My daughter owns The Care and Keeping of You, which is a really wonderful and fairly comprehensive book for girls about the changes that puberty wreaks on unsuspecting females. It doesn't talk about sex, just the various physical and emotional changes of growing up. I recommend it to people all the time, because it's age-appropriate even for little girls (I think we got it when she was six or seven), but also includes things like illustrated cartoon drawings of how to insert a tampon. (You're welcome; it's not often I can work the word "tampon" into the very first paragraph.) Anyway, I've...
A several-day absence here is somewhat unprecedented for me---even when I had my hysterectomy, even when I was felled by the flu, heck, even when I went and got married, in the five and a half years this place has been around, I've generally not gone more than a couple of days between postings. Which means something really CRAZY must've happened this week/weekend to keep me away. Something unbelievable. Something all-encompassing. Something that took all of my time and attention and strength! Yes. Well. Um. See, we'd had my folks here all week, and then there was Black Friday and there were...
Today I am thankful for many, many things---for my family, near and far, for a houseful of love and laughter, for a table about to be loaded up with delicious food, for a husband who silently worked around me as I wrecked the kitchen this morning, cleaning up after me before I even had a chance to ask him to. And I would like it noted for the record that even in a time of hormones and angst, I am particularly thankful for a daughter who insists on---and creates---fancy napkins. Happy Love Thursday, happy Thanksgiving, and I hope you and yours have fancy napkins (real or metaphorical) today,...
I didn't mean to disappear, like that, but I came down with an extreme case of Chickenwithitsheadcutoffitis. It's not fatal---thankfully---but does cause me to talk to inanimate objects. Example: This morning as I brewed up a nice, big pot of turkey brine (mmmm, briny!) on one side of me while throwing cranberries into my food processor on the other side, I asked the brine how it was doing. To be more precise, I said: "How are you doing, brine?" My father is slightly hard of hearing, but from his vantage point at the kitchen table he wanted to know who Brian was and why I was talking to him....
The parentals are here for Thanksgiving, and I know that many people find visitors---and in particular, family---stressful, what with the extra bodies and noise and dishes and foibles, but I am generally delighted to have other warm bodies in the house. Especially ones who are happy to entertain my children and buy me dinner. (Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me happy.) These sorts of visits are always All About The Eating, and the fact that the Most Eatingest Holiday falls this week is just a bonus. The new twist, this visit, is that of course last time they were here, we didn't have...
Thank you for all of the suggestions regarding delicious baked goods. I'm ten pounds heavier, now, having read the comments, but I appreciate it from the bottom of my straining zipper. The meeting Wasn't, which is to say that we thought it was scheduled and then it wasn't and then we were left hanging and then I had to send some Very Stern Emails. Now we are rescheduled, which gives me more time to plan. And bake. In the meantime, the OTHER child (surely not wanting to be left out) came home with news of a "uniform violation" which required another Stern Email (the response was priceless, if...
I'm hip-deep in preparations for our next IEP meeting, which I'm told should NOT include some of my brilliant ideas, such as screaming, "You people are inefficient, heartless asses" or suggesting that my child could, in fact, receive a better education in a cage full of premenstrual orangutans. (I only believe one of those statements, actually.) (But I'm not saying which one.) This time we're bringing the Big Guns, by which I mean that we have hired representation because it's become clear to us that that's the only way anything's going to get done. Sad, but true. And really, all of that...
I've made no secret of the fact that I am trying with all of my might to continue to believe in the public school system in this country---and, more importantly, in my current county---but that recent circumstances are making that harder and harder. I have become That Mother, the one with all of the EMAILING and PHONE CALLING and, um, gray hair. So on the one hand, we've got Monkey's Situation, the Cliff Notes summary of which is: Gosh, I hope you don't have a special needs child who gets good grades, because the school is not at all interested in doing jack for you if so. (Me, to Monkey:...
Good news! Chickadee doesn't have mono! Bad news! Chickadee is apparently severely anemic! Worse news! The doctor is now out of town until next week, so sorry, he'll call when he returns to talk about "next steps." Helpful tip: Do not ask Dr. Google about children and anemia. Seriously. Just don't. If you need me, I'll be spending the day hand-feeding my child popsicles, buying her ponies, and also bleaching my brain. [Edited to add: Got a second call from the doctor's office to schedule a follow-up, and this time had the presence of mind to ask for actual blood test results. Hi, my doctor's...
