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.

First Day of First Grade...in room 1

She's official. Big kid in the house, baby. Having been doing things all summer "because I'm a first-grader now," she has taken the cloak for real. The morning started with a visit from the Backpack Fairy. My kid is obsessed, to an alarming degree, with getting mail so when I asked her to put something in the recycle today she absolutely hooted with joy when she found a package on the doorstep addressed to her. She was so excited to tear into it, lovely. It was just some trinkety stuff; a necklace, a pencil, a treat, some stuff like that. And, the bane of primary teachers everywhere...a digital watch. She's been wanting one for a while and was thrilled to get it. Go ahead, ask me how long she kept it. Uh-huh. "Mrs. Stamey said to put it in my backpack." Were you messing with it like we talked about? "No! I just had to set the time. And see if the light worked." Uh-huh.













Anyway, so after the mandatory pictures, we packed her into the car and her dad and I, who had both taken time off to start her on this new adventure with our full support, drove her to school. All excited, we walked to her room, and were promptly booted out by her teacher! She wasn't allowing parents in the room, clean break and all that. Not knowing this, we hadn't said goodbye or anything outside and when poor Trueby realized we'd ditched her her little face just crumpled up. If you have a little kid you know that look, she's gonna cry but wants desperately to be brave and not do it in front of people. Heartbreaking. Later she says, "I wiped my tears on my jacket." That sentence makes my stomach hurt. Of course she's fine. Of course she has buddies in there and was immediately busy. She says she had a great day, loves first grade, and her teacher is "really nice." I know. But that didn't keep me from seeing that face all day long!
Here's the problem. Being a teacher, I am desperately afraid of being "That Mom." You know the one. Anything you do that isn't the way she would do it is wrong. Now, anyone who knows me in the slightest knows without a doubt I am the textbook definition of "That Mom." I accept that. I try crazy hard not to let it leak out on people, but I get that it's me. So when my eye almost explodes that I'm not able to settle my kid in and, knowing how she does not take well to change, help her feel secure and ready, I am able to admit that the teacher knows what she's doing, my kid is fine, everything is fine.....breathe deeply. But I certainly don't like it!

Firestarter

I'm watching a movie and thinking about stuff, obviously, and this occurs me. You know how the discovery of fire has been heralded as this huge move forward in human evolution? It was the first step in lifting us toward this greater state, we started to become the chosen ones yadda yadda yadda. So, in my mind, it went like this: A few different people were able to keep their sticks on fire and everyone was good. But then someone figured out how to start a fire. This person ran hooting and hollering about how awesome she is all the way to her family and started up immediate "fire-starting" classes. Everyone learned it, rainbows burst across the heavenly firmament and humanity was that much far further along.
But what if that's not how it went? What if that first person hid themselves away in a cave somewhere and started charging others for little burning sticks to take home. What if he tried to set himself up as a deity and build a power base for himself and rip off all his fellow budding humans until some other skeez snuck in and spied on him and stole the secret. Then you have competing fire shops, but you're still paying for your dinner roaster. These two cave dwellers hate each other and who knows what kind of bloody battles ensued. What kind of war resulted, how much blood and hate until finally everyone knew how to make fire?
Ok, a little dramatic I know. I'm just feeling really frustrated at what I can't figure out if it's human nature or some human's nature. I may be an idiot,but I've always felt like if reasonable people have a common goal, they can sit down together and freakin work it out. Everyone will HAVE to give a little. It's what I teach my kid, my students, children the world over have this pounded into them. Then adults? We can't seem to get it together.

Me Money!

My kiddo saw a lemonade stand on the side of the road a few days ago and, being obsessed as she is with making money, has been hatching a plan for her own stand ever since. So today she got down to it, squeezing the bejeebus out of lemons, adding the juice to simple syrup and after ice and more water she cranked out some really tasty lemonade. We dragged all sorts of crap down to the curb and set up a sign. Then waited. And waited. We don't live on a particularly busy street, so she decided to get on her bike and go drum up some business. She rounded up some buddies and our super sweet and supportive neighbors kicked in too. All in all she had a great time and best of all she thinks she bumped up a tax bracket. $2.50 baby! This kid's love of cash is just this side of worrisome. All entrepreneur, all the time!