I used to say that everything I ever needed to know about having good self esteem, I learned from my son when he was not yet 5. His continual belief that he was, in fact, all that and a bag of chips AS WELL AS a chocolate milkshake and TWO cookies, has long since been the stuff of family legends. And while Monkey's particular road has been a little bumpy of late, his essential belief that he rocks seems to be inborn. Chickadee, on the other hand, is more delicate. Part of it, I'm sure, is that she's a girl and girls are relentlessly cruel to one another in a way boys seem far too busy...
When the children were little, we had a set of alphabet fridge magnets, as is mandated by law for all middle-class suburbanites with children. I never got rid of those magnets---at least, the ones that were left, as several disappeared over the years---until we moved to Georgia. I took them off the old fridge and just... tossed them in the trash. Why pay to move a partial alphabet when my kids had pretty much outgrown that sort of play, anyway? Shortly after moving in to the house here, though, I came across a set of poetry magnets that I thought might be fun to have out on the fridge. I...
Last night we agreed that you could wake the rest of us up at 7:00, if you liked, and even your sister agreed. You went to bed swearing you would never be able to fall asleep. You did, of course, and I was still enjoying the view from behind my eyelids when you thumped on my door at 6:20 this morning. "Come in," I called. You bounced in and I threw the covers back and invited you to hop in and cuddle. "What happened to waiting until 7:00?" I asked, whispering, hoping Otto might still be asleep. "Oh," you said, unbothered. "There's some stuff on my dresser and I couldn't really read my clock....
If your daughter spends two days begging you to cut her hair short, and several hours looking through short hair pictures with you before, and even if you extract a promise beforehand that she WILL NOT CRY, even if you VIDEOTAPE SAID DECLARATION, it doesn't matter. She'll cry. Just so you know.
For the first time in my life, I have made a sizable, life-changing resolution for the new year. This will be the year I take my health more seriously. Otherwise known as: The year I learn to love or at least tolerate exercise, or die in the attempt. Otherwise known as: The year I refuse to get my ass kicked in a friendly little competition just because I have all the willpower of a jar of mayonnaise. Mmmmm... mayonnaise.... Wait. Where was I? Oh! Right. The competition starts tomorrow. So today, Otto and I went out to lunch for my favorite food on the planet and I ate myself silly. And then...
Although I wish it for you every Thursday, this one in particular I hope finds you with peace and love in your heart, and kindness and laughter in your home. I'm off to spend Christmas with the people I love most in the entire world. There's soup to make and baking to be done and stockings to stuff and---of course---A Christmas Story to watch. Because nothing says "Love of Christ" like "You'll shoot your eye out, kid." Nonetheless: It is, indeed, a most wonderful life. Happy Love Thursday, everyone... and here's to making merry, no matter the season.
[A guess of what my 11-year-old daughter's journal would surely look like, if she had one.] Friday, December 18th 2009 Dear Journal, I let Mom come to school with me this morning to carry my stuff. There was a lot of stuff AND it was raining and I got wet and I hate that. She was pretty much okay except when Ms. Science told her I was missing part of my project. Then I'm pretty sure she would've gone into full lecture mode if we hadn't run into the next teacher who needed cookies. Ugh!! We didn't do anything at school really. And tonight we're eating dinner in front of the TV and watching...
No more pencils, no more books, no more children screaming and crying and freaking out over their homework and their teachers and various other school related things... ... at least until January. This has been, without question, the hardest school year yet. And I don't mean for the kids, I mean for ME. Okay, probably for them, too. But never before in the history of our public school experience have I been SO RELIEVED to head into winter break. I think we are all just DONE. Before break, though, we had to get through The Last Day. For Chickadee, this meant me taking her into school and...
I seem to be on an F kick lately. I cannot imagine why. I'm sure it has nothing to do with a barely-even-subliminal desire to say a DIFFERENT word that starts with F, repeatedly. No no, of course not. It's not as though I'd like to stick my head out the window right now and bellow... ... um, Frankenstein. Ahem. After yesterday's fudge incident (and yes, there are recipes that use evaporated rather than sweetened condensed, but then they call for things like marshmallow fluff, which I also didn't have) I instead opted to make a giant batch of cookies and say "Screw fudge! Fudge is stupid!"...
