birthday cake 

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For A's birthday, I figured I'd make some clothes for My Little Abused Orphan so I wouldn't have to look at the old ones. The catch: I wanted A to be able to get them on and off herself, an I only wanted to spend an hour from start to finish. So the poor doll ended up with what amounts to a hospital gown (perhaps the ER let her wear it home from her last stay) and a poncho. The fitting unearthed another reportable offense- she has a heart tattoo on her arm, which had an armband glued on top of it. Pictures will follow.

problems with C's school

1) They play the same game in gym class every time they have it (twice a week).
2) They watch videos for library time every week.
3) His teacher has begun reading Magic Treehouse books out loud instead of the actual literature they started out the year with. These books are popular with the kids, but the writing is awful. I'm wondering if she's trying to fulfill the somewhat insane curriculum requirements by calling them "social studies," too, since they include history lessons which seem to have the same degree of inaccuracy as most elementary school history texts. I hope she comes to her senses soon.
4) C's bored silly of single-digit addition worksheets.
5) For "Veterinarians' Day," they told the kids that we fought wars to protect our country. Methinks that's stretching the truth bit considering the past 60 years....

It turns out that A's new doll must be of the "My Little Abused Orphan" line. The hideous pink headband was covering up two faint pink bruises on the baby's head, and it has a battery-operated implant that makes it not only cry continuously, but makes its cheeks glow red. Now I REALLY won't be able to sleep at night.

Every November, the church around the corner from us has an enormous tag sale fundraiser. This year, in addition to (our third) replacement bread machine, a sled, and a shelf for under the computer desk, A spied a baby doll. A hideous baby doll. A baby doll with permanently-attached pink polyester clothing, with a plastic head and plastic feet. Dan let her buy it, but it's so disturbing I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep at night with it in the house.

Dan got a new guitar today. :)

Happy Halloween from planet zork... 

A likes shoes...(and pretzels)

C had a great "hunt" waiting for me when I got back home from Seattle on Tuesday night; "Xs" marked the spot where each clue was hidden, of course--one was even sealed in clear plastic outside, and the clue was in a yogurt container and buried under it... the prize at the end was the bracelet shown here.

we went to a halloween party at friends' on Sat. night... "woods spirits" 

Boo! (and scary face)... C's pumpkin

Every city should have a puppet lending library.

I got a book from the library titled Organizing from the inside out : the foolproof system for organizing your home, your office, and your life. Slipped inside it were five pages of notes someone diligently transcribed from the book. But given that the notes never LEFT the book before it was returned to the library, methinks that the previous borrower missed seeing the bigger picture....

what are we in for with teenagers?

At 7 a.m. this morning, C hopped out of bed, popped in a rap CD, turned it up loud enough that we could hear every word in OUR bedroom, and started dancing.

We start 'em working young around here! (A is just finishing her silverware putting away job in this photo. She gets the chair out, opens the drawers, puts all the silverware in the correct slots, and puts everything back all by herself... not bad for 22 months!)

storyteller

Her brother's modeling has apparently inspired A to tell stories already. We were in the car and she said, "Once upon a time there was girl who lived on a hill." I suspected that she wasn't going to tell the same story as ZZ Top sang about the girl on the hill, but she started mumbling so I couldn't catch how she elaborated on the plot. Luckily, a few minutes later she started another. "Once upon a time there lived a tomato who lived... someplace else." I REALLY wanted to know what happened next this time, but she got distracted by a passing truck and didn't continue. It'll be interesting to hear what kinds of stories the two of them come up with together....

Returning home from his first day! (remember to click on photos to enlarge) 

C does time

Well, our little boy spent 7 straight hours in the public school system today for the first time in his life (about 1.5 hours of which was on the bus...though that will lessen somewhat as the drivers and kids get used to the schedule). Very fortunately, he was smiling when he came home, and said he had a great time.

And while they "learned a lot of rules" at gym on the first day instead of playing or running around much (hmm.... a bunch of first graders in full-day school for the first time; what shall we do with them in gym class, play active games to help ease their stress and get their energy out, help them have fun, or make sure those all important rules are lectured first thing?), his classroom teacher, Mrs. Woller, is by all acounts so far a fortunate pick (there are 3 first grade classes at Elsmere, he seems to have gotten "the best" teacher according to reputation; she's supposed to be kind, gentle, and very inspired). She also has an almost full time volunteer in the classroom, a retired kindergarten teacher, so it makes the ratio to 24 students much better!

To her credit, C said they went outside 3 times today to the playground (it was a beautiful late summer day), and even though he chose not to eat his lunch at all for some reason, just some high-protein pretzels and a few grapes between 8 a.m. and 3:50 p.m. when he got home, he seems to have done fine in general today. He made up for lost time in eating a snack, the traditional first day of school walk to Stewarts for ice cream cones, and 3 helpings of dinner...

With luck, he'll continue to be happy, make friends, and manage not to lose much of his creativity throughout his public school career...

-Dan

On the way to his first day of 1st grade!