What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

Tomorrow I begin nursing school.  It's been a long, slightly bumpy road to get to this point, and right now I'm alternating between feeling ecstatic that this is really happening and being terrified that this is really happening, but mostly (as cheesy as it sounds) I just really can't wait to take what feels like a huge leap in the path that will lead me to the career I've dreamed about for a long time now.

As part of the application process, I was asked to write two essays, one about what I would do to make sure I was successful if I were selected for the program, and one about why I wanted to be a nurse in the first place.  This poor blog has been neglected for so long, and I don't foresee any likelihood of more regular posting anytime in the near future, so I think it's fitting that I intentionally leave it with a post about why I'm doing what I'm doing.  I know my girls will read this one day, and I'd like them to know what motivated me.

So, without further ado, here is my response to the question "Why are you pursuing a career as a nurse?"

I haven’t always wanted to be a nurse.  In fact, for as long as I can remember, my plan was always to be a teacher.  After graduating from high school, I enrolled at a junior college as an elementary education major and earned an Associate’s degree.  I even taught for two years at a private school.  However, I took some time off from school, got married, and started a family, and at that point, pursuing a career of any sort was put on hold.

And then I met Bonnie.

My oldest daughter was born in a teaching hospital.  Over the course of my 12-hour labor, I was checked on and tested by a variety of people, but aside from my obstetrician, only one stands out in my memory.  Bonnie was a nursing student shadowing one of the other nurses on duty that night.  As my contractions ebbed and flowed and she observed the nurse in action, we were able to chat.  She was a grandma who had decided to change course and go back to school, and she was just beginning her clinicals in labor & delivery.  She hadn’t had the opportunity to witness a birth yet, so she was extremely excited at the prospect.  She was very professional, and also very talkative.  In fact, Bonnie reminded me of some of the women I’d known at church while I was growing up – big, kind, cheerful, and very friendly and chatty – and I was happy to have her there to help distract me from the labor pains.  My husband enjoyed her company, too.  We were young first-time parents, and she kept us smiling and talking with stories about her children and grandchildren, and about how excited she was to become a nurse and how proud she was to be doing so at her age.

As my labor progressed, it became apparent that, although it would be close, the baby wasn’t going to arrive before it was time for Bonnie to leave for class, and she asked if we would mind if she contacted her instructor for permission to skip the lecture so she could be there for the birth.  I suppose some people would have been happy to have as few people as possible in the room while they were giving birth, but I welcomed her presence.  She was so warm and cheerful, and it made me feel so honored that, even though she had only met me that night, she was so excited for the birth of my baby.  It made me feel special.  She received permission to stay, and a little while later our daughter was born.  After exclaiming over the baby and giving us her heartfelt congratulations, and thanking us for allowing her to be a part of something so special, she slipped out and went back to school.

I only had a few hours with her, and it has nearly been thirteen years, but I will never forget her.

Bonnie’s enthusiasm for nursing stayed with me.  I remembered her when I was in the hospital giving birth to my second and then third child.  Both were born in hospitals that were not affiliated with universities, so I never had the opportunity to interact with other nursing students.  The nurses attending me were all very nice, but having a Bonnie there to distract me from the contractions would have been very welcome.

Once we decided our family was complete, I began to entertain the idea of going back to school.  I had always assumed that I would continue on with the elementary education degree, but the more I thought about it, the more I began to realize that that wasn’t what I really wanted after all.  Around this time, my husband mentioned to me a story he’d heard about a woman who was trained as a doula and was using her skills to assist teen mothers before, during, and after their deliveries.  This struck a chord with me.  As I considered my options and thought about different career paths, the memory of Bonnie’s presence during my labor, combined with the emotional response I’d had to the story about the doula, helped me to realize that what I really wanted, more than anything else, was to be able to be that kind of presence for somebody else.  I wanted to follow in Bonnie’s footsteps and become a nurse, ideally a labor & delivery nurse.

As a mother of three active children, I have had many interactions with nurses.  From regular pediatric checkups to appointments when they were sick to the occasional ER visit, the nurses have been the first to greet us.  Their kindness and patience, their support and reassurance and encouragement: all those qualities have always impressed me.  I so admire nurses and all that they do.  More often than not, they are the ones who first greet the patients.  They are with them through the ups and downs of sickness and health.  They are there for the joys and the sadnesses, the losses and gains, the good news and bad.  And I have found that I want so badly to be a part of that, to be able to be that support and comfort, to hold someone’s hand, and breathe with them, and to give hugs and encouragement and a shoulder to cry on.

I started life with a desire to teach, but as my life has evolved, and my experiences and situations have shaped who I have become, I no longer have that same desire.  I still enjoy working with children, but now my desire and enthusiasm lies in nursing.  As cliché as it sounds, I want to help people, but even more than that, I want to simply be there for them.

I want to be somebody else’s Bonnie.

Presentations of Pure Awesomeness

We love our local public schools.  We feel like our kids are getting a good education there.  We've had some excellent teachers, and great experiences with the administration listening to and addressing our concerns.  But sometimes we feel like they're not being challenged as much as we'd like.  So a few weeks ago, Chris and I decided to offer an incentive for the girls to do some extracurricular work.  We told them we'd pay them to research a topic and present what they'd learned to us.

Vicki's reaction was pretty much, "Meh."  Of course, she's a busy girl this year and is taking an especially challenging math class, so I can understand her not wanting to fill her downtime with extra work.

Lexi, however, jumped at the chance.  She just spent all her money on an iPod, so she's eager to fill that piggy bank back up.

She spent about a week researching the states of matter.  Chris gave her some advice and a little guidance, but she did the bulk of the work on her own.  Once she was finished with her research, she put together an awesome PowerPoint presentation for us.  I wish I had thought to actually record the whole thing, but since I didn't, here, at least, is the PowerPoint part of it.  She had notes printed out, with all kinds of information for each slide, but you'll have to use your imagination as you watch this (it's a little long and there's no sound, so feel free to skip ahead):



Not about to be outdone by her sister, Ellie decided that she needed to do a presentation, too.  Inspired by the states of matter, she chose to do her presentation on...wait for it...gas.  Oh how I wish I could have included her commentary, too, or Chris's description of her "research" process (essentially, it involved Google image searches, and him asking her, between fits of laughter, "What else is a gas?")  You will definitely want to watch the whole thing on this one:



A few comments: I have no idea what that's actually a graph of, but Chris says she told him, "We need graphs and charts!"  When she got to the "liar, liar" screen, she told us, "This means you should never hold your gas in.  You should always just let it out, or this might happen."

My kids are awesome.

Adventures in Babysitting

I wrote this clear back in April, but life and school intervened and it never got posted.  Now that school is out and the only things on the "neglect this" list are cleaning my house and doing laundry, I can finally post it!

I babysit a few kids a couple of days a week.  One girl is Ellie's age and just comes home from school with us, but when the other two are here, it's all day.

The almost-2-year-old little guy still takes a good long nap in the afternoon, but his big sister is almost five, and naps are so not cool anymore.  We compromise and call it rest time or quiet time.  Sometimes she watches a movie for her quiet time, but usually she takes a bunch of books onto Lexi's bed (she likes Lexi's because it's the highest up) and chills for an hour or so.

On Tuesday, while both kids were napping/resting, I thought I'd do some homework.  I'm taking an Anatomy & Physiology class, which means I get to look at a lot of pictures of, well, basically...naked people.  Oh, and the class is online, which means I'm looking at these pictures on my computer screen.

I figured I had a good hour to do my assignment, which involved labeling a figure with the correct body regions, when in walked big sister, done with quiet time.

And there on the screen in front of me was my anatomically correct man, very visible on the computer screen in all his, um, anatomically correct glory.

Can you imagine the conversation at home that might follow an encounter like this?  "So, sweetie, how was your day today at Allison's house?"  "Oh, it was great!  I watched Scooby Doo and read Pinkalicious and Allison looked at naked guys on the computer!"

I guess I got me some 'splainin' to do.

The Second Time Around

When I was 18 years old and away at college for the first time, I had no other responsibilities.  I lived in a dorm room with five other girls.  My meals were prepared for me.  There was no grocery shopping to do, no family to look after.  I didn't even have a job.  All I needed to do was attend class and study, and yet somehow I still managed embarrassingly low grades.

Apparently 18-year-old me (and, let's be honest, 19- and 20-year-old me) and responsibility did not play well together.

Fast forward 15 years, and I'm the mother of three busy children with a house to maintain, meals to cook, Girl Scout troops to help run, a Sunday School class to teach, and places to go almost constantly.

When I decided to go back to school, I was excited, but I was also scared to death.  I knew what kind of student I had been when I had nothing else on my plate.  What kind of student would I be when I had so much on my plate already?

My first term I enrolled in a computer class that was a piece of cake, and a 5-credit Chemistry class that was not.  I watched the lectures, did the homework, paid attention in lab, and read the material.  But I desperately needed some sort of tangible indicator that I was going to be able to handle it all.

Because it was a hybrid class (half online, half face-to-face), all our scores were posted online.  When I pulled up my score for our first exam the Saturday morning after I took it, I burst into tears.  Not only had I somehow managed to score 103% on the exam, but I'd also achieved the highest grade in the class.

And I realized right then and there that it didn't matter what kind of student I'd been in the past.

What matters is only what kind of student I want to be now.

I can do this school thing.  It doesn't make any difference how busy I am, because I've decided to make it a priority in my life.  My house is showing signs of neglect, true, but so far my grades are not.  My whole family has been incredibly supportive.  Chris now does all the laundry, not because he wants to, and not even because he was afraid it wouldn't get done otherwise, but because he knows it's my least favorite household chore and he wanted to take over something that would be both helpful and meaningful.  He doesn't complain when schoolwork keeps me from spending more time with him in the evenings, or when he comes home to a house that looks like it was hit by a bomb.  The girls have been incredibly understanding when I've had to do schoolwork rather than play with them.  They don't even complain too much about me hogging the computer all the time.

I've managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA, including last term when I was also up to my elbows in Girl Scout cookies.  This term I'm taking two very challenging classes, and I'm worried, but I also know that I've learned some things about myself and my habits, and I know what I need to do in order to be successful.

I'm proud that I'm able to set a good example for my girls.  By watching me work hard, they're learning to work hard, too.  And by sharing in the celebration when I get good grades, they're learning that hard work pays off.

Most importantly, they're learning that while there are second chances in life, it's much easier to not mess up your first chance.  I hope when they grow up and go away to college, they'll be able to learn from my experience and choose to be good students the first time around.

I didn't do that, so I'm grateful I get a second time around to make that choice!

Sage Advice

Tomorrow is my first day of school. I haven't been a student for over 10 years.

Needless to say, I'm a little nervous.

When I reminded the girls tonight that I'll be starting school tomorrow, Ellie said, "Mom, let me give you some advice about the first day of school."

(Let me remind you here that her school experience totals a week and a half. Still, in her lifetime that's more than me.)

"My advice for you, Mom, is: Have fun!"

I think I will.

Honest Reporting

Lexi's homework assignment tonight was this:

Observation (noticing details with out eyes) is very importand in science!  Look around your house carefully.  Write 10 observations that you think most people wouldn't notice about your house if they came over.

Her response?

1. Our walls are messy
2. No fish in the fish bowls
3. Our stairs are dirty
4. Our computer screen is dirty
5. My bed is boring
6. Our room is boring
7. We have 40 light bulbs
8. We have 8 blinds
9. We have 11 doors
10. Our bathroom is messy

Well, then.  Okay.  Thanks for the observations, Lexi.

I take comfort in the fact that she thinks most people wouldn't notice these things about our house if they came over.

*Edited 15 minutes later to add: I am now absolutely horrified that I put this on the internet for all to see.  In my defense: I don't know what she thinks is wrong with the walls; the fish bowls are decorative and hang on the wall and still look cool without fish, the carpet on the stairs is the cheapest variety possible, and I swear it stains if you look at it; yes, the computer screen is dirty; I don't see anything wrong with her bed or their room; I've never counted our light bulbs, blinds, or doors, bus she's probably right and at least these things aren't embarassing (although...40 light bulbs?  Really?); if they picked up their clothes and towels and didn't persist in smearing toothpaste all over the counter and sink their bathroom wouldn't be so messy!  There.  I feel better now.

Time to Fly

Today I left my baby girl at school.

Actually, the more accurate description would be that today my baby girl kicked me out of her classroom.

I didn't cry at the school.  I may have cried a little on the way to school, and I may also have sobbed like a baby for a few minutes when I got home.  (And now, while I'm writing this post.)  But I didn't cry at the school.

Ellie was up at 7am, knocking on my door and announcing, "I'm a kindergartner!"  She was dressed before breakfast, and before anyone else in the house, including me.

We walked to school.  Well, Lexi and I walked.  Ellie ran and skipped the whole way.

As parents, we want our kids to grow up and try new things.  I've been excited to have the house to myself for a few hours each day for a very long time.  But now I'm feeling lonely.  I don't know what to do with myself.

Except, that is, for eating this bucket o' brownies that a friend gave me this morning.  She said she knew I'd need them.  It's good to have friends.

I miss my baby.  I miss all my girls, really.  It's awfully quiet here without them.

But I can't deny that Ellie is growing up.  She still needs me, but she's ready to be a little more independent, to experience the world for herself.

She's ready to spread her wings and fly.

Far be it from me to get in her way.

Back to School!

It's back-to-school week around these parts!  Vicki and Lexi started today, but kindergarten doesn't start until next Wednesday, so poor Ellie, who has been waiting forever for her turn to go to school, still has another week to go.


Vicki was so excited to be able to choose her own
clothes.  I, on the other hand, wish the uniforms
continued through high school.


Vicki and her friends have made plans to meet up and walk to school together each day, but a few of us uncool parents insisted on joining them the first day.  You know, to humiliate them with cameras.  Nothing like starting middle school off on the right foot.  At least I didn't kiss her goodbye in the classroom - even Lexi would have balked at that this year.

Middle School, here we come!

Lexi insisted on getting a messenger bag instead of a backpack.  They must not be "the thing" anymore, because we had to search everywhere before we found one that her sense of style and my wallet could agree on.  The strap is so long it bangs her in the knees, but she loves it.  I did not tell her to pose like this for her picture - this is pure Lexi.  Also, note the fluorescent socks.  With a uniform, there are only so many ways to express yourself.  And for Lexi, day-glo socks are clearly the best.

Mighty 4th Grader!

First day down for two of them, one more to go.

It's going to be mighty quiet around here after next week.

Six Little Votes

I realize this probably seems like an oddly-timed post, seeing as it's June, and it's not an election year.  Bear with me.  It will all make sense in the end.

We live in a teeny little school district.  Four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school; that's it.  The schools are pretty small, too.  Our elementary school only has about 400 students.  We love it.

Last month a special election was held here.  A lot of the ballot items had to do with education.  Our neighbor, Portland Public Schools, had a much-publicized bond up for election, one that was guaranteed to raise taxes if it passed.

Our own little district also had a bond on the ballot.  We were hoping for money to build a new middle school - something desperately needed, since the current one was built to house 600 students and now houses upwards of 800 - and update the four elementary schools in terms of safety and technology.  It was set to replace an existing bond that was about to expire.  This meant that, unlike the PPS bond, it wouldn't raise taxes.  However, due to the size of our district, this bond didn't get anywhere near the kind of attention the PPS bond did.

Several of my friends were very active in spreading the word.  They sent emails, passed out fliers, made phone calls, knocked on doors, and sat at a booth outside the Farmer's Market.  One good friend is not an American citizen, and therefore can't vote, but she still put in countless hours spreading the word because her children attend school in this district and she cares about the quality of their education.  While our family didn't do that much work, we made sure to hang a sign in our window, put a sticker on our car, and wear our "I'm voting yes!" buttons constantly.  The girls were all fired up about the election, wearing their buttons to school and discussing it with their friends.  It was a great civics lesson in action.

By the time the polls closed on Election Day, the bond was up by 17 votes.  The next morning, the count was up by 27 and we were celebrating our victory.

And that's when the roller coaster ride began.  The count bounced up and down by just a few votes as the few remaining ballots were counted.  We were down by 1, then up by 2, then down by 2, then up by 1.  Suddenly we were in the news.  Rarely is an election so close.

During this time I became frustrated and, yes, I'll admit, angry as I learned of people I knew who either hadn't voted at all, or who had voted "no".  Of course, I understand and firmly believe that it's everyone's right to vote however they see fit, but now I wish I had been more proactive, had stepped up and made phone calls, canvassed in the rain, or just mentioned it more often in casual conversation.  Too many people didn't understand the difference between our bond and Portland Public's.  Too many people still thought their taxes were going to go up if they voted "yes" and therefore voted "no" (although I personally believe that an increase in taxes is worth the investment in educating a community's children, but that's perhaps a post unto itself.)  Too many people fail to see that if you're not part of the solution in making our public schools better, you become part of the problem.

The final count came in today: after a recount, the bond passed by 6 votes.  That's it, just 6.  Vicki will probably not get to enjoy the new middle school, but now I know my other two girls will, and that all our community schools will be safer places for the children who attend them.

This experience has been an eye-opener in so many ways.  I have always believed that it's important to be an educated voter, to understand the issues before I vote so I understand the true impact of my vote, but now I believe that even more firmly.  My girls have had an opportunity to see what happens when a community rallies together over something they believe in, and what can happen if not enough people become involved.  I can assure you that at least Vicki has become motivated to stand up and speak out for causes she believes in.  This is why she and I will be spending tomorrow, and several Saturdays through the summer, helping to raise money for Outdoor School.  And I can't (and won't) complain, because she has become a citizen in her community, and has learned that if you want something to happen, you have to make it happen.  What a life lesson!

And lastly, there's this: if you never believed before now that your single little vote could make a difference, well, I'm telling you, friends: it's time to become a believer.

Six little votes just made a world of difference for the children in my community.

Moments Like This...

Two Random Thoughts Thursday posts ago, I alluded to a phone call that chased away any lingering doubts about starting Vicki in school when we did.  Today I get to talk about why.

Vicki has always been bright.  She has always been eager to learn, and determined to succeed at whatever she put her mind to.  Crawling wasn't getting her to where she wanted to go quickly enough, so she started walking at 9 months old.  Speaking one word at a time didn't communicate her thoughts clearly enough, so she started speaking in complete sentences long before anyone expected her to.  She learned the basics of reading pretty quickly, but once she really figured out that if she put it all together the doors to new worlds would open, she started really reading in the space of almost literally a weekend.  One night we were reading chapter books to her, and the next, it seemed, she was reading them to us.

At this point we had just moved to Oregon, and suddenly we found ourselves faced with the fact that we had a four-and-a-half year old who was, as far as we could tell, ready for kindergarten.  We talked it over with the school, took her in for the kindergarten assessments, and spent some time on a conference call with the wonderful principal, who took us through the pros and cons of starting kindergarten early, made his recommendation based on her assessments (which was to go ahead and start her), and left the final decision up to us.

And we've never truly regretted sending this little baby:

with the backpack that's almost bigger than her


off to kindergarten.

She was pretty much the tiniest kid in the school, but boy did she love it.  From day one, school was very clearly her thing.

Over the years since then, Chris and I have talked about that decision we made for her, and whether or not we still thought it was the right decision.  And we've always felt good about it, and pretty sure it truly was the right decision.

Fast forward to a week and a half ago.  I got a phone call from the principal, the same one who helped us make the decision to start her early nearly six years ago.  He said Vicki had been chosen by the 4/5th grade teachers as the outstanding student of the year, an award that is presented annually by the local Masonic Lodge for one boy and one girl from each of the elementary schools in our district.

the sign in front of the school (the boy's name is on the other side)


In that moment, I knew, without a doubt, that we were absolutely 100% right in sending her to school when we did.  Not only did she hold up in all academic areas, but socially as well.  She may be the youngest 5th grader in the school (she's actually younger than a few 4th graders), but she carries herself with a maturity that more than makes up for the age difference.

with her teacher Mrs. T and our amazing principal Mr. L


It's moments like this that make parenting feel so worth the effort.  I don't believe that Chris or I did anything out of the ordinary to help Vicki achieve this award - it was all her hard work and dedication, but our award was getting to listen to her teacher's speech about why she was chosen for it.

And that, my friends, is a beautiful reward.

Woes of an Almost-Middle-Schooler's Mother

Vicki will be starting middle school in ohmyword five short months.

I'm not ready for this.

She is, though.  Ready and bouncing up and down with excitement.  The girl who has never cared about clothes in her life is planning her wardrobe for the time when she no longer has to wear a uniform (darn it.)

Last week, all the 5th graders at her school got to go over to the middle school for a tour.  And I wanted desperately to go along, but I managed to convince myself that it would be better for all of us if I just stayed home.  Moving into the world of middle-schoolers is not something that needs to be done with Mom holding your hand.  And, quite possibly, sobbing uncontrollably.  Yes, better for everyone.

That evening at dinner she gave us all the scoop.  The middle school is BIG, but awesome.  Lockers are so cool.  If you don't play in the band as a 6th grader, you can't do it as a 7th or 8th grader, so please, please, please can she get a flute?  She learned an exciting new word: electives.  And she threw it around like she'd been saying it forever.  She was suddenly a world ahead of her former lowly elementary-school self.

I miss my baby.

Heaven help us all when she actually starts middle school in the fall.
Oh, and the school supply she's convinced she needs more than anything else?

A cell phone.

Of course.

Can't I just freeze time right now?  Please?

I'm not ready for this.  Not one little bit.

Yay For Learning!

Today was the first day of school.  We loaded up the backpacks, loaded the backpacks onto the kids, took the annual in-front-of-the-tree pictures, and headed down the road.

Of course, it didn't take long before I was the one loaded up and hauling everything to school.

In honor of the back to school season, I'd like to share something I found in Lexi's morning journal from last year, which we did not just find as we were cleaning her backpack out last night in preparation for this morning.  Of course not.  We would do that kind of thing waaaaaay in advance.  Way.

But I digress.

Here, for your reading pleasure, is a 7-year-old girl's idea of a dream house.  Spelling is, of course, in its original form.

My Dream House
by Lexi


My dream house is the prfictly pink palis.  It has 200 bedrooms, 200 bathrooms, a humungis yord that has a swiming pool, a grdin, a made, a prsunol cook, a watre, a puppy, a kitin, a woredrob, a pink shet, a pink pelo, a pink machris, 200 pink dresis, a pink bed, a geigatikc liveing room, and my geigatikc bedroom.

All I can say is wow.  And good luck with that.

Moral Dilemma

We all know I love spelling and grammar.

I may be in a minority here, but we're a strong and vocal minority.  You can find snarky grammar blogs all over the internet.

Ever since I discovered The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, I've been spotting offenses everywhere.  You may even remember my delight awhile back when one I submitted was featured.

Well, when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere.  I volunteer at the girls' school, and way back at the beginning of the year I noticed an offending sign in the art room there.  Because of Project 365, I pretty much always have a camera handy, so I took a picture.  Several months later I submitted it, along with three or four others.

Well, whenever I post on the blog, I link to it on Facebook.  And since the time I submitted those particular photos, I have become Facebook friends with a couple of the staff at the school.  And I know they follow the links and read this blog (hi there!)

So, what I'm about to do is essentially to make fun of my daughters' school.  But not really.  I love the school and the people who work there!  I don't have any idea who wrote the sign, or whether they even work at the school anymore (or if they ever did; it may have been a volunteer like myself, for all I know.)  So I hope no one thinks I'm mocking them if I go ahead and point out that this particular picture was posted on the "Blog" yesterday.

Enjoy.

My apologies to the school.  But don't forget to put it away.  Never, ever "dump it".

Talent

Monday was the annual talent show at the girls' school.  Despite the numerous Justin Bieber songs (none of which I had heard prior to that morning, and hopefully none of which I will hear again), it was a lot of fun.  Vicki played "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" on the piano and sang "Lean on Me" with the choir, and Lexi's class sang a song about loving everyone, regardless of differences.  There were also a few dancers (one who definitely stole the show), a tiny boy who sang with a piano accompanist (as opposed to the many who sang along with a CD and could barely be heard over the original singer), a little mini-Beyonce in a long shiny pink dress (who Chris described, in an admiring way, as "the girl with the Sideshow Bob hair"), and a handful of pianists.

However, the true stars of the show were these guys:

They danced to "Gettin' Jiggy Wit it".

The blue one is the principal.  Our school rocks.

The adults thought it was hilarious.  The kids thought it was hilarious, too, but they also thought it was Cookie Monster and Elmo.  I had to educate my children by showing them the following video.  I thought you all might like it, too.

Logic that Defies all Reason

The girls' school instituted a dress code this year.  Not just a What's-okay-vs.-what's-not-okay-to-wear-type dress code, but a full-blown Code of Dress.  A.k.a. Uniforms.

The uniform is pretty easy to follow.  Khaki bottoms - pants, capris, shorts, skirts, and jumpers are all okay - and white, black, or hunter green collared shirts on top.  I was on the committee that helped come up with the Code of Dress, and I felt (and still feel) pretty darn good about it.  I like that the kids still have a choice of what to wear.  If it doesn't feel like a white shirt day, go with green.  If you don't want to wear your polo shirt, go with a turtleneck.  Sounds pretty good, right?

Well, to the 4th and 5th graders, it's akin to torture.

They whine.  They complain.  They show up at school in non-approved apparel and are sent down to the clothes closet, where parent volunteers such as myself, who originally thought we were signing on for a month-long position, happily hand them the appropriate items, show them to the first-class dressing room (a.k.a. art supply room) and inform them that they can come back at the end of the day for their skull-embroidered shirts or their black skinny jeans.  The clothes we have on hand aren't particularly cute, and, to be honest, don't actually fit several of the offending 5th graders (wow, kids mature early these days!), and yet they continue to act as if they prefer to spend the day in ill-fitting, slightly ugly clothing that belongs to the school and is washed by somebody else's mother, rather than their own clothes, which may look like everyone else's, but at least they fit and don't smell like someone else's house.

I don't get it.

Today Vicki was complaining about the uniform.  Again.  When this idea first came into being she thought it was a good one, but by the time she and her classmates were finished hashing it out, she was in protest mode.  She says that school uniforms keep kids from being able to express themselves.  I can understand that.  But I think that are better ways to express yourself than by what you wear.  I asked her what she'd wear that would express her own personality.

Her answer?  "I don't know...something cool."

So I asked her, "What's cool?"

"Skinny jeans.  Everybody wears them."

Ah, sweet, sweet irony.  How I love thee.

You Can Drag a Kid to Paper, but You Can't Make Them Write

The big focus this year at the girls' school is writing.  All the kids are being encouraged to become detailed writers.  Both girls have reading comprehension-type questions on their homework each week.  Vicki has had a lot of homework assignments that require her to read about an issue and then write an argument for or against the issue.  Lexi has simpler assignments, but they encourage writing nonetheless.

I love to write (hence the blog), so I think this is a great thing.  My children, unfortunately, do not tend to agree with me on this.  Vicki complains every night about how much she hates writing and how hard it is, and how stupid and boring and unfair, blah, blah, blah.  Lexi, however, has chosen a more passive-aggressive tactic.

She brought home a worksheet the other day that she'd apparently done in class.  The top of the worksheet said, "Draw a castle" with a nice big box underneath for drawing said castle.  Lexi's castle is magnificent.  It has turrets and ramparts and flags, and is even so detailed as to include a drawbridge, which, at the moment, is lowered, presumably to allow entrance to the princess waiting just outside the borders of the picture.

Underneath the drawing box it says, "Write about the castle", followed by a series of prompts.  Here is what my too-smart-for-her-own-good daughter had to say about her castle:

• Who or what? a castle
• Did what? sat thare
• Where? thare
• When? 2:00 am
• Why? it’s a castle

Alrighty then.

The day we've all been waiting for!

It's the first day of school!!!

I know, I know, I probably shouldn't be so giddy, but we have been ready for this day for about three weeks now. The girls have had their clothes picked out (not that there was much to choose from, with the new "code of dress" - i.e. uniforms - that our school implemented this year. Have I mentioned how happy I am that they did this? No more fighting over clothes every. single. morning!) and ready to go for days. Vicki made plans with her friend Kate to match, which made me laugh for two reasons. 1) because I remember doing the same thing with my friend Katherine, and 2) because, hello, they're wearing uniforms! They're going to match with at least 5 or 6 people every day! But with the choice of skirts, pants, or shorts, plus three colors to choose from for the tops, apparently the coordination was essential to a successful first day back. Anyway, they settled on a pleated skirt, a white short-sleeved shirt, and a green sweater with white knee socks and brown shoes. And of course, Lexi had to match Vicki.
It's so nice when they get along and love each other. School starting back up will help this.

Vicki is starting 4th grade. I've been having minor panic attacks all week every time I thought about this. I remember 4th grade! It's more grown-up. I don't know if I'm ready for her to be that grown up, but she sure is. At their school the 4th and 5th grade classes are all combined, and they meet in the annex behind the main school building, so she feels like this is a huge step. Which it is. So she had to have a messenger bag this year, to add to the grown-uppedness. She keeps reminding me that she only has two more years until she's in middle school, to which I plug my ears and sing loudly until she goes away.

Lexi is lucky in that her 1st grade teacher got moved to 2nd grade this year and kept a few of her students. This is the same teacher that I babysit for, and who Vicki had for two years, and we love her, so we're hoping we can somehow finagle the two years in a row thing when Ellie's in school, too. Lexi's excited because once you're in 2nd grade you get to have recess on the big playground, so she's taking a step toward that grown-uppedness thing, too. I stood in line with her while they waited to go inside, and she was excited to see some familiar faces. It's nice to drop them off at school and have them be completely confident that it will be a good year and that they'll have fun.

They're growing up, but I think I can handle it. And look at them - they're ready for anything!

Lots of fun (and a litle bit of running)

Yesterday was the annual fun run at the girls' school. Ellie and I decided to go cheer the kids on. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, perfect for being outside. Note to self: wear sunscreen next time. But the kids had fun and no one else seemed to get as sunburned as me.

They split the school into two groups so that the track wasn't too crowded. Lexi's class was in the first group. She had a great time running the first lap or two.
Then she took a break for a few minutes to cool off and cheer on a few friends.
She ended up running (well, probably more walking than running) five laps and is proud of her mile and a quarter accomplishment.

Vicki's class was in the next group. Neither girl is a big runner - they take after their mother in that way. But she gave it her best shot as well and managed six laps.
Afterward the big thing to do in her class was pour their water over their heads rather than drink it.
It was cold, but it seemed to help a lot.

Ellie and I even did a lap with each group, and she's proud of her own half mile run. My feet hurt today - one more note to self: don't run in flip-flops.

Only Love is Spoken Here

Last night the second and third grade classes at the girls' school had their annual music program. The school has really been focusing on respect, and trying to teach the kids what respect means. They teach "the three R's", which are Respect for Self, Respect for Others, and Respect for Learning. So it was really appropriate that the music teacher go a new route this year and present a program titled "Only Love is Spoken Here". It was quite possibly the best music program we've been to at this school since Vicki started.

She even taught the kids sign language for a lot of the songs. Here they are signing the word "love":
I couldn't get a picture of my favorite sign, which was "cheer" - big smiles and arms waving in the air :)

There were about 20 speaking parts, and Vicki was chosen for one of them. I can't remember what she said, unfortunately, but she did a great job!
And I let her wear her Easter dress, which is a big deal, because normally we buy them and then I hide them away in my closet where the girls won't be tempted to wear them and ruin them before Easter.

It was a blast to watch Vicki sing because she got really into the music and was dancing in place and grinning so big I thought her face would split in two. It's really too bad that it's hard to take a decent picture in the school gym, because it was so much fun - one of those times I wish we had a video camera!

Wait...what???

From the district-produced Student and Parent Handbook for the girls' school:

COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
...A student with certain diseases is not allowed to come to school while
the disease is contagious. These diseases include chicken pox, diptheria,
measles, meningitis, mumps, lice infestations, whooping cough, plague, rubella,
scabies, staph infections, strep infections and tuberculosis. Parents with
questions should contact the school office.

Um...I have a question...