Jumpstart the Fossil

As I sit here at my desk getting the stare down from a couple of largish plastic brachiosaur's that my daughter left on my desk earlier today. I feel like this one brachiosaur is completely judging me and just thinking that the wrong one of us is extinct.  Hey, no need to get bitter little dinosaur! It's rather un-nerving the way this plastic dinosaur is staring at me.  It's mocking me.  MOCKING ME! You know you are lacking sleep when you are eye balling a plastic dinosaur telling it bug off.  *shake head* Sad sad sad.

My 7am wake up call from my children went as such this morning. 

Marshall:  "I found LEGS!"
Kamilah:  "I found a HEAD!"
Keegan:  "....I found....a butt..."

*giggls* (from the children) I lay there as silent as possible pretending to still be asleep during their exclamations and giggles, because if I show ANY sign of being awake I will get little sharp pointy knees and elbows to my bladder, and my bladder couldn't take that abuse this morning.  Next I hear "We found a dinosaur, we found a fossil!! Yay for fossils! Let's dig her up!"  And they proceed to "dig" me out of the blankets.

Yep.  I am an old fossil. Nice revelation for my Sunday morning.

Thank you children.  Mommy will not even be 29 until October, no need to rub it in that 30 is approaching. My gray hairs (that are aplenty) are a good enough reminder of that!

So as the kids dug their old fossil mommy dinosaur out of the covers I sat up with a big ol' dino roar sending the kids scurrying across the bedroom giggling because the dino scared them. 

Mornings like that, are wonderful.  I love waking up to the sounds of my children giggling and I love hearing their conversations as they play.  I must say they come up with some mighty interesting things.

My children were actually quite well behaved today.  They ate their breakfast, we snuggled on the couch to watch a movie after breakfast, and then they sat at the kitchen table playing with play dough for a big majority of the day.  I tried to encourage them to play other things, but no they only wanted to play with their wide assortment of play dough and play dough accessories.  I was happy to let them play and use their imaginations! They made all kinds of things from a bird nest with eggs, to food items, to animals, and all kinds of things!

However, you cannot of course make it through an entire day without the kids fighting.  That would be unheard of! So yes there had to be a few melt downs at clean up time, at supper time, at bath time, and of COURSE at bedtime. Thankfully the arguments/meltdowns/pouts/etc...were fairly easy to calm down today.  We shall see how tomorrow morning goes when my daughter has to get up bright and early to get ready for Jump Start! (Kindergarten readiness, they go for half a day a week or so before school actually starts so the kindergartners can get the hang of being in well, kindergarten). 

Just when the kids were FINALLY for the first times in their entire LIVES sleeping in past 7am...they now have to go back to getting up at like 6:30am.  *weep* I know there is someone out there who feels my pain.

Besides my daughter having Jump Start this week, Keegan will have his 6 month cancer scans on the 7th and 9th.  He isn't particularly thrilled about that (obviously who would be?  Can you blame him?).  Currently the boy is on an antibiotic for an ear infection.  This past Thursday evening was spent with Keegan screaming like a crazed banchee about his ear hurting.  MY ears are still ringing from the insane amount of screaming going on in my ears as he wouldn't go to anyone else but Mommy, yet he felt it was all MY fault that his ear was killing him. Could NOT get it through his head to stop screaming and that right there would help his ear a lot.  He felt that the whole world needed, and I mean REALLY REALLY NEEDED to know how badly his ear hurt. Finally he fell asleep and then was perfectly fine the next day (pain wise anyway, when I got him to the pedi they said yep it was an ear infection, and a not nice one so they hooked him up with some antibiotics, and thankfully the boy has an appointment with his ENT this month too, they will probably be replacing tubes in his ears)!

Maybe I could get the ENT to install a volume control knob on Keegan this time? They forgot to do it last time he had tubes put in.  Would make his screaming fits a bit more bearable if he had a mute button.

I'm not sure how many schools across the U.S. do this, but in our town the teachers (well at least at one of our elementary schools in town) do what is called home visits.  Where the teacher schedules a time to come over to the child's house and visit with the parents and get to know them and the child better, and discuss any concerns the parent may have about their child and school.  Basically, a parent teacher meeting at the parents home.  Nice.

I must say I was thrown off by it.  I was like....you want to do what? Why? Won't I see enough of you during the school year? (Not meant in a mean way, but yeh, I do my best to always keep in touch with the teacher and what not).  However, I felt by saying no it would set me up as the uncooperative parent, and no parent wants that!

Not sure if I'm ready to enter this awkward realm of elementary school parenting. At least while my child is in preschool I could kind of breeze my way through it without dealing with too many other pre k moms and dads. Now my daughter is in the big leagues, she's in the big K.  School just got "REAL" so to speak.

Now I get to deal with other moms (soccer moms, etc etc oh joy...) I'm not any certain "type" of mom.  I'm just...me.  I'm not overtly crafty, or talented, or pretty, or smart, or witty, or cool. (Phffhhpppsshaaaw yes of COURSE I'm cool....I wrote the book....ha...yeh...no. No I didn't).

When I say I feel slightly intimidated by the whole elementary school world...I'm not joking.  I really am.  I've spent the past 6 years in this weird bubble.  Especially the past 4 years after the twins were born. My worlds been an up and down roller coaster, especially during Keegan's cancer treatment.  I seriously do NOT feel like I fit in with a majority of parents these days.  I'm not a young mom, I'm not an old mom, I'm not a mom with older kids who has been there done that blah blah blah.  I'm just...me. Plain Mae, boring old me.

When Kams had her kindergarten enrollment I felt soooooo akward.  I looked around at all of those other moms and realized that YET AGAIN I'm the odd duck out. I have no problem striking up conversation with others, as anyone that knows me will tell you, I LOVE to talk whether anyone listens or not I will talk (or type).  I've always got plenty to say!

Maybe I  think back to my OWN elementary years and think about the not so fun times I had and how awkward I felt in school. 

I was a really tall kid in elementary generally taller than a huge portion of my class mates.  I was a single child and raised in a small country town and didn't really play with other kids much.  I was raised by my Mother and didn't have a "dad" (my dad committed suicide when I was only 18 months old).  I lived a life that I thought/felt was way different than the other kids. Most of the kids had known each other since birth, or at least since Head Start. I didn't dress the way the other kids did, my hair was never the same as theirs (egads I don't even want to talk about my hair while in elementary, it was scary because my Mother didn't know how to handle my thick, curly unruly lively hair! She had the thin, limp, fine hair and she was at a total loss with my hair).  I didn't hate school, I just never felt I fit in there, but I still loved going to school and learning!

I guess I just don't want my elementary experience to rub off on my daughter. I want her to have her OWN experience.  My daughter is a completely awesome little girl.  She's friendly, feisty, out  going, creative, dramatic, strong, and a lovely little girl to be around.  She's beautiful and smart and I hope she sees how amazing she is and knows how amazing Mommy knows she is. There will be tears, there will be friends that are mean to her, there will be boys that are mean to her, someone will tease her, she will feel like a teacher is mean to her at some point, she will fail a test or forget to do her homework.  There will be happy times, sad times, and angry times.  She won't always win or always be the best.  I just want her to try her best and enjoy school, and remember...that while it FEELS like you are in school for an eternity, it does fly by quickly and when it's done...you are an adult and thrust out into the world. 

She's recently hit a really super sassy stage and it's about to drive me banana's.  Every time she is told to do a chore or reminded to do something she responds with the snobbiest little "Heck NO" It really burns me up.  Sorry cleaning your room is not negotiable, you will clean it up.  Taking a shower, not negotiable, go now, in the tub. Time to turn off the TV?  Do it, or else I will chuck that sucker out the window.  Kams was a crazy pregnancy, a great baby, an adventurous toddler.  Her terrible 2's were NOT as terrible as her being 3.  She was sooo whiney when she was 3.  When she was 4 she was an angel, she hardly EVER got into trouble.  Being 5 she has asserted more of her independence and has been fairly good...until recently.  She turns 6 next month.  Now she's REALLY pushing some buttons and testing some boundries.  Holy moly.  The sass, the bossiness, the HYPERNESS! Where did this all COME FROM! Where is that SWEET little girl that I used to snuggle and hold? Now if I hug her it's all "Get OFF me Mommy, NOW"  and she storms off.  *sniffle* Mommy just wanted a hug.  However she will still random hug attack me (usually at the worst times though, like when I'm cooking supper and standing at the hot stove) It's all sneak up behind Mommy, fling your arms around Mommy's waist and hug her as tight as you can while gluing your body as close to her back side as you can so she almost falls back on top of you.  THEN when ever Mommy gets on to you, throw a tantrum and get all mad because Mommy told you not to hug her around the hot stove.  Sometimes, you just can't win for losing.  Thankfully she still has her adorably sweet days. 

Hopefully she's adorably sweet tomorrow getting ready for Jump Start.  Specially since her goofy Mommy injured herself so getting around tomorrow will be fun.  I managed to slam my foot in the van door this evening.  Takes talent to slam ones OWN foot in the door, I'm very talented then.  I don't think it's broken, just good and bruised.  Shall make walking lovely tomorrow!
Mae