Hopeless

Hannah came down with a really high temperature...how high you ask? I really don't know because the new thermometer I bought this month to replace the two I lost doesn't work anymore. The Mom-ometer in my hand assessed her at 103 degrees, at least. Motrin and Tylenol weren't helping much and she spent the entire day listlessly on the couch declining all invitations to eat.

Jonathan spent the whole of the night before waking every 2 hours because he was miserable and needed to make sure his mother was kept apprised of the situation.

Michelle had to drive 70 miles away this morning to get her military ID issued, so I stayed home with both kids after taking Logan to school at 7:15.

Hannah was feeling so poorly she wanted me to sit by her, but I HAD to clear up the kitchen before sitting down and then stayed there for hours as I stared at the messy living room and agonized over what a disaster the bedrooms had become. Sometimes, worrying about when I was going to find time to look for some critical paperwork for refinancing the house helped to distract me from those uncomfortable thoughts.

Nearing 11:00 a.m., Jonathan was rallying and I invited him to come in the front so I could mow the lawn. That lasted 10 minutes before I had to take the tear streaked lamb inside and cuddle him. The lawn mower is still waiting for me.

After Michelle returned and laid down with Jonathan for his nap, I started dinner and made another attempt to clear away the debris in the kitchen. Then it was time to pick up Logan. He came home starving. A hot dog, a banana, a Popsicle and several cookies were not enough to tame his hunger before dinner was ready.

When Jonathan awoke, he had wet the bed, so the sheets had to be washed and I didn't remember to make the bed until it was bed time, of course.

Ever have one of those days?

Einstein, Oracles and Tickles

Soooooooooo, Logan has reached the magical age of five; supposedly the age Einstein was when he began talking. Anyone who had ever heard Logan's odd speech would tell me not to worry, and would trot out the story about Einstein. However, the Speech teacher at school is itching to work with Logan because he defies "normal" speech abnormalities and she is looking forward to the challenge.

To illustrate: On the way to school the other day, Logan told me that his sacred guru Mrs. Brown, Kinder teacher and Oracle of all Wisdom in the Universe, would give him a tickle if he did something or other (that part was unclear). I repeated back to him what I heard: "Mrs. Brown will give you a tickle?!" That sounded fun. I began to imagine Mrs. Brown giving a friendly tickle when the kids had accomplished something wonderful (or whatever).
"NO. A TICK-oo!" Happy imaginings abruptly ended. I ruminated a bit more on the part of his story I thought I had understood and wondered what the Great and Powerful Mrs. Brown (actually pronounce Mist-oo Bwown, a la Logan) would give that would make him sound so happy and in addition sounded like "tick-oo". As I'm rummaging around in my head, he continues to correct me by repeating "tick-oo" several more times, just louder in order to break through my barrier of ignorance.

Now, I'm not sure I can take credit for translating "tick-oo", because Hannah was in the car with us and she is the best interpretor, bar none, of Logan's language. The point IS, we learned that Mist-oo Bwown would give Stickers to anyone who mumblemumblemumbled (we never got to deciphering that). Eureka! It's like translating parts of the Rosetta Stone. There is so much satisfaction that comes when we have a break through.

Things That Matter Most

Yesterday afternoon was the PTA "Country Fair" fundraiser. There was a silent auction, cake walk, ring toss games, candy hunts in haystacks as well as a chance to guess how many popped corn kernals were in a large jar. Whomever guessed closest would win the popcorn AND the $20 bill tucked inside. Each of my kids paid 50 cents to take a turn, recording their guess before wandering off to find friends, buy snow cones, eat candy and in general, contribute to the chaos. Logan complained several times that he wanted to eat that popcorn, not understanding the whole concept of throwing money away for a good cause. Hannah scored 2 liters of A&W root beer in the ring toss (which then became my responsibility to lug around), Logan's buddy won a cake in the cake walk, but Logan's victories were all rewarded with bite size candy--to his bitter dismay.

Just before the Fair came to a close, the winner of the costume contest was announced (Hannah was insulted when her name wasn't called) followed by the popcorn guessing winner (drum roll please). There, in front of all those parents, children, and teachers, LOGAN'S name was called! His guess was 400 and the actual amount of popped corn was 407.

Logan was lifted up to claim his prize and when the judges handed over the coveted jar, he realized he was finally being given the longed for popcorn. The lid was immediately ripped off as Logan stuffed his mouth with the long denied snack. The $20 was not even on the radar!

We got home that night and celebrated by watching an X-Men cartoon and eating popcorn for dinner. I'll have to take the discarded twenty and save it for another day.

Strings Attached

Today Logan stayed home from school because he had a slight temperature. However, Kim and John are visiting from England and we had already planned to visit San Antonio, so Logan had to come along.

Remember that drought I've been complaining about? Well, since John and Kim arrived from England, it has done nothing BUT rain. So our little hiatus to San Antonio was done between thunderstorms. We visited The Alamo and La Villita then had lunch in the Rivercenter mall. We couldn't ride the river boats because, apparently, they don't run unless the weather is dazzling. Logan was SUPER well behaved during this whole expedition, which made not putting him in a bag and tossing him in the river quite easy.

On our way out of the mall, Kim wandered into a boutique and we, her entourage, followed behind. Inside this little store, Logan amused himself sedately by looking at all the bulk jewelry. He found a large silver heart on a long chain and begged me to buy it. To him, it was the definition of stunning. I asked him why he wanted this necklace and he said, "So I can give it to you, Mommy. It has a love on it." How could I deny him (especially since it was under $10)?

Once the purchase was made, I handed him the necklace and he held onto it during the ride home. After the hour commute, he placed the necklace over my head and told me, "I bought this for you Mommy!"

Now, in case you're dabbing your eyes at this touching display of sweet affection, let me just tell you that he threatens to take it back any time I scold him for misdeeds. Really, the lovely necklace was given conditionally on my behaviour. I've almost lost the priviledge of ownership three times since it's acquisition.

Sage, Not Just For Stuffing

Remember back in February when Hannah was being considered for the Gifted and Talented program before I ruined any chance she had by not being able to fill out the application form? Well, I had been advised that we wouldn't know if she was accepted until August, when school started.

So, here we are, the middle of September and since I hadn't heard a word about Hannah being accepted, I assumed she hadn't. Whatever. Then Hannah showed up yesterday and told me she is in the Sage program. She explains not everyone can go to Sage, just special kids. Teasingly, I ask, "You mean only the dumb ones?"
"No!" she denied emphatically.
"Only the TALL ones?" Again, I offend with the width and depth of my ignorance.
"No Mommy, only the smart ones," she explains, using very simple words so I could understand; knowing with a surity she'll never have to worry about bumping into me at a Sage convention. I asked her when she started going to Sage (a.k.a the Gifted and Talented program) and she informed me, "Since last school year."

!

Trying not to interrogate her, I asked why she hadn't told me that she had been going to Sage since arriving to Texas. She told me she hadn't known that not everyone got to go. That seemed a reasonable answer--since everything was new to her when she arrived, she didn't question one more new thing. From the Q&A that followed, I learn her first Sage meeting had taken place on Tuesday and that they meet twice a week. During their first meeting they played a get-to-know-you game that consisted of telling two truths and a fib about yourself. Everyone then tries to guess which was the fib. Here were Hannah's 3 things:
1. I adopted a grandfather in England
2. I have never seen a live snake
3. I lived through an earthquake in England

Can you guess which one is the fib?

Souped up Superman

Since starting school three weeks ago, Logan has come home and spontaneously brought up Halloween on several different occations. He has shared with us how excited he is about it and how much he is looking forward to the actual event (I’m doing a rough translation of his animated diatribe consisting of mangled syllables and semi-formed words). This is hugely amazing because Logan is more of a "here and now" sorta guy, so it's exciting to see him bringing up and discussing future events. This morning was one of those times. After he reminded us once more about the finer points of Halloween, Hannah suggested he could be Spiderman (AGAIN--for the third year running). I had other plans. Last week I had gone to the Mega Gi-normous Shop and found a Superman pajama (it even had a cool cape that can Velcros on) which could SO double as a Halloween costume. Naturally, I bought it; I mean, who wouldn't? My plan was to wait until October before showing Logan the costume/pajama, but the moment seemed right and I brought it out for his immediate approval instead. OH! the joy!! Unfortunately, he couldn’t try it on because we had to go to school. No worries, Logan took custody of his new super suit and hung it in the closet.

Twelve hours later, it was time to get ready for bed. Logan lost no time taking off his mild mannered school clothes and replacing them with his Superman jammies looking ever so pleased. When I went in to kiss him goodnight and have prayers, I found my mini man in bed dressed in his fabulous new pajamas--with orange swim goggles placed neatly over his eyes. This swim goggle thing has been happening now for about three nights running, but the Superman costume really pulled the look together. Having seen the ensemble, I’m shocked that Marvel Comics hadn’t thought to outfit Clark Kent’s alter ego with orange tinted swim goggles. HUGE over site on their part.

Rain

Now, I'm not going to name names in order to preserve some sense of dignity and anonymity, however today one of my offspring (mind you, I have four) made me laugh at a darling language faux pas.

We had been discussing if it had actually rained that day. It's always exciting to see a little precipitation, especially since Texas is in year two of a severe drought. Having just spent the last three years of our lives in England where rain is a given, we have come to appreciate that horrid, messy, depressing weather as the cooling, refreshing, quiet phenomenon that it is.

Sadly, today's rain was puny, just a few drops really. Un-named offspring said, "It's not really raining right now, it's just slobbering."

Giggling at the mental picture the phrase created, I caught myself and then soberly asked, "You mean drizzling?"