Summer Time, Summer Time, Sum-Sum-Summer Time

Today is Sheckys first day of Summer Vacation!

The last day of school a letter was sent home with all the kids. On the back, there was an essay by Robert Kelly-Goss of the N.Y. Times News Service. It made me weep... just a little. It made me realize... often, these days, kids are just miniature adults rather than carefree lil' kids.

It's Time Kids Did What Kids Do In Summer As We Used To ...

I want you to run wild and free through the streets of your neighborhood on a hot summer afternoon, tiring yourself so thoroughly that you can barely make it to the bed before you put pajamas on and brush your teeth.

I would like to see you stain the soles of your feet green and brown and cause your mother to shake her head as she scrubs so hard to get it off, but it won't until the first chill of autumn drives your shoes back on your feet.

I want you to show me what a fort looks like and just how you would build it.

I want you to rummage through scrap piles and find wonderfully odd pieces of wood and the like and build a fort, then I DARE you boys to keep the girls out; it won't work. I promise.

I want to see you, when you're tired, sitting int he shade of a giant tree, sipping lemonade poured from the stand you set up, leftover after you sold a few nickles' worth to a passerby.

I would like to see you and your friends on your bikes, towels slung over your shoulders, riding furiously to the local pool or the water hole.

I want to see you on your way back, pedaling a little slower, no worse for the wear, but rightly tired just the same.

I want to see you at bat imitating your favorite player, not at screen, seeing a virtual image of him as he plays a game you control with a joystick.

I want to see you find simple pleasures and joy from merely picking up a dandelion and blowing it into the sky. Watching those little feathery pieces float in the sunlight, your face lit up, ear to ear.

I want to see you give up the frustrations of a life inside, or on the cell phone, and head back out where the world is more than a text message or an e-mail to a friend.

It's where friends meet, or happen upon one another, and days are spent just doing whatever, imagining things and creating games so fanciful and imaginative that suddenly it's late, and your parents are worried, and you might be in for it now because you missed your curfew.

Dear child, I would like to see you jump in the puddles outside your house in the rain or even play a silly game of hide and seek.

I just want to see you, outside, playing, away from video games and computers and cellphones and televisions.

I want to see you having the kind of fun that can only happen because you're bored, and forced to create something out of nothing. That's what I would like for you, child, as summer nears.

He's been inside all day. He can't find anyone to play with outside. He hates playing alone. Meh. So far he's watched TV, played on the laptop, Played with the X-Box 360, watched MORE TV... sigh. I have no clue what to do with him. I want all those things FOR him... but I have no idea how to GIVE them to him when he abhors playing alone so much... and I can't do most of those things just yet.

I Think I've Reached My Limit....

TOO. MUCH. STRESS.

Shecky got his progress reports with his mid-grading period marks. His morning classes? AWESOME. All A's. His afternoon classes? Yeah... not so good. 2 C's and B. His teacher has requested that I call her. Lovely. I'm not sure what's going on with him. He's got attitude. He's not listening AT ALL. His grades are slipping and I truly am beside myself wondering what the hell to do at this point.

In mid-stream dealing with all that... Husband calls... His mother has been rushed to an ER in another part of the state with what the SUSPECT is a heart attack. We just SAW her this past weekend. She seemed off but there's a lot of stress going on for her and I just figured that was to blame.

Shit.

Then, my all knowing father decides, TONIGHT, AT SHECKY'S FRIGGIN BEDTIME, that he's to old to need the lamp that he keeps on while he goes to sleep. WTF BBQ? Give me a fekking break! Shecky, of course, melted down in a big way and I ended up staying upstairs with him, on my bed, until he fell asleep. Now, Shecky is sleeping on my king sized bed and I'll be sleeping on a wing back chair.

God... I better loose this week or SOMEONE is getting hurt.

Back In The Saddle Again...

Things are finally starting to settle into routine for us again. Shecky is back in school. I got his progress report and he's making all A's and B's again. Baseball practice has begun. Apparently, he's a left handed batter... he does everything ELSE with his right hang... Huh? Opening day for Baseball is Saturday and he
has a double header. God help us all. May it be quick and injury free.

I'm back to exercising and dieting regularly. I actually managed to LOOSE a pound over the last 3 weeks. During all the turmoil and ... well intentioned food... I managed to still loose. WOOT! I'm down 70 lbs now. I've lost 2 shirt sizes. My ass seems to be the same size though. Basta'd.

I promise I'm back now with regular posts. Hopefully more interesting than THIS one. Heh.

Things I ate today:

Breakfast:

Fresh Fruit Salad

Lunch:

A roasted chicken and cheese sandwich with 2% cheese, Fat Free Mayo and Honey Mustard.

Light Lays Potato Chips. (Less than an oz. Just enough to give my sammy some crunch.)

Dinner:

BBQ hamburger made with lean ground meat and light bbq sauce. 2% cheese, FF Mayo and regular mustard.

Oven Fries

Skim Milk

Mother Knows...

not so much...

Shecky has been driving me INSANE the past few days. Temper tantrums, whining, crying, and fit throwing from dawn till dreams. I've been at my wit's end with the child. I've tried threats of grounding, threats of early bedtimes, threats of no "treats" before bed... and then I followed through on all of them. (Ok.. not the early bedtime one. But all the others!) I've cajoled, screamed, beat my head into the table... (Oh... not really that last one... not LITERALLY) and this morning I reached my limit.

I told him NO MORE. If he has an issue he can TALK to me about his problem or what he disagrees with but I will NOT accept any more of the above behaviors... THAT. IS. IT!

Yeah... he whined a bit about doing his homework and a bit more when we went over some papers he'd done in class and made not so great grades on (Read D's) but he was much better tonight. He seemed... subdued though. Sad, really.

That got me to thinking. I've spent the last few weeks basically feeling like ass. I've dealt with everything from menstrual cycles every 2 weeks to a full 7 days of blood sugar crashes... sometimes multiple crashes a day. All my energy was going to just getting... through... the... day.

My patience levels have been really LOW as well. I've been yelling a lot more at him rather than directing and correcting him. Shit. It finally hit me...

The whining, fit throwing, crying and foot stomping increased over the last few weeks. The less attention, of the POSITIVE type he got... the more he was acting out and bratting up my air space. Frick, Frick, FRIKKITY, Frick. It was my fault. He's just a lil' boy no matter how grown up he seems sometimes.

Tonight, we played a bit on the XBOX 360. We watched American Idol together, curled up on the couch. We goofed off together during commercials.

Suddenly, before my eyes, he started turning into my sweet, funny boy. Yeah he bitched a bit about going to bed. Pulled the old dejected, sighing, unenthusiastic "Love you too" routine. However, no whining, no crying, no fit throwing and no mommy yelling.

Hell... I might actually be getting the hang of this parenting stuff! Naaaaaaaah.

What Fresh Hell....

is this??? After a weekend with a sick 7 year old and today with a feeling much better 7 year old desperately trying to burn off some energy even though I want him to be still cause being off from school sick isn't SUPPOSED to be fun is more than I can handle. I'm done for the day. Nytol...

Bonfires and Kindergarten Court

This week is Homecoming at Shecky's school. Tonight they had the coronation of the PreK-8th grade Duchesses and a bonfire. It was ADORABLE! The little girls in their fancy dresses. The lovely corsages and Homecoming mums. The escorts whether it was the proud papa or an adorable kid from their class. The 2 inch high heels... WHU???

Mom and I were looking at the girls. Many of the younger ones, we're talking 1st and 2nd graders, had high heels on. I mean... HIGH. Mom and I were talking about it and we realized... that was all their MOTHER'S doing. I don't quite get that. I mean... yes. Its an honor for their darling lil girl to be chosen as the Duchess. Dressing her up in the finest gown they can find is great! However, LET THEM BE LIL GIRLS. Holy Hell!

Kids grow up so much faster these days. It doesn't help when their parents are encouraging it. Is it just me? Am I wrong and looking at it in a skewed way or are these parents actually encouraging their 6 and 7 year old daughters to grow up too quickly? Meh... mebbe I'm just bitter because I wasn't allowed to have high heels until I was 13... heh.

I'm NOT Quite Sure How To Take This....

I had an interesting conversation with my father this evening. Let me preface this with a little pertinent information.

• Dad very rarely talks about things philosophically or psychologically.
• He's usually drunk when he does.
• He was drunk tonight.

Now, he started the conversation by telling me what a great job I'm doing with my son. That's he's bright and I encourage that trait and am doing all the right things with that aspect. He said that Shecky has a great personality and I'm helping him cultivate that in a terrific manner. He said my child is a mamma's boy and needs to man up...

Whu? He's 7 frickin' years OLD Dude.... WTF?

THEN he informs me that I need to stop using the "Do what I tell you cause I'm the parent that's why" philosophy of parenting.

Ummmm HUH? That's how he raised US! WTF??

Next... I hear him telling me that he made mistakes with my brother and I that I can do better than he did... and it hit me...

He was trying to tell me not to make the same mistakes with MY child that he made with us... and I was floored... and humbled... and shocked.. and more than a little taken aback... Cause.. My Dad... NEVER, EVER admits he is wrong... EVER. He once accused the DICTIONARY of being wrong cause it didn't agree with his spelling of a word... and then, I had a long think about what he was telling me.

I WAS getting into the habit of yelling at Sheck and doing the "ONE! TWO! YOU BETTER DO IT BEFORE I GET TO 3 OR I'LL GROUND YOU TILL YOU ARE 97! 2 AND A HALF!..." I used to take the time to explain why he couldn't do what he wanted or why it was a bad idea to feed the dog hot dogs... from his own mouth... and now... I don't. I've been so involved in my struggle to loose weight and get healthier that I've kind of let the way I wanted to raise my kid fall by the wayside.

Yeah... I help him study. Yeah... we have a night designated to just hang out together. However, the lessons I teach him by how I deal with him are just flat not the ones I wanted to teach him. I never WANTED to be THAT kind of parent... and now... it would seem... I am... or... was. Tonight, I started talking to him again instead of yelling at him. Hopefully, I can retrain the both of us and do a little better by him.

Thanks Dad.

"Catch As Catch Can" or "Sleep Deprivation Makes Me Cry"

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday folks. Shecky, my darling, adorable, loving, light of my life, woke my butt up at 4:30 AM yesterday... by making his bed. WTF?

He was WIDE awake and ready to rock! I was ready for more sleep. I tried to get him to lay back down but... yeah... that wasn't happening. We got up, got him ready for school, goofed off a bit and I tried desperately to cat nap between sentences. Yeah... THAT wasn't happening either! I would have gladly knocked his lil butt out! (When my Nanny heard about his antics she suggested a nightly dose of Tylenol to do just that lol... She was only kidding.. RIGHT?)

The rest of the day was, basically, a sleep deprived blur. We went to town and spent the morning shopping at The Big Evil Wally-World. I got one of Shecky's Christmas presents. Its a YOOGE Black Pearl Toy Ship. He's STILL obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean and he was drooling over it at his last trip through the toy aisle. Its not hiding in the trailer.

I also spent a crap ton of money on Halloween Themed Candy to make goody bags out of. A week from Saturday we're having a HUGE Halloween Celebration for the kids. We're doing a "Haunted Woods" ride. The adults are going to create a haunted trail that the kids will be taken through on a hay ride. We're going to have Trick-or-Treating (hence the goody bags) and we're going to have a Halloween Carnival. The carnival should be a blast for the kids. We'll have everything from bobbing for apples to a cake walk to face painting to any number of other things. I'll be spending next Friday baking and decorating 4 cakes for the cake walk. Mom and I will be running it so I figured, yanno, I MIGHT should make some cakes for it. Mom and I will both be in costumes and if I can figure out how to get more than one picture on my blog at a time I'll put some of em up here. :)

But, I digress. After shopping we came back here, unloaded and unpacked all the stuff we'd bought and then kinda just... well... we were much like slugs that have scuttled through a pile of salt. Heh. We just kinda sat around and did not much till it was time to go get Shecky from School.

I helped him study and do homework. We had dinner. Shecky and I snuggled up in my bed and watched Survivor (STOOPID STOOPID PG AND WHATS HER FACE THROWING TEH CHALLENGE!!!) and CSI:The Original (GRISSOM AND SARAH... ENGAGED!!! FISH WITH BOTH MALE AND FEMALE SEX ORGANS!!! CORY'S DAD FROM BOY MEETS WORLD!!!). Shecky went to bed, I read a while then passed. the. hell. OUT!

It wasn't a terribly BUSY day but the lack of sleep had me kinda... disoriented. (Yeah I know... not really all THAT different than usual but it DID make it worse.)

Who IS This Kid?

Shecky confuses me sometimes. This morning he popped out of bed, got dressed, made his bed, brushed his teeth... all without my having to say a WORD to him. Usually, I have to threaten him with bodily harm to get him out of bed much LESS moving! WTF?

THEN... he decides to take it upon himself to make his own lunch... ON PIZZA DAY at school. (Pizza is the only food group according to him.) When I asked him why he said, "I'll have Pizza on the 31st. Pizza isn't good for you anyway, Mom." WTF?

THEN, he is SO determined to take the test over the library book he checked out that he reads the book to me and answers all the questions without pausing. He paid full attention to what I was asking and didn't get distracted ... or... anything. WTF? WTF?

I have no clue who this child is but I kinda like him... and I'm kinda... Scared of him! heh.

(My Dad SWEARS all this HAS to be due to some lil girl he's crushin' on... Who loves to read... and prolly makes her own lunches... groan... Gawd Help Me! He's ONLY 7!!!!!)

Queen for a Day... Fool for Life

I... am... QUEEN of the gift giving!

Shecky turns 7 on the 4th of July. I was WRACKING my brain trying to decide on a birthday gift for him. First, I was thinking Heelies. Then I priced 'em. HOLY HELL people. They want $70.00 for a pair on SNEAKERS... with a wheel... in the heel! Rolling sneakers that Sheky would outgrow in like, 3-6 months. (Yes, I know. Its longer than Paris Hilton would have spent in jail and far less traumatic but STILL!!!!!)

I then considered ending the moratorium I had on video games for this birthday. He's far too dependant on them for his entertainment but I KNOW there's several new ones that he wants. I just couldn't bring myself to do it though. He really needs to spend this summer OUTSIDE playing. Running around and being a Lil kid... not staring at the TV playing video games and practicing his smack talkin' abilities at the pixilated characters.

Then... THEN... I came up with THE gift. I was on AIM talking to my best friend who is not coincidentally Sheky's godfather, Unca B. My child ADORES this man and hasn't seen him for about 2 years. We all used to live in the same town together, heck for a while we lived in the same HOUSE. Now Unca B lives in North Carolina. I convinced Unca B to fly in for Sheky's birthday party this coming Saturday. I'm splitting the cost of the ticket with him and that, THAT my friends is going to be Sheky's present.

Now, if he's not as excited as I expect he will be when he sees his Unca B... Imma cry...

Call the CDC!!!

Germ Warfare has begun! Yesterday, was a disaster. I went to work, clocked in, took a few phone calls, was REALLY bored and didn't wanna be there. Around ohhhh... Noon I got a phone call at the main switchboard. I was, of course, on one of the few calls I had taken for the day so they paged me over the intercom. Lovely. I knew it had to be the school and immediately said, out loud like a dip, "Well THIS can't be good..." The caller said, "What???" as I threw them on hold and called the switchboard. Sure enough, it was the school nurse calling. I finished up my call and had them transfer Nurse Judy to me. Shecky had gone to the nurse in the morning with a headache. She let him sleep for about an hour then sent him to lunch. After lunch he decided to hurl the contents of his stomach into a trash can... Twice. She assured me he wasn't running fever but I KNEW the daycare wouldn't want him there if he was impersonating "Chuck". NORMAL people would be able to handle this with aplomb. Me, I was like, CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP! R. was an hour away from where I work (and hour and a half from the school) on an installation job. Since we only have one car and I can't drive it was on HIM to come get me and Shecky, take us home and possibly go BACK to the job he wasn't quite finished with. We were finally able to pick him up from the Nurse's office at 2pm. We stopped for some Gatorade, Saltines and Sprite and went home.

The poor kid was like a piece of overcooked pasta. He was limp. His legs were rubbery. He kept saying things like, "When I stand up I feel like my legs don't work" and "My eyes keep crying but I'm not sad." I kept trying to baby him. I offered my lap to him. Usually, when sick, he wants Mama and no one else. This time... not so much. He just wanted to lay in the oversize chair and stare at the TV. NOTHING makes me feel worse than being unable to make him feel better. NOTHING. Usually I can joke with him until he's happy or be goofy enough to take his mind off of feeling bad. Not this time. I felt his forehead and he was BURNING UP! I cursed the school nurse, called R. and requested a thermometer and Children's Ibuprofen be brought home when he headed this way. He finally, bless his heart, got home around 8:45pm. (His 8 hours were up at 4:15pm.) Temp was 100.7 and he was sleeping soundly on the chair curled up with Mei-Mei. We semi-woke him, gave him the medicine and took him to bed.

We watched a RIDICULOUSLY stoopid movie, American Pie: The Naked Mile. It was mindless and retarded and made me laugh so hard I thought I was going to wake my drugged child. I finally went to bed at 1:30am and... couldn't sleep. I had checked on Shecky before going to bed but the fever was bothering me. He was sleeping VERY deeply and, like a dork, I took that as a sign that the fever was effecting him much more than it actually was. I woke R up from a dead sleep and made him bring Shecky into bed with us. I was finally able to sleep but I woke periodically to poke The Boy and make sure he was still conscious and hadn't lapsed into a coma from his 100.7 fever. ::rolls eyes:: What an Amature! heh