No diggers

For 5 of his 6 years of life, Little Dude has been infatuated with diggers.  Just in case you don't know,  "Diggers" are any type of construction vehicle.  This obsession seemed to fall to the wayside about a month ago.  Thank god!  I was growing tired of my flowers always getting dug up and stepping on teeny orange construction cones (think Legos).  Although the digger obsession did come in handy when snow needed cleared from the walkways.

But anyway, Little Dude began to move from a digger obsession to a dinosaur obsession.  Dinosaurs car be just as loud as diggers, but somehow, when he plays with dinosaurs, all is quiet. It's a change I welcome.  Hell, I embrace it!

However, I think I inadvertently sent my boy back to the land of noisy toys.  How did I do this?  By taking him out to do things.

Things such as Nuclear Cowboyz, a very loud motocross show...

And other things, such as not quiet as loud Monster Truck Jam...

Little Dude's motorcycles can now be found any and everywhere throughout the house.  Steeping on those hurts!  Think teeny construction cones, therefor Legos.  And Monster Trucks?  They're like tiny skateboards.  So much fun when left on the steps!


I guess having kids and expecting things to be quiet is a little too much to ask.  As long as Little Dude, and his sister, had fun, I guess I can't ask for much more.

Although a little peace and quiet wouldn't hurt!




Until next time...

Spelling problem fixed - I hope

I understand there's a push to do more, to do better in school these days.  But sometimes I have to wonder if more is really better.

A few weeks ago I blogged about GG's spelling words. In case you missed it, a few of here words were

• ribonucleic acid
• transversive
• rhetorician
• subversive

For a fourth grader, again I repeat, what the hell?!  Part of her assignment with those words that week was to categorize the words.  Are they a noun, adjective, verb, or other.  The fact that I had to sit there, dictionary in hand, and help her did not make me happy.  I did my time in school, thankyouverymuch.


I asked a friend what she thought of those words because her daughter is in my daughter's class.  The reaction was not what I expected.  She did not seem as frazzled as I was.  I didn't want to say anything out loud, but I wondered if not all the students in the class got the same list of words.  For the most part, GG does well in school so it never really occurs to me to ask the teachers what is going on.  If we just needed to study more because the curriculum had been upped, so be it.


Fast forward to last week.  I found out exactly why GG had the spelling words she did.  Yes I realize I could have asked and found out much sooner.  Sue me.  I'm not always the best mom out there!


Anyspell, here's the deal.  If a student aces the pre-test on Monday, they are free to choose their own spelling words from the classroom dictionary.  Awesome.  Challenge them.  Let them push their own boundaries.  I'm all for this.  But at what point should the teacher step in and ask if those are really words a fourth grader should try to spell?  Again I say, challenge those kids, but really, what fourth grader needs to know "ribonucleic acid"?


And if I really want to nit-pick?  Some of those words weren't in my own dictionary at home.  Granted my dictionary is from my high school days, but also?  Blogger's spell check doesn't even recognize those words!!!  Those words aren't real and if they are, please assign each child their own said classroom dictionary for home use.


Yes I'm throwing a fit.  And I will surely throw another one if my daughter brings home ridiculous words like that again while still in elementary school.  Yes, she's been warned.





Until next time...

Sick at just the right time

Yes, there actually is a right time to be sick.  Little Dude has proved that to me this past few weeks.

Two Fridays ago he began complaining that his ear hurt.  Of course it was after the pediatrician had closed for the day.  Isn't that how it always is?  I suspected an ear infection, but for all I knew he bumped his ear at school and forgot until that moment.  Little Dude is known for forgetting his injuries.

The following morning, Saturday, he woke up just fine.  He didn't complain about his ear until later that night. Again, after the pediatrician had closed for the day.  By then, I knew he had an ear infection, but I hoped he could hold out until Monday morning when I could actually call the doctor and get an appointment.  Sure enough, he didn't complain once on Sunday.  Until dinner time.  The pediatrician isn't open at all on Sundays. I could have taken him to Med Express, but by this point, pharmacies were also closed for the day.

First thing Monday morning, I was on the phone with the pediatrician setting up an appointment.  Immediately after we headed to the pharmacy for his antibiotic.  Within 24 hours his ear began to feel better and the rest of the week was smooth sailing.  Until Friday night.

We were getting ready to go to Monster Jam and he asked me to spike his hair.  Thanks to a tube of Axe Spiking Glue I have, this is an easy and quick process.

As I was rubbing the glue into his hair and spiking it up I saw it.  A 1-inch line of dried blood by his hair line, with a bump on one end.  What the hell was this?!  Little Dude had no idea what had happened to his head (didn't I tell you he forgets his injuries?).  Looking back I hadn't noticed any signs of a concussion.  And being on an antibiotic, I knew we were safe from infection.  Example #1 of how he was sick at the right time.

Fast forward to yesterday.  GG woke up looking like she was punched int he face.  Her left eye was bright, bright red.  Chalking it up to still being tired after a crazy busy weekend, the husband and I told her to get dressed and ready for school.  We drove the husband to work and after I parked the car once returning to the kids' school, I took a look at GG.  Her eye?  Still flaming red.  And now it was swollen and all kinds of goopy.  Shit!  Pink eye.  We walked Little Dude into school and turned around and headed to Med Express.

Other than charging me the higher of our two copay amounts, they were extremely nice.  GG was, in fact diagnosed with pink eye.  We were handed a prescription for some drops and off to the pharmacy we went. I'm thinking this is example #2 of Little Dude being sick at the right time.  Hopefully still being on an antibiotic will protect him from catching what his sister has.

I have to give GG one drop in her eye every 2 hours for 2 days, then every 4 hours for five days.  It's a crazy prescription that I really don't want to do with a second child.  I have a feeling Little Dude will be even less cooperative when it comes to putting something into his eyes.


Until next time...

Shared birthday

Last Saturday was my birthday. I had as much of a birthday as one with kids involved in activities can have. My birthday started off entirely too early. Little Dude had the Pinewood Derby finals that morning. I was not happy about getting up at 7am on my birthday to have to drive through the snow to the race sight. But my boy was so excited to place 2nd within his pack and make it to the finals that I just couldn't say no.

I spent the evening of my birthday with Little Dude, working on his Valentine's Day box for school. GG was off at her Father/daughter Sweetheart dance for Girl Scouts. GG has fallen out of wanting to wear dresses every day, but she was so excited to dress up for the night. She was even more excited when I showed her a picture of how I wanted to fix her hair. She would have left it in forever if I let her!

During the time in between those events, I was able to spend some time at home. The kids and I watched a hockey game. They also colored me birthday pictures. I also had time to tweak my new present to my specifications.

The day before my birthday the husband informed me one of the laptops he had his eye on as a gift for me was finally available at one of our Best Buy stores. He promptly made the purchase and after work, we drove out to pick it up.

I was devastated when my netbook died right before Christmas, but I was lucky enough to be able to use the kids' desktop. Facebooking, blogging, and tweeting are all fun, but I really needed a computer. As a publisher for a Macaroni Kid newsletter, a computer is kind of a requirement. What I hated was being stuck at the table. I couldn't watch my shows and work. I couldn't watch hockey games and work. If I needed a pattern for a crochet project, I had to sit at the table and work or print the pattern out.

Now I can sit on my couch and work. Or play. My couch may not be that comfortable, but it's better than a wood chair with a crappy cushion.

Happy kids. Happy me. Happy birthday.


Until next time...

What comes home from school

Before you go thinking this is yet another "Help! My kid is sick!" post, it is not. Don't get me wrong, we've had our share of the sniffles, coughs, and ear infections, but nothing blog worthy.

I'm sharing some of the other things my kids have brought home from school. GG in particular.

Perhaps she is coming down with something because she opted out of buying a walking taco for lunch. Instead she chose to pack her lunch. The bonus? She wanted to pack it herself. Less work for me is always a good thing!

She packed a rather healthy lunch - a jelly sandwich, a chicken drumstick, some craisins, and Fruit by the Foot. Milk was purchased at school. However, this is not what she came home with. At the end of the day I opened her lunchbox to see her empty sandwich container, the unopened Fruit by the Foot, and not 1, but 2 unopened string cheeses.

Um... I haven't bought string cheese in weeks. I hope a friend wasn't hungry!

As crazy as that lunch debacle was, at least it could easily be taken care of. Wash the container, return the snack to it's box, wipe the lunchbox out, and throw away the now warm string cheese. What I cannot easily clean up are my daughter's spelling words. Words she must learn and must keep with her for the rest of her life.

Spelling is a subject I can do. I've been doing it with GG since Kindergarten, so that's 5 years (I can do math, too!). If Little Dude and I didn't butt heads constantly, I would help with his spelling as well. But the husband as been declared as his spelling helper. As long as one of GG's words is never occassion ocassion occasion, I think I can keep my job as her spelling helper.

At least that's what I thought until this week. Here is a sample of the words she brought home to study this week. Keep in mind, GG is in 4th grade.

• adversary
• conversation
• universal
• university
• independence

Those can be challenging, but not necessarily difficult. The rest of the list? That's another story!

• transversive
• subversive
• bicarbonate
• Martinique
• Mediterranean
• ribonucleic acid
• rhetorician

What the hell?!

GG will most definitely survive and move on to the 5th grade. I, however, fear I will not make it.


Until next time...