sandy's general musings

Well this has the been the weekend of spills. yesterday Alyssa spilled a diet coke all over the kitchen table. I freaked out and was trying to rescue the importnat stuff (such as one of her webkinz) rather than pick up the can, so even more spilled out. Then tonight jack spilled an entire cup of water in the office. The scary thing is that Alyssa also spill again! in the car later on. I heard that klutziness is part of ADD.
Then today Alyssa had a friend over and they went into the woods in the backyard. We have a small creek. All of a sudden two wet and sorta muddy girls come in. Mind you it was high 60's today. I asked if they fell in, but no.....they went in. Alyssa was wearing Jeans! Her friend a leotard and skirt. So I rinsed them off in the tub on the main floor. I finally found a purpoose for it! We have a full bath and now I know what I can use it for. Then I give them dry clothes and washed their things so when the friend's mom came she could have it. I did lay down the rule that any creek entering will be done in summer and with a bathing suit from now on! I remember thinking thatI should have told them to be careful around the creek... oh well.

To be honest Alyssa has been off all weekend. She went to a sleepever bday party on Friday night, got 7 hours of sleep. then yesterday we had a playdate planned, and her friend and mom stayed until 9:30... playdate, to dinner, to movie at home.... Hindsight after the park and dinner they should have gone home. Then Alyssa had early sunday school this morning. The day ended at dinner with a MAJOR meltdown. She cried in her room for almost an hour. THis was because she did nto like dinner (roast) and then her brother stole a mushroom from her. She started to act out and Felix finally lost it with her. With Felix finally yelling for her to just "cut it out", that did her in. I ignored her for a while. went to check on her, found her sttill upset and then waited for her to be calm. She was hungry and came down. Then, of course, Felix decided to talk with her, and make her a new dinner (pasta) that she wanted.


Then there is Jack.... all he ever wants to do is play wwith his webkinz. i tried to stick with my 1/2 hour a day, since he had yellow lights and no webkinz=yellow light, but when it happens on a friday, I cant ban for the entire weekend. So i try to limit. The problem is that i end up playing for him :) and he watches me. I have to get stricter.

My kids say the darnest things. JAck is famous for this. Many times I dont understand him, but every so often he says interesting things.

Yesterday he was talking to my parents and told them that daddy is going to be the assistant coach of his leadoff baseball team. He then says "my mommy forced him to do it". Which is true. I feel that FElix needs to step up and get involved in activities he knows about. I do all the other ones.

Then while we went to the circus the other day we talked about how he enjoyed air hockey with daddy on sat. I asked if he wanted an air hockey table and he said something about how expensive it is. I then mentioned getting it for Chanukah and he said "you should buy it on Black friday---it is less expensive then".

Alyssa is always saying things that is beyond her years. She is a teenager of sorts at times. Also, the good news is that the meltdowns seem to be lessening and even though she still have night waking issues, she handles them herself. On my part I have learned how to handle her better. I know when to "leave her alone and back off". I also ease into things that she will not be happy about. I have found that she also grasps concepts very well if explained. She wants to know about the world. Last friday I was praising Jack for getting all "s" on his friday report. Alyssa was like " I always get "s", why dont you praise me. I understood where she was coming from, but then went on to explain that Jack needed encourage in that area. She needs encouragement in other areas, such as not getting C's on math tests. That when she does something that is difficult for her, she gets that extra encouragement and Jack gets it for things that are difficult for him. So now she understands. I made it clear to praise her on something afterwards that Jack normally just "does" and point it out to her.

I love that it is warm again. I dont know how long it will last, but its very nice.

WEll Jack is in the otheer room playing webkinz , Alyssa is at a friends house, and Felix is watching NASCAR. Before leaving Alyssa I met the other mom at an indoor swimming pool. It was real neat that for 5$ the kids could swim for 2 hours. I wish a place like this was closer to my house.

I have spend a lot of time since friday night trying to fix the kids computer. It was infected by something, so I tried to clean it up; then I finally got sp2 of xp on it, and all security updates. Ran security scans as well. It still has issues, but I think they are router related now. Maybe I need to update the router. Their computer is about 2 rooms over and the signal is low or very low. The laptap also has issues just being one room over.

Yesterday Alyssa went to a bday party at monkey joes. I had to go back to target to return the karaoke machine that we had gotten; my parents had given me money for it around the holidays and I finally had gotten around to it. Alyssa was sttill not quite 100%. It was over a week since she was sick, but then the cold came. Last night we had a babysitter. She brought her brother, who is friends with Jack. This is a very large family of 12! We met them at swim team last summer. Most of the family swims. 5 of the kids are now college or out of the house. They are religious and home school, but not like the Duggers we see on TV. They are extremely nice. Anyway I went to see music and lyrics. I enjoyed it. I never liked Hugh Grant before, but in this movie I liked him and even found him attractive.

I need to call the place I got my mattress from. It is only 6 years old, but already on each of our "sides" it is sagging. There is a mountain in the middle! We have flipped it, but still has the issue. we need to probably "turn it around" instead of flipping. I just dont think that a 6 year old mattress should do this.

Also, this week I need to pay attention to camp stuff and tax stuff. Make copies. I hope work is not as crazy as it has been, but I dont have hope for that. Once the daylight savings time new time has come (march 11th) things will slow down. The otheer thing at work is that I am moving my cube. I have been by myself for a while in a 4 cube and loved it. (my cubemate retired and the otheer side is lab). Now I will be a 4 cube with others again. I do like whom I was paired with.

I had to be int eh office by 5am to work with this customer call. Thing worked out ok, so I am breathing a sigh of relief. Its just been so crazy.

The kids had a good valentines day. I swear that they get almost as much candy as halloween!
FElix wanted to get the kids something, so I did this for him. I hit it on the mark with each kid.
Jack got a new hot wheels , pj bottoms, and a nascar pad
Alyssa got a fake rose, a hot chocolate mug, valentines pencils, and a new homework folder.

I got a couple cards. FElix had bought a new expensive down mattress pad for our bed. he wants to make our bed like a 5* hotel. It is really nice. I am just disappointed that he had it shipped to our house and it arrived last week for me to see. I would have prefered a surprise.
Its still a nice gift. I got him a book he wanted and got him pj bottoms, but forgot to give them to him. Will do so today.

The house is such a mess. I just dont have the energy to keep up with all the junk. It seems to keep piling. I need a big dumpster and just need to go room by room and throw stuff out, or packrat it in the basement.

So on my todo list.
Get tax stuff copied and mailed to my mom to do.
Get camp forms out and the kids registered.

Long weekend coming up. Taking Jack to the circus on Monday after his dentist appt. he is so bad about brushing his teeth. it is always such a battle. Also I really need to get speech for him.

I drew the short straw on monday and got the critical call. So this week I am working my tail off. Not much time to do "other stuff" that I get accomplished at work.

But other things to note

Jack earned his webkinz. He was sooo happy
Alyssa has been sick still. Moreso a really bad cold now. I hope Jack doesnt catch it. There has been a lot of sickness going around lately it seems. Alyssa has had a bunch of colds this winter. I am glad the kids got flu shots.

I have a friend that is down on their luck. Basically delt a financial blow. Makes me feel good that I am ok financially. Not rich, but doing pretty well.

yesterday I got my hair done. Colored and cut. Full highlights (yeah I am blondish again) and about 4 inches cut off.
Now I work in an office of mostly men. So far not one has said anything. Men Never notice these things.

Alyssa went to school today. Yesterday she was out sick. I hope she will now remain healthy. She has a big sleepover this weekend. I also hope Jack doesnt catch it. I need to get the new forehead thermometers. I dont like my ear one much, and the old fashioned type will work, but I would prefer the new technology.

I did not like Grey's anatomy last night. Too much "action" and "suspense". Also the new survivor started up. From what I am reading in the spoilers, it wont be a great season. But the new all star amazing race season is also coming soon. Can't wait for that.

Well i mentioned in my comments, but Alyssa got the letter that she is getting tested for TAG. Then I was totally floored that Jack also is getting tested. His teacher was actually on the committee. I am soooo happy and proud. Even if neither kid gets in, at least they are getting tested for it. I also found out why Jack is not getting as much work as Alyssa got in kindy. They changed it so that they kids get more work in 1st grade and less in kindergarten now. I still think his teacher doesnt do enough, but I have to admit that I am happy that she looked past some of his immaturity and recognized that he is very smart. I have noticed that moms dont talk about when their kids are in TAG and such. They do tend to try not to brag. Alyssa was talking about how Jack was bragging when he was on the phone with mom. I told her that bragging was OK when doing so to grandparents :), but otherwise not a good thing; she was corrrect. On the other end, I do find that mom's who have their kids in EIP (special assistance) tend to open up more about that.

Its so funny about how what happens in my kids lives each day affects my mood. When bad things happen to them, I am depressed. When good things happen to them, I am happy. Moreso than when things happen in my own life. I guess its really not that funny, but rather what being a mom is about.

I am constantly going through this dilemna about private versus public school. I always thought that we were in a good school district, but I am not so sure anymore. The demographics has changed a bit since Alyssa started kindergarten in that they built some new condos and townhomes which are in our district. The school population has really grown. Also, I never realized how much turnover there is. If you look at all the kids that were at the school when Alyssa started 2+ years ago, probably at least a 1/3 are no longer there.
Other things is that the school has supposily stopped having kids who are "smarter" in an area such as math learn above grade level. The only thing they have for the smarter kids is TAG which is one day of week of enrichment outside of the normal class day. Of course you have to be recommended and then tested to be put in. There is also this great reading program that the school decided not to do either.
Come middle school, I am really serious about doing the private school thing; but I would like to not have to spend the money now. What I have found is that each of my kids need different things. I wonder how this would be different elsewhere.
Alyssa is very smart, but can make stupid mistakes at times. She needs to be reminded to be focused. This is partly due to her ADD. I feel that her teacher this year has done things to help her along. I really feel that if she did not have the lack of concentration skills from the ADD that she could have already been recommended for TAG. At this point, thinking about it, being pulled out of class for enrichment would probably hinder her. So I have given up. But I want her to do well in her future. Come middle and high school I hope she takes advanced classes for college prep. Her strengths are in language arts and reading. Her weakness is math. This is so the opposite of how I was. I definately dont want anything about ADD in her records. I know other ADD kids that get EIP (sorta like special ed or resource). I feel this is unnessary. Where is mainstream education these days.?
Now onto Jack. Jack has behavior issue. He argues. He also is not as "Street smart" as alyssa. He is book smart. He will ahve issues with concepts, but will do well with "facts" . An example is explaining about social issues of this world. Alyssa really gets it. Jack never does. Even explaining how football or any game works. Jack has a harder time. Alyssa got the concept of Xmas and santa easily , Jack probably wont. BUT Jack can do things now that Alyssa never did at teh same age. He is reading chapter books 6 months earlier. He never complains about writing and does a pretty good job. He knows money (what coins are worth). He can tell time to the 1/2 hour (but doesnt get what time things sometimes happen). He knows fractions. He can add and subtract faster than Alyssa. He is doing SRA reading comprehension at home. He gets video games easily and the computer. He is bored in kindergarten. I really hope the school keeps dividing out the kids in math to ability in 1st grade like they have done, when he gets there next year. I just dont think he is challenged enough academically. Part of this is the Oct birthday. He is close to the oldest in his class.
Both my kids are in the top reading group in their classes. I am very proud of this. I do try to be a mom that does enrichment with my kids. Jack will do it moreso than Alyssa. With her she says so , but when I try to get her to do it, she will fight me. Just getting her to read a book can be a hassle at times. BUT I understand that is who she is. I will say that now that I understand her better, it really helps.

On a final note, the morning sticker chart works really great. With doing mornings by myself it is pretty easy unless something happens such as a cat vomits, or Alyssa had a bad night's sleep, or something else unexpected. Adding a bonus sticker for getting up between 6:30 and 7 on their own helps as well. it makes bedtime easier and earlier.

It was asked on my Dec list if I have any hobbies. The closest thing I have is shopping and what I would call pop culture. I read people.com and celebrity-babies.com . I also love Televisionwithoutpity.com and survivorsucks. Last nights Greys anatomy was great! I love to read the site "greyswriter.com". This is where the person who wrote the episode blogs.
The other interesting show that I watched the other day was on TLC. This was with all those families wwith many kids. Of course there are the Duggers. I heard they are expecting number 17. But those kids are dressed so wierd. It seems like the kids dont have a life outside their parents. The other show was Kids by the Dozen. There were more mainstream families there. The interesting thing is that I know a family of 12 . The kids are so nice. Yes, they are homeschooled and religious. Jack really likes their son who is his age. THey were on swim team together. I also know a family of 8 from the rec center. THe mom just had her 8th. The kids do go to public school from that family and dont seem very religious.
Other shows of interest are all the nanny shows. It makes me feel better as a parent. I do like supernanny better.. Nanny911 is poorly edited and doesnt seem as "real". Of course I like all those home shows--househunters, buy me, moving up, etc. Over the last few years I have tried to stay away from MTV, aka road rules, the real world, The hills, etc. After all I am over 40 :)

Its funny in todays world of message boards on how I will see something on a TV show and comment to myself how it will be discussed on the boards the next day. The watercooler convos have now been moved to the virtual world.

Oh and I am on Alyssa's webkinz more and more. I have gotta stop.

Next blog entry will be back to my normal "stuff". Not much this weekend planned. Jack did come home reminding me about the party tomorrow. I had to tell him he was "not invited". I honestly dont know if this is true or not (lost invite) and have no way to find out. Alyssa might go skating tomorrow. This cold weather (for the south) is really getting to me.