Flying Fish

Train, Compete, Fly.
This is the motto of the swim team that Lily just joined. She had to try out on Tuesday evening and was accepted so now she trains 3 nights a week and competes once a month. As much as she loves to ride, the long lessons on horseback with the temperatures hovering close to the 100 degree mark, were starting to get old. She doesn't care for really hot weather. She couldn't decide whether to take up tennis or swimming until I pointed out that it was going to be just as hot playing tennis as it was riding so she chose swimming.
She couldn't wait for Tuesday. She hurried through her homework, to prove to us that she could get it all done and still have time to swim and then ran to find a bathing suit suitable for speed. In the car I old her it was fine if she didn't make it and that we would just get her some lessons to polish her strokes and try out again soon. Once she did her thing and was told she was in, she smiled from ear to ear.
Her first lesson was on Wednesday and I watched her every move. I really don't how she managed to keep going as they swam non-stop for an hour, just over in her case as we arrived a few minutes early and coach told her to jump right in. On and on they went, this stroke and that stroke, floats between their legs, boards for their arms, diving etc. I was starting to worry that she was getting exhausted but wasn't saying anything. silly me.
A friend from her class is also on this team, unbeknownst to me, so that probably helped to cheer her on. She seemed to be having a great time. I was floored when she was drying off and I asked her how it was and she said, "I didn't like it at all, not one bit." Oh my, I really didn't know what to say. Part of me wanted to run back to the office and grab my cheque out of the box and just hightail it to the car, never to be seen again by a Flying Fish. She didn't like the fact that all she did was drills, she didn't like the fact that she could only swim as fast as the person in front of her, she didn't like the fact that they only did dives twice and on and on the list went.
We talked about it and she agreed to stay in until the first meet and if she still hates it then we will talk but I knew I had to talk to the coach today. This is a serious swim team. The coach is a former Olympiad and one of the members is heading to London next year. That said, they strive for fun, and a relaxed atmosphere and it shows. There is no yelling, no crazy parents in the stands just the coaches and the team members. Lots of fun activities after practice etc.
Her second session was today and whaddya know, she loved it. She had the head coach for most of the lesson, she got to do lots more things, each night is something totally different and she got out of the pool (due to weather ) and told me it was really good fun. Must have been more competitive tonight cos that is what she likes!
I spoke to the assistant coach and she whisked Lily off for a sidebar and they agreed that Lily has to speak up if she doesn't enjoy it but she guarantees that she will.
Swim team aside Lily is just really loving her new Speedo in the bright green and blue, she swears she has never swam "this" fast in any other suit! Tonight after practice she was given the team hat so now she really feels like the cats pajamas. Oh and the flippers that she has to have, apparently they are the bomb!

Swimming using only one arm. (I would be going in a circle)

Funky flippers or as Rosie calls them, slippers.
Newest member of the Flying Fish USA Swim Club.
It was hot today, think 90+ degrees at 5pm hot. Rosie and I were sitting int he stands baking when I noticed a shower. You can see what happened next.
Sweaty Betty watching her sister.

Her swim team starts just as soon as we get the all clear from the Doctor with regard to her perforated eardrum. Hopefully it will be really soon. As you can see she is once again feeling fine and as of today is now only on 2 medications.

How Do you do?

I have never expected people to comment on my blog. I read tonnes of them but comment on very few. I used to but 2 kids later I am impressed that I still even write this one.

I have my, Live Traffic Feed, on the side of my blog and it tracks my visitors. I have many people reading from all over the world, it's really interesting to look at you all.

When I had my old blog I had loads of traffic but I snuck back into blogging with this one and it's stayed pretty quiet. I never announced I was back.

Come out of the woodwork and leave me a comment. I'd love to know who you are and how you found me.

It's simple, just hit comment link at the end of a post, write your comment and then check the box for anonymous. You don't need a blog or a google account to comment. Just don't forget to leave your name. You know so much about my family so step up and introduce yourself.

Hi.

Pulled an all nighter

I have been a mummy for just over 8 years and for the first time ever last time I pulled an all nighter with a sick kid. (not counting the night of Rosie's heart surgery). Thems are good odds!

At 11-ish last night Rosie appeared at the top of the stairs and was crying, sobbing in fact. I whisked her into my arms and bought her down to the couch with Jacob and I. She sat with us for a few minutes and I tried to work out what was wrong. Finally I decided she must have had a bad dream. We went back up to bed and within minutes I could hear her crying. I bought her back downstairs and we sat for a while. Finally she stopped crying and managed to say that her ear and cheek hurt.

Jacob and I just looked at each other with dread. I gave her some motrin and went to bed with her. Even in her sleep she cried. By 4.00am I knew things were getting worse and not better so I rang the Doctor. Even at 4.00am someone answered the phone. I love our pediatrician. I talked with the nurse and she told me to give her a "large" dose of ibuprofen and if her temp went over 104 then I was to take her to the ER. In the meantime everything else I was doing was fine and we were to head into the office at 8.30. The larger than usual dose of medicine numbed the pain enough for her to fall asleep for an hour it didn't however touch the fever she now had.

The doctor showed Jacob and I her ear and it was nasty. She was very surprised that it hadn't ruptured and told us to expect it to. Alrighty then. We filled her prescriptions took our instructions and bought a sore and sad Rosie home. I laid her on the couch and offered her some lunch, she wasn't biting. She fell fast asleep instead so I hightailed it to my bed for a quick kip. I hadn't even fallen asleep when I heard screaming. I bolted downstairs and Jacob was carrying a very distressed Rosie up to me.I tried everything to comfort her, hot water bottle, pain drops etc but no go she just cried and writhed in pain for about 2 hours. Suddenly all was quiet and she was sleeping, soundly. I snuck out of bed and went about my day, checking on her periodically. She was sleeping on her nasty ear so I couldn't see if there was any blood but I pretty much knew by the way she was screaming that the tympanic membrane had ruptured.

I was right. When she woke up she was all bloody and in much better spirits but as deaf as a haddock. Jacob rang the Dr. again and she changed all her meds and he ran out to get the new ones. As the day progressed she got quite perky and by bathtime she was actually giggling again.

She isn't eating, she is drinking. Her fever is still up but she feels better. Now we just wait and see if she gets any permanent damage from this. I seriously doubt it. I can't even tell you how many times that happened to me when I was little and I am fine. She can't get used to not hearing out of one ear, it's quite sweet to see her furrow her brow and try to work out what is going on.

Oh both ears are infected but only the left is truly nasty.

Sleeping peacefully for 3+ hours. At first she had to sit up because laying down just made the pressure so much worse. She has slipped off of the pillows here and is far into the land of nod.

And of course we received the obligatory "your child was not in school today, please ring this number ******* immediately and send a doctors note with your child tomorrow", phone call.
She isn't going to school tomorrow, I wonder if they will come knocking on the door.

I have two children

We spent the afternoon at a party for 2 of the girls friends. This was the first time we had ever met many of these people and they all very nice. Lily and Rosie had a great time, they played in the bounce house for most of the afternoon and then ran about with all the other kidlets.

Once we got home it was bedtime so I bathed the girls and shortly after her bath Lily became very quiet. I asked her if everything was ok and she it was. After a few minutes I asked her again but this time she gave me a different answer. One that stopped me in my tracks and hurt me. It hurt me for her.

She wanted to know why everyone always makes a huge fuss over Rosie. She understands that Rosie is cute but she doesn't understand why people fawn all over her all the time. Today at the party she met a new friend and after about 10 minutes "Annie" spotted Rosie and asked if they were sisters. Lily said they were and Annie dropped Lily like a hot potato and went off to play with Rosie. Annie was Lily's age.

Everywhere we go people comment on how cute Rosie is. Believe me the kid is cute but all little kids are cute. They have to be cute so that we as parents will take care of them cos lets face it some of their needs that we have to meet are anything but cute: for example, bottom wiping. If the kids wasn't cute the chances are you would not want to go there! Grown ups literally fall over themselves when it comes to cute kids.

A couple of weeks ago Lily had a new friend from school over to the house for the first time and the the childs mother was all over Rosie. It actually got to the point that I was fed up with it. I wanted to say, Hello, I have 2 children would you like to acknowledge my other daughter as well please? Rosie was also uncomfortable with all the fuss as the lady kept asking for kisses. I have told my girls that they DO NOT have to kiss and hug people that they don't want to.

Today Lily and I were talking with a lady and she asked Lily a question as Lily was mid-sentence with the answer Rosie appeared and the woman just cut Lily off and fawned over Rose.

It all got to much for Lily tonight and as she cried she kept saying that she felt badly for saying this about her sister. She doesn't want Rosie to look like the bad guy but she gets sick of it. Lily, doesn't get upset and tonight she sobbed, for ages.

I truly understand where she is coming from. I told her that Rosie only has a couple of cute years left and then she will be considered a big girl. I try very hard, when Lily has a friend over, to keep Rosie entertained and out of their business. I also explained that she used to be the one that everyone fawned over but now she is bigger and it doesn't happen anymore.

It hurt to see her so sad. she isn't jealous of Rosie per se more fed up with having her steal the spot light all the time.

If any of you have some advice I am all ears. I'm the baby of the family also so I don't know what this feels like. I asked Lily is she wanted to talk to Crazy Auntie Sally or Uncle Colin as they understand. Not that I was ever as cute as Rose, or Lily. In the meantime we are going to make sure Lily is included in conversations where people just gravitate to Rosie.

Both of my girls are amazing and to see one get forgotten cos people think her sister is cuter is wrong.

Puddles

The weather forecast today called for a 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms. It was fine up until 30 minutes before Rosie was due to get out of school and then the thunder and rain started. The thunder was short lived but the rain didn't stop. I decided against taking umbrellas to school and went instead with our raincoats and wellies. All the parents carry massive golf brollies and it's every man for himself as you walk up the path to pick the kiddies up. I'm convinced one day that I will lose an eye. I waited in the pouring rain until Rosie was dismissed and I stood to the side with her, changed her out of her shoes and into her coat and wellies and with that we be-bopped back to the car splashing in every puddle that we saw.

She loved it. I realised as we were about to leave that I had my phone with me so I snapped a few photos of her.

When she took her boots off they were full of water!

I had promised her yesterday that I would pick her up from school today on the bike, luckily the puddle jumping made her forget. I'll have to do that on Monday.

I'm very tall right now.......

Because I'm standing on my soapbox.

From the very first time I took Lily to the U.K. she noticed how different certain staple foods tasted. Some she loved and others she hated. She has never loved the taste of milk over there but has always loved the fruits and vegetables much more. She loves the baked goods more and all the dairy products more. Lily isn't a picky eater which is a great thing as 2 picky eaters would push me over the edge. Jacob eats like a pig in England and I devour all of my favourite foods with gusto. Funny thing is none of us ever gain weight. Rosie gained a pound or two but it was short lived.

I came here at the ripe old age of 18 and worked as a Nanny for 2 little kidlets. My oldest charge was 5. He was a very athletic little man who ate like a horse. He was given so much junk that it shocked me. I wasn't in charge of his meals so there wasn't much to be done about it. I knew that when I had kids that was not going to be the way it was. Hah!

My kids do get there fair share of junk but it was I consider decent junk, most of the time and it is a balancing act. This country allows so much CRAP to be put into food that the EU has banned and in many cases banned decades ago. In my opinion, and this is just my opinion, food colouring is the devil. So are preservatives. The kind of preservatives that make a product have the shelf like of a stone. I avoid those like the plague. I learnt this by trial and error.

Many moons ago we were in Orlando at a Chinese buffet and Lily ate her first ever bowl of Jello (jelly to my English readers) and within a few minutes the kid was bouncing off of the tables. We knew it had to be the Jello. A few months late we tried that experiment again and BAM, hyper kid. We started to watch her behaviour from certain foods and it was so obvious. All extraneous food colouring was removed from her diet. No more red, and blue and no more wild child. Don't get me started on Cheet0s and their family members. The very same Cheet0s and D0ritos in England taste completely different.

Slowly but surely I have moved over to organic. It's a bit of a joke because organic farming in this country is not regulated you just have to have faith that the farmers are playing by the rules. I don't buy organic everything but I do buy a lot of organic stuff and or all natural products. It's expensive and can double a grocery bill so to balance things out I use coupons. I am not a coupon whiz but usually save $40 on every $150 that I spend.

I buy very few prepared products for the kids now, with the exception of breakfast cereal. I think that is where they consume most of their rubbish but thankfully they don't often eat cereal for breakfast. I now make my own muffins and pancakes once a week and freeze them that way they are always on hand.

We eat more fruit and vegetables than most people I know and that is a slippery slope. Have you noticed how waxy all of the produce is that you buy in a store? Uhh, oranges and cucumbers do not produce wax, it is added. I peel the skin off of a cuke if it isn't from a farmers market. Food colouring is added to make fruit look more appealing, how nice!

Girls are entering puberty now at the age of nine. NINE! If they are eating a diet rich in foods that have been injected with hormones it shouldn't come as a surprise, really it shouldn't. I see little girls in Lily's class with breasts and wearing bras. I don't want this for my children and I hope by monitoring what they eat I can slow down this process.

This generation of little ones are destined to be the first generation to have a shorter life span than their parents. Good grief, that is wrong and totally avoidable.

This is my opinion. Opinions are just feelings and can't be judged as they are neither right nor wrong so no nasty comments please.

Charity begins at home.

I try very hard to make the girls understand that there are many people in this world who are a lot less fortunate than we are. Lily has always grasped this concept but Rosie is a slow learner when it comes to helping others. Don't get me wrong she is more than willing to give her things to people that we know but utter strangers, Heaven Forbid!

The girls have to wear a uniform to school, (I love that) but every so often they can wear jeans and their uniform shirts but they have to pay $1 to do so. The money goes to the PTSA and is used as they see fit. Lily does not care to wear jeans ever so she often doesn't participate, especially in the hot months. Rosie on the other hand thinks dresses and skirts are ghastly and loves to wear shorts and jeans.

Last Friday was a "Jeans Day". I asked the girls at dinner on Thursday evening if they wanted to wear jeans. Lily said she would and Rosie agreed. I then explained that she had to pay $1 to wear them. This is how the conversation unfolded from there.

Rosie: a dollar of my money?

Me: No, I'll give you the dollar to take to school.

Rosie: But they are my jeans so they should pay me to wear them

Me:..................I was speechless.

Smart kid this one and anything but charitable. Funny as all heck though.

From whence it came?

Yesterday the girls were fine. Dandy in fact. In the middle of the night I was awoken by Jacob saying very quietly, Dawn wake up, Rosie is burning up. I scooped her up in my arms and didn't even need to feel her head, her whole body was like an oven. We went to the kitchen, I took her temp, gave her a drink, gave her some meds, all in the dark and we went back upstairs. I decided to sleep with her so we headed to her room. Kid was way to hot to sleep so we lay in bed together for a few hours before she finally dozed off.
We woke up a little later than usual and were greeted by Lily who was feeling rotten also.
Fun times.
I absolutely hate that they are back in school and catching everything known to man. I know it is good for them in the long run but getting that immune system built up is painful. Lily usually manages to shrug these germs off but Rosie isn't so lucky.
I was shocked the other day when I asked them if they were washing their hands before they ate lunch at school and Lily responded by saying, they can't because it takes to long and with 40+ kids they would spend their whole lunch time queueing up for a sink. Say what???? At least I give them wipies to use.
Today we were meant to go to a birthday party, we laid low instead.

Rosie attempted to play a game with us but really couldn't stay interested.

Lily skyp*d with her China sister.and a little later she decided it was time for a makeover. Since they have both been a little quiet today I didn't really notice when Lily went missing. By the time she was done she looked, well she looked very made up, lets leave it at that.

We just stayed at home. playing a few games and watching movies. Hopefully the girlies will feel fine again in the morning.

When it's this hot you need water

I have to admit that when the sun goes down, or before it comes up, it is actually getting much more bearable but once that ball of fire is high in the sky it is still well into the 90's.

The only thing you can do and be comfortable whilst doing it is go for a swim or eat ice cream by the bucket load. Alas the latter isn't good for the hips.

We spent the afternoon in the pool with our friends Jakie, Caro and Lucy. Such a perfect afternoon.

This is Gypsy, she really isn't loving the water but the girls are trying to convince her it's a really good idea.Julia on the other hand loves the water and loves it even more if she has someone to swim laps with.
Silly Lily sitting in a plant pot, drying off.
Flip, Caro and Rosie
just keep swimming

Soon the weather will get cooler right?

Chatty Kathy is not lost after all.

Thank you for all the well wishes for Lily she is doing just fine. Thankfully there is no change at all in her bite so that is really good news. No really it is, brilliant news would be that it has gone down a bit but I'll take staying the same.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For the first couple of years that Lily attended school I got letters sent home to me at least once a week stating that she talked to much in school. By the end of 2nd grade I was pulling my hair out and using the letters to block my ears from the non-stop chatter. We tried everything and some things worked really well for a while and others were a complete waste of time. Last year went from start to finish without one note being sent home for talking in class. I was quite impressed. It appeared that Chatty Kathy had finally grown up a bit. She finally realised how rude, disruptive and disrespectful she was being.

I knew I shouldn't have gloated about it. Today I received a voicemail from one of her teachers saying that things are a little different with Lily this year. She doesn't stop talking. I wanted to start chanting the words, I can't hear you, over and over again but realised that would do nothing since it was a voicemail and not a live person. I listened to the message twice and then sank into a chair, my heart beating really fast from the disappointment. It wouldn't be so bad but this guy is a nice guy, a great teacher and it is one of her favourite subjects. WTF?

Chatty Kathy is back...so help me god. She has no electronic privileges for a week. She quickly pointed out that that wasn't bad since she doesn't get T.V. on school days anyway. I looked at her with, "the look" and she decided to be quiet.......for once. I wish I could take reading away from her but then she'd get into trouble for not doing her homework.

If things don't improve, or worse, resort back to the way they were, she will be duct taped.

Once bitten, twice shy.

If you know Lily personally then you know she is a wriggle bum. Child does not sit still for a moment, not one. If she is sitting she is fiddling with something or wriggling about all over the place. Last night as she was doing her homework she was more active than ever and kept scratching her left thigh. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she had a bite. I suggested we put something on it and we went into my bathroom.

Holy smokes! I was not expecting to see the sight that greeted me. She had a bite that measured 4 inches by 4 inches on the top of her leg that she had been scratching with wild abandon. I did the quick, motherly assessment, broke out the topical and oral ben*dryll and marked the edges with a pen to monitor the swelling. This morning it was the same and she insisted that she go to school as the idea of missing math class with her new and oh so not understanding teacher just panicked her. We let her go with strict instructions that if things got worse she was to go to the office and ring either one of us.

I picked her up this afternoon and as soon as she got into the house I whipped up her skirt took one look and called the doctor. The bite had literally doubled in size. I honestly have no idea how she managed to concentrate in class today. Not only is it very itchy but it is also painful.

Lilipop is now on some serious meds. The doctor drew around the edges with a Sharpie! He likes them better than pens as the lines stay put longer...uh, no kidding. If the swelling passes the sharpie lines it's straight to the hospital for Lil's. It had already started to spread out by the time she went to bed but I decided to give the medicine that she had just taken a chance to work. If in the morning it's still spreading, you know where to find me.

She as tough as nails this child of ours. Nothing brings her down.

You can nearly see the whole thing from this angle. There is just a tiny bit left on her inner thigh that is obscured from view. Oh and as to what bit her? We think a mossy but no one is sure at this point.

Rosie's first school project

Since school started we have had a project every week. This weekend it was Rosie's turn. Hah, this was a piece of cake and quite fun, for her, at least. Mrs. Katz's class has a mascot called Winston Bear and each weekend one lucky little kidlet gets to bring him home and document their weekend with him.

Rosie took her assignment OH SO SERIOUSLY and Winston accompanied us every(freaking)where. Tonight after dinner we sat down and wrote his adventures in his journal to be shared with the class tomorrow. She added photos, drawings, stickers and even wrote some of the words herself.

This was Winnies ( I nicknamed him that much to Rosie's chagrin) weekend in photos.

Leaving school on Friday. Winnie likes to be buckled in.

We had to run an errand and he came to
Uh huh, I dragged a foolish bear through here!!!
Saturday he came to the park

played a few games of Dominoes
hung out by the pool
baked cookies
Today we thought he needed an itouch so we took him to app1e
Then on the way home we stopped at the store and just as we were leaving Rosie yells, Winton's lost his pants!!! OMG...PANIC. The bear was naked from the waist down. How was I going to explain this to the teacher?
Thankfully with the help of the nice staff Winnie found his drawers. Saved my skin!
This bit didn't make it into the journal. The girls crossed dressed him....cos that's just how they roll.
Ta da....now he really is Winnie.
Cool dude
then he got serious again and learnt to roller blade.

Phew, I'm not sure about Winnie but I'm ready for him to go back to school. Losing his trousers pushed me over the edge. I must admit that we could barely talk cos we were all laughing so much about it.
By Winnie....don't rush back.

Remembrance Day

In honour of the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks the 11th of September has been named Remembrance Day. Today the girls were asked to dress in red, white and blue for school instead of their school uniforms.

On the way to school Lily was asking questions about the attacks and I wondered if they had even discussed them with the students. It wouldn't make much sense to have them dress in patriotic colours if they didn't understand why they were doing it. I was happy to hear that they have talked about that day. Lily knows quite a bit about it including the fact that one of my clients was on the plane that went into World Trade Centre One.

My patriotic girls.

He he he...I've made her look like a big giant head in this photo! Don't you just love her penchant for odd socks?

More whacky socks here
I love the way Rosie is looking up at Lily. She is probably thinking, I'm nearly as tall as you.

Because, I'm a big girl.

Last Tuesday as I walked Rosie into school she announced that she wasn't going to cry. I don't like to be sceptical but all I could think was, I'll believe it when I see it. She didn't cry. We followed her routine and she was fine.

She has been fine every day since then. Not a tear, not a sob and nothing even close to a full blown panic attack. I still don't hang about, I just do what we need to do and high tail it back to my car. School is fun now. In fact the other day when we arrived she asked if I could put her lunch away as she needed to get to work. She has a job in the mornings to hand out crayons and she was all about getting to it.

She told me she is a big girl now and big girls don't cry.

Why did they move?

A couple of years ago I met a really nice Mum and her hubby and their kids. We hit it off and our children became good friends but then they decided to up and move away. They moved to Tally which in the scheme of things isn't that far and they come back all the time to visit friends and family. They were in town this weekend and we planned a pool date. You'd think I would have learnt that planning pool dates, when there are hurricanes and tropical storms surrounding the State of Florida, is a bad idea, a very bad idea. Friday evenings pool date was cancelled and so was yesterdays.

Instead we followed the pattern and came back here to play. The children wasted no time at all in going quite nutty! The guys talked about techy stuff and why they despise Miami and Kelly and I just talked about god knows what....but it passed quite a few hours. We have vowed that next time the kids have 3 days off in a row we are heading up to Tally to stay with them.

The "doctors" showing their handy work

Certifiable

this is her new favourite face. Oh lucky me.
these 2 together are so absolutely, mind numbingly, adorable. Cute x 2

9 year old check up.

Today was Lily's annual well visit with her pediatrician. Her regular ped called yesterday to say that she wasn't going to be in the office and gave us the choice to re-schedule but since Lily has no issues I was fine with another doctor seeing her.
I loved this other Dr. just as much as I love Barbara.
She conducted the whole office visit towards Lily. She didn't ask me one question. I think that is so important cos I am not Lily and she needs to be able to answer the types of questions that doctors ask her and also feel comfortable doing so. First off was the weights and measure room. She now weighs 58lbs (4 stone 1) and is 51 3/4 inches tall. Not much growth this year. The doctor really questioned her regarding her lack of weight gain and wanted to be sure she was eating. Once she was happy with all the answers she got we moved on. She ended up saying that Lily looks terrific and it is nice to see slim and healthy children as so many kids are obese today. She then checked a few of Lily's joints and was quite surprised to see how flexible she is...aren't we all? Lily performed on demand for this one and the doc was laughing at her flexibility prowess.
Lily's hearing, eyes and everything else were checked quite thoroughly along with the usual urinalysis and blood test for anemia and cholesterol. Lily's cholesterol has dropped, not much but it is down so that's good. She isn't concerned about it either. it was 219 and now it is 205. She talked about growing boobies, and body hair but also added it wasn't very likely yet but at 9 these things are now considered normal. (say what?) I was much older than that and frankly I am still waiting for my boobs.
All in all another great visit. The doctor offered the flu shot, looked at her file and said, "I see she never gets sick, lets not bother. If you want it come in anytime and get one". She doesn't ever get them and I'm hoping the doctors words didn't jinx anything.
So we bebopped out of the office and Lily started to complain that she was starving so I did something that I NEVER do and drove through W*endy's and picked her up a kids meal. I'm sure the Dr. would have loved that.

Letting off some steam

Since school has started the past 2 weeks have been quite intense. Lilys homework has started to pile up again and our evenings are spend doing that having dinner and spending a few minutes reading before they go to bed, after a bath of course.
As this is a 3 day weekend we decided to fill it up with fun, some much needed fun to allow both the kiddies to blow off some steam. Tonight we had planned a swim date and dinner but the weather decided that wasn't going to happen so the kids played here instead. They had a wonderful time and it was so nice to hear the volume level peek to a record high and have kids running willy nilly throughout the house. Dinner for them was nothing more than an inconvenience. Pam and I had a lovely time and enjoyed our dinner as well as all the time we got to spend chatting about her upcoming trip to China to bring home her daughter. We looked at Lily and Rosie's scrapbooks, talked adoption, laughed and listened to the kidlets go beserk.

I think Tw1ster must be one of he oldest games around yet it still entertains the kids today as much as it did me when I was a nipper.

Lily couldn't hold her position any longer and I just happened to snap this as she fell.

I am not sure how it came about but the kids decided they wanted to slide around on the tile floor but Adam didn't have any socks to wear so Lily took him straight upstairs and told him to help himself. We really didn't pay any attention to them as we were in the kitchen either preparing dinner or cleaning up from dinner. A little later on they decided to play some wii and all sat on the couch to do so. Adam is still wearing his "slippy" socks. It takes a real man to be comfortable in purple fluffy socks!

Before we knew it it was 9.30 so we had to call a cease and desist order to the fun. Lily has a very fun weekend planned and somehow we have to find the time to fit in a project that she was assigned today. Of course it wouldn't be a 3 day weekend without an extra dollop of homework in addition to her regular load! I was a little bit pissy when she told me she had a project....god forbid the kids get a break.

Teaching and learning responsibility

Once Lily entered the 3rd grade I stopped acting as her buffer. If she forgot a book or homework sheet, she was on her own. I know it sounds harsh but she has to learn to be responsible, we all do.  Sometimes she would ring a friend and see if they could work something out via the phone and or computer and sometimes she would just have to face the music when she got to school the next day. Since she is a "good student" on the odd occasion that she forgot something her teacher would send home a little "accountability note" that I had to sign and Lily had to do the assignment that night. She never forgot anything crucial.
On Monday as soon as I walked into the house after work, Lily announced, "Mummy I forgot to bring home a paper for you to sign but it's not a big deal and I'll bring it home tomorrow, I promise". After a quick question or 2 I realised this was a paper for me to sign regarding an upcoming math test. I wasn't very concerned about it. I mean I wish she had remembered it but this wasn't a grade at stake ~ or so I thought.
Today Lily comes home and tells me she got an "F" in Math. I asked her what happened as this child is my honour roll student and is in gifted math. Well it turns out that the teacher is also teaching responsibility and that paper that she forgot to bring home was graded. Graded? Who ever heard of such a thing. I gave Lily a befuddled look and she told me that it was worth an "A" if you bought it back the next day. Now I am all for making my kid accountable for her actions but for goodness sake she got an "F" on something that didn't even grade her mathematical abilities. What a crock of sh*t.
I have already been warned that these 2 teachers are tough and that there is NO way Lily will make Honor Roll at all this year because of them so I wasn't shocked when I heard it. I also think that the whole Honor Roll idea is a bit of a crock because if you make "A"'s you make honor roll. Uh, call me stupid but isn't that the whole idea of going to school, to earn "A"'s? Almost every kid in the class makes it every grading period so it won't hurt her not to get it and to earn a grade less than an "A". It will be humbling that is not a bad thing either.
Unfortunately I won't be putting much stock in her homeroom teachers this year. I'll take it with a grain of salt. I always stand behind the teacher in front of the girls but it doesn't mean that in my heart I agree with them. Getting her first ever "F" hasn't fazed her very much cos she thinks it is foolish how they graded a letter for the parents. I'm with her but I do think she will be more attentive to her list of things to bring home.
I went to a private school so I have no idea if all public schools are like this or if this is an American way of doing things but I find it odd that they appear to try and find a reason to beat down the kids, aren't they meant to teach and nurture? This is also the year that detention starts? WTF is detention, we didn't even have that at my school but I have a firm feeling that Lily will be spending some time there for talking.
In closing I would like to add that all of Lilys' and Rosies' for that matter, teachers dress very professionally. Not a Hoochie Mama to be found. At least she won't get hit in the head by a boob as she is being reprimanded for forgetting to take something home. I'm sounding like a hypocrite which isn't my intention. Teach them responsibility, I'll back you at home but don't make them feel stupid or dumb. It's not always about doing your job but how you do your job.

Dear Lily,
CONCENTRATE, FOCUS and get the job done right the first time.
I know you are only 9 but apparently you are in Military School now so shape up kidlet. Dad says detention isn't fun after the 10 or 11th time!
Love you
Mummy.