I’m procrastinating in taking Bug to get an eye check.
CD
has had thick glasses since the beginning of time and I've had perfect
eyes until I… um, got old. Humbly, I admit I have prided myself on having good eyesight and having attractive eyes. When we decided to have kids, we made a deal. CD would give any future children his hair (thick, blond and curly whereas mine is
thin, mousey and straight) and I’d give them my eyes.
Well, Pook came out with straight auburn hair and then got glasses
at age 7. Fail on both our parts. We admitted it and moved on. His hair is pretty awesome anyway and his eyes, although hidden behind glasses, are a lovely pale blue. I remember looking down at him when I fed him as an infant and noticing that every eyelash was a different color. I was sad when he needed glasses. But, he looks like his daddy in glasses and well, I like the way his dad looks, so its all ok. Maybe he'll try contacts someday.
Bug got my boring hair but hasn’t
YET needed glasses. Recently he mentioned that it was hard to see the writing at the front of the classroom. So now I’m worried that he might need them. But I
don’t want to put those darling baby blues behind glass. And I haven’t
made the appointment I think he needs. If he gets glasses then we’ll have both failed on both hair and eyes with both children and I’ll be so
disappointed!
The upside would be that he'd be able to, you know, see.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
me gustaría un poco de vino por favor
No, I don't really need any wine right now, thanks. It's only 9:45 am at the moment. This is my pride sentence however. The first I've learned in my new Plan to Learn Spanish in Ten Minutes a Day.
Pook qualified to enroll in a seventh grade Spanish class this year. Bug's new Magnet school teaches everyone German. I decided I'd learn along with them.* Every night at dinner I ask the boys what they've learned but we just aren't getting anywhere. They seem to learn either "I dunno" or "how to count" and that's about it. They are not proving to be qualified teachers for me.
CD found out about this program via this article. Memrise assumes that you can spend as much time learning a language as you do checking into FB. Sure! I can do this! I'm encouraging him to learn German to please Bug; he already learned some Spanish when he was in school. Neither kid is learning French, which I studied.
The program hooked me pretty quickly. My first sentence, read, written, spoken and understood, could bring me a glass of wine! If it weren't 9:45.
----------------
*I said this about baseball too. When they were tots I thought I could learn how to throw and catch and play ball along side them. Let's just say, it didn't work.
I kind of also said this about piano. I knew a bit and thought I'd get better as they got better. That hasn't happened either.
Me gustaría un poco de vino por favor!
Pook qualified to enroll in a seventh grade Spanish class this year. Bug's new Magnet school teaches everyone German. I decided I'd learn along with them.* Every night at dinner I ask the boys what they've learned but we just aren't getting anywhere. They seem to learn either "I dunno" or "how to count" and that's about it. They are not proving to be qualified teachers for me.
CD found out about this program via this article. Memrise assumes that you can spend as much time learning a language as you do checking into FB. Sure! I can do this! I'm encouraging him to learn German to please Bug; he already learned some Spanish when he was in school. Neither kid is learning French, which I studied.
The program hooked me pretty quickly. My first sentence, read, written, spoken and understood, could bring me a glass of wine! If it weren't 9:45.
----------------
*I said this about baseball too. When they were tots I thought I could learn how to throw and catch and play ball along side them. Let's just say, it didn't work.
I kind of also said this about piano. I knew a bit and thought I'd get better as they got better. That hasn't happened either.
Me gustaría un poco de vino por favor!
Monday, September 2, 2013
he gets it
We decided to spend part of our Labor Day weekend visiting Stone Mountain Park. I was feeling a desperate need to use our membership passes at least one more time before expiration, and last time we'd attended the ropes course had been closed. This time we planned to do the ropes course and stay long enough for the nighttime laser show. We had chairs, bug spray and dinner packed and in the car.
"Prepare yourself for being in crowds guys. The lines could be really miserable."
We headed in, taking a parking spot near an exit, anticipating the departure to be just as tough as the rest.
Splitting up, we managed to get one to the bathroom and a spot in line reserved. When we were all gathered again, we noticed the "You are 1 hour from your turn" sign approaching. Yikes. I smiled at the man behind me, on his own with three children under seven. They all had duck quacking noisemakers in their mouths. "You may be regretting those duck quackers on the ride home!" I laughed.
Oh holy duck quackers! Ten minutes of that noise was all I needed before I felt my jaw tighten up. I forced a smile and remembered how bored the kids must feel. Deep breath.
I looked at my boys. Half an hour in line now and still not a complaint. Why was I so lucky?
The dad was beginning to regret his purchase too. "Stop it. Don't bump your sister. Be quiet. Stop that now. Be quieter." I cringed as his tired voice began to criticize their not really bad behaviors.
Then it got worse. "If you do that again, we'll have to leave. Stop that or I'll take it away. Stop it. Stop it now or we'll leave."
I caught CD's eye. He and I think alike when we hear that sort of tired, ineffective parenting. But then something unexpected happened. "He just needs to really do it, not just say it," whispered Pook. CD and I looked at each other again. "He gets it!" All those years of following through, no matter how unpleasant it became. It pays off. Our baby is growing up.
"Prepare yourself for being in crowds guys. The lines could be really miserable."
We headed in, taking a parking spot near an exit, anticipating the departure to be just as tough as the rest.
Splitting up, we managed to get one to the bathroom and a spot in line reserved. When we were all gathered again, we noticed the "You are 1 hour from your turn" sign approaching. Yikes. I smiled at the man behind me, on his own with three children under seven. They all had duck quacking noisemakers in their mouths. "You may be regretting those duck quackers on the ride home!" I laughed.
Oh holy duck quackers! Ten minutes of that noise was all I needed before I felt my jaw tighten up. I forced a smile and remembered how bored the kids must feel. Deep breath.
I looked at my boys. Half an hour in line now and still not a complaint. Why was I so lucky?
The dad was beginning to regret his purchase too. "Stop it. Don't bump your sister. Be quiet. Stop that now. Be quieter." I cringed as his tired voice began to criticize their not really bad behaviors.
Then it got worse. "If you do that again, we'll have to leave. Stop that or I'll take it away. Stop it. Stop it now or we'll leave."
I caught CD's eye. He and I think alike when we hear that sort of tired, ineffective parenting. But then something unexpected happened. "He just needs to really do it, not just say it," whispered Pook. CD and I looked at each other again. "He gets it!" All those years of following through, no matter how unpleasant it became. It pays off. Our baby is growing up.
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