowledgment that my child is the world's sweetest human being. At the Jr. Ski to Sea parade last night someone was tossing tokens for free cones at DQ to the kids and when she got two, she turned around and gave one to a kid behind her who missed out. Her first concern is always that everyone else is happy. Truly, a lovely child.
But apparently this chick has more of me in her than is good for either one of us. When it comes to me, 90% of the time I get the sunny sweet just like everyone else. But that 10% can shock the shirt off anyone's grandma! Today she actually took a hit herself just to spite me. It was worth that much to her. Granted, I may have provoked her a little bit.
We were running errands today and were shopping in Haggen. Afterward we're going to get lunch and go to Michael's to look for a craft she's been wanting. She fell into the "can I have.." pattern and I wasn't going for it. The kicker was in the florist section where she just "had to have" a blue "It's a boy" banner. Dude! She gets all whimpery and "you never let me have anything" and the whole spiel. As I'm unmoved, she ups it and starts really crying. Still not breaking me. Staring at me as though I'd just kicked a puppy she says, "I am really upset about this! You should be sad about that and I feel surprised and disappointed that you aren't!" I am convulsed in the bleach aisle. She is glaring at me furiously and I cannot stop howling with laughter. Poor kid.
On the way to the checkout line we see a bag of marshmallows that are as big as apples. I kid you not, it was incredible! Distracted from how cruel and unfeeling her mother is, she seems to be back to herself. But out in the car she asks to switch my CD for hers. I tell her it's my turn while we're out, she can have hers on the way home. "Well, let's go home right now then." Really? You don't want to go to Michael's? You don't want to go to lunch? Imperiously she hands me Best of Silly Songs and sniffs, "We can get something at home."
It was important enough that she stick it to me that she gave up the two things she'd been looking forward to all morning. When she hits pre-teen, no one is going to believe me how awful it is because she is the sweetest, most eager to please soul on the face of the Earth! One or the other of us is not going to make it to her adulthood with our intellect fully intact!

Loser Mom

Dude! Could I lose any more credibility as a parent? After work today I went to pick up the chick from her playdate...and when my lovely friend answered the door, her face made it very clear I was nowhere near my kid. "Emma's not here, is she?" Apparently the email reply I typed in response to her suggesting the playdate never got sent. I was looking in my inbox at her letter and thought it was weird I didn't see the little "replied" arrow next to it, but also thought she would think I was an utter moron if I sent her 80 replies so just left it alone. Glad I didn't look like a moron or anything. Duh.
I know, not a huge deal. But you don't know about last week yet. After work I went to pick up the chick from her playdate...sound familiar? Yeah...different friend though. Every time we drive past this place, Emma trills, "That's Madeline's house!" Guess what. It's not Madeline's house. So I knock on the door and when a totally strange man answers, I'm a little thrown, but no big. "Hi. I'm Emma's mom." "Oh, hello." And we stare at each other for a couple beats. Crap. "This isn't Madeline's house, is it?" I have no idea where my kid is. Nice. But, since I know I'm in the right vicinity, I go door-to-door looking for my child. Luckily, I hit it on the second try...and don't think they didn't think that was the best story of the day. Should a dork like that even be raising a child?

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!