THAT Day

I'm sitting at the dinner table looking at the boy and he is clearly talking. His lips and hands are moving, and there is a distinctive buzz coming out of his mouth, but for the life of me, I have no idea what the words are.

No Idea. None. I want to look at him and ask "What the hell are you trying to share with me? I don't speak Greek, and I don't speak Alien."

But, alas, I don't. I sit here and ponder the value of a Cuppa-Jo at this later hour.

Is it worth it? Not quite sure.

If THEBOY stops talking in a few more moments, then no... but if the drone continues on into the night, I'm going to need some fortification.

Yeah, it's been THAT day.

Vaca

Vaca... not what you think it is when you have children.

Think you are going to have some downtime to watch a movie, or read a book? Silly you - when the children are in school - that's when you race madly about (hoping you don't get a speeding ticket) with all the other mom's in town desperate to get things done before the chaos begins anew.

Alone time? HA! You will be joined even during 'bathroom' time by the family dog who is anxious as to why routine (ie, protocol) is no longer being followed.

Visions of eating whatever you want for lunch? Such a dreamer. The first time the offspring find the remnants of your dining, you will regret revealing you have a hidden stash.

So it is. The book continues to collect dust, the couch forever remains un-dented where my ass was supposed to loll the hours away and the stash never to see the light of day.

But the chaos, excitement in sharing their day and the ensuing zoo make it all worth it. Life is full, and thankfully so.

Monkey Enough

It was bound to happen. Only a matter of time. It's a right of passing, really. These are the things I'll be saying to myself over the next few weeks.

Getting into the car yesterday BW handed me a note and excitedly announced to JB - "GUESS WHAT!!! SOMEONE IN MY CLASS HAS HEAD LICE!!!"

I cringed and then shuddered. My mother escaped this milestone of child rearing, so I've personally never seen these lovely critters... But still, I've read enough to know that this is a battle I don't want to gear up for.

When we got home, the first order of business was checking to see if I would become a member of the 'nit-picking club'. While the saying is slung about with ease, it's meaning has an origin... And again, I cringe.

But, thankfully - so far at least - we can leave the mom description as "highly detail oriented" and leave off the 'nit-picky'. And, *sigh*, I'm hoping that the boy isn't so interested in bugs that he goes out of his way to collect "some specimen".

The minions are, after all, monkey enough as it is. I can't even begin to imagine what they'll be like if we have to process through that experience.

Leftovers

I'm never quite sure what I should make of some of the papers that arrive way home with random streams of consciousness noted on them.

Like this one. I'm not sure what this is or why it was important enough to record. Nor do I think I want to know.

One thing is for certain; according to whichever child wrote it, ants use leftover larvae and for some reason, it was important enough to write that fact down.

Rebellion

I have been resisting the urge all day to randomly burst out (in the library or other somesort of quiet place)

"Good Morning People of Earth!" 

Only, not with such clean language and certainly not in a 'quiet' voice.

Instead I leave my gum wrapper on the counter.

 I am a quiet rebel.

Wha? October!?

Life did it again.  It's OCTOBER?

Last time I looked we were closing in on the end of July, back to school commercials were starting to show up on the tele, and we were all thoroughly suffering from a severe case of Cabin Fever.

Now there are candy corns everywhere, pumpkins are popping up on porches around town and leaves are falling... Christmas decorations are lining store shelves and the weatherman said snow is on its way by the end of the week.  

And wow, my 'Bag of Skittles' has become a fountain.  As each person and my activities are color coded on my calendar - there are weeks in which my schedule is a colorful rainbow of 'fun'.

It's been an awfully colorful fall!  Now that we are six weeks into the semester, things have finally settled down enough that I have been able to carve out a few minutes each week to put pen to paper... I hope, who knows, in the Olson's household, sometimes we are surfing the wave of chaos and holding on tight until the weekend.

It's moments of realization like this that I realize that a 'pause' button would be nice and I'm ever so thankful for coffee!

Princesses, Princesses

From the moment she was able to talk and bratty behavior made it's appearance by way of stomping feet, and ear-piercing screeching "NO!" I would stop mid-whatever it was and gently correct her by saying "Darling, I love you... but I'm sorry, we do not have princesses in our house... we have ladies. If you choose to be a lady, that's awesome. If you choose to continue to act like a princess, the door to the back yard is right there. Use it."

Ladies are kind, brave, strong, loving and warm-hearted. (Think Cinderella)

Princesses are selfish, demanding and bratty. (Think Cinderella's step-sisters)

Ladies don't mind an honest days work, getting their hands dirty because they need to, or because it is FUN!

Princesses don't.

Ladies enjoy science, bugs, the night sky and all things that fly.

Princesses... not so much.

She's never been a fan of Disney or the Princesses they portray (until along came Brave, and we made some adjustments) and I overheard her tell one of her mates that she would rather be a lady any day of the week.

Little by little words do shape our kids.