Oscar Worthy

Oh, my God, has it really been over two months since my last post? Argh! This is so sad. Life has been taken over by work, school stuff for the kids, finding another job for my sweet husband, and generally living life.

But, life is good. It's really, really good. I am grateful for all of the turmoil, because it has strengthened my faith and given me hope. Seriously.

Now, for the funny bit.

The little boy, the little girl and I were walking out of school this afternoon. The little boy, like a gentleman was holding the door open for his mommy and sister. Once we were through the door, he let go of it a little too quickly and he scraped the back of his heel on the door as it was swinging shut. Then, he started doing the "ow, ow, OW!" dance.

And you know what happened next?

My little drama queen took one look at her brother and started crying and limping. She was all crocodile tears and screaming "MY FOOOOOT!"

I wonder where she gets THAT.

Vocabulary Skills

On the way to work this morning, the kids were in the backseat reading books. My son was reading one that had a bunch of different super heroes in it.

He was going through all of the ones he did have and then he said, "Mommy, I don't have The Green Goblin or Mystique or The Incredible Hulk."

My daughter turned to her big brother and said, "Well, that's unfortunate."

Not Above Bribery

We had our rescheduled play date at the private school. Take 2 for my little boy. We've been talking it up for days, DAYS!

"Won't it be cool, to go in there and play all those games?"

"I know you're going to be brave and have lots of fun!"

"Your sister had tons of fun at her play date."

But this time, THIS TIME, I had a P-L-A-N! Talk is cheap, you know. So, what was my PLAN?

It's called a 3 pound bag of M&Ms. Sitting on the kitchen counter for three days prior to the big play date. And in the seat beside him all the way to the play date.

And so, he went in. And he had FUN! With PUZZLES!

He got to dig into that bag of M-M-M- M&Ms all the way home from his play date.

Oh, and he's going to Chuck E. Cheese later this week.

I feel no remorse whatsoever. None.

Heartburn

We are in the middle of the private school admission process. Part of it includes visitations (read: evaluations) with each school by the prospective applicant, i.e. my sweet little boy. The stakes are high, people, and it’s only kindergarten.

Yes, let’s talk about that "visit."

See, the whole point is that your child goes to the visit so the school can evaluate how he or she interacts with other children, whether they can form a sentence, and if they can solve a variety of puzzles. If they are deemed "qualified" for the program and if their temperament would be a suitable fit with the other qualified applicants and/or the current students (who got in when they were 3 because their parents were more acutely aware of how ridiculously competitive this private school thing is).

Well, my sweet boy plays well with other children, can speak in rather engaging language, counts to 15 in spanish and is bright enough to solve an array of puzzles. But, he is shy. Strike that: terrified of new people, new surroundings, strange teachers and twelve other screaming-crying-shouting children running around a classroom that he doesn’t know. In other words, five-year-old chaos.

So, he refuses to go in. To the evaluation.

It’s rather impossible to explain to a shy 5 year old that if he doesn’t go into his evaluation, he can’t possibly expect to get to play on that really cool playground outside or say hi to all those fish in the fish tank he just spent twenty minutes naming. Or grow up to do something other than repeat fifty times a day, "Can I take your order?" Okay, I'm being a smart-ass. 'Cause I'm freaking out.

I suppose in his mind he's thinking that what I've asked of him is tantamount to running through the streets of New York City, naked, in the middle of winter, holding up a sign that says, “Please Don't Look At Me.”

In the meantime, I'll just keep popping Zantac.

The Boy With The Perpetual Lucy Crush

Brought to You by the 3 Year Old World of Disney

"Mommy, here, hold my Winnie the Poop."

Stuck

I feel like we are stuck. We desparately want to move forward, but life keeps getting in the way.

Like, the hubby's company not being able to make payroll on time because it's a start-up and riddled with risk. Stuck like that.

Like two steps forward, one step back.

So, here is my theory today:

2007 equals one step forward and two steps back.

2008 equals two steps forward and one step back.

At least 2008 is offering up some forward momentum. And for this, I am grateful and will not complain.