More Fence Down

Today I looked out our back window and saw that a large section of our back fence is down. Upon inspection at least 2 posts are already broken and a couple more look on the brink. Using the same price/ft. it's costing for the front and side, if we replaced our ENTIRE fence it would cost $15,800. We share the entire fence line with 5 different houses, so imagine how fun that would be trying to get all of them to chip in. HA! I guess we'll just let our back door neighbors worry about this one for now (the posts are in their yard, though that doesn't mean much more than convenience in fixing), and if they come to us wanting to replace it we'll pay our half. The joys of "owning" a home.

Helping adult children help themselves: is it too late? For Anon.

Awhile back, Anonymous commented on my Helping Children Help Themselves post. Anon. had some questions I wanted to prepare myself to answer, but I am only now getting around to answering them. Hopefully Anon. will read this, and hopefully it will help. Sorry it took me so long to respond! Let it be known I am not a certified therapist or counselor, I don't have adult children, and I'm just an opinionated person who took lots of classes and got a BS in a marriage and family related major. Please, if anyone reading this is more qualified or wiser than I am, contribute your thoughts in the comments.

So, what do you do to make up for the past?

Well, it's easy as a parent to look into a mirror and see a distorted perspective like we're at a carnival fun house. Have we made mistakes? Sure. Are they as big or as bad as we think they are? Maybe, but it's also possible that we're horriblizing our role in the problem.

A wise leader said, "The first thing you should understand is that you can’t go back and begin where you once were. But all is not lost. You can begin where you are. Choose to begin your [change] now."

You can't go back and fix the mistakes in the past, but you can acknowledge them and then learn from them and do what you can not to repeat them. It is never too late to improve yourself as a parent by learning to set and keep boundaries.

My daughter is now 19 and and lacks the motivation to even take advantage of opportunities that are given to her.

I'd try and figure out the root reason your daughter is lacking in motivation. Is it because she's too comfortable living off of someone else's (usually your) hard work? Is there a factor of drug or alcohol abuse? Peer pressure? Low self-esteem? Learning disorders? There are lots of possibilities, so it's up to you to try and figure out the underlying problem. You must come to a realization that your 19 year old daughter is ultimately responsible for how she responds to your changes and efforts.

She will probably test your resolve to change, push your buttons, lay the guilt on thick. It's up to you to keep in mind that you love her, and because you love her you will maintain the new boundaries. Always respond with love in your heart rather than anger. A great, great book(s) to read is Leadership and Self-deception and/or Bonds that Make us Free. Bonds is much longer, but it is geared more to a family situation where as leadership is an easy read set more for corporate. They both say a lot of the same stuff.

I am not rich and struggled to obtain a school loan for her (which I agreed to help her pay off) The school is in another state (where her boyfriend lives). I receive updates from her all the time about how school is going only to find out that she hasn't even been attending classes and has now been dropped from the program.

Honestly, I don't know much about loans and/or the terms of your loan. If you're a co-signer on her loan, I would imagine that regardless of her decisions you'll have to continue paying or your credit will be shot. If you were not a co-signer on her loan, and the agreement to help out was only verbal, I would definitely have a talk to her about your terms for helping out. The loan is for school. If she is not in school, she does not receive help. I would also make sure she understands how it will effect her credit rating and why that is important to worry about. Also, help does not mean you'll just pay it all. In my opinion, she needs to be responsible for at least half.

She is not working and stays at home all day with the dogs doing nothing. I don't get it. Is cutting her off financially the only option left.

Think of it as a weening process. You wouldn't want your baby to breastfeed forever now would you? The thought of it is absurd; it is just as absurd to think that you should financially support a capable adult the rest of his/her life.

It's up to you to decide if cold turkey or gradual weaning will be best for your situation. I would set terms and conditions for your financial help, should you decide a gradual approach. "If you get a job, get back in school, and contribute to your situation, then I will help with X amount each month." Never, never, never let them have full access to your bank account. Help her understand the dangers of credit card debt. Also have a plan that she is fully aware of (and stick to it) for when you will no longer contribute to her financial situation. She probably won't find a job overnight, but she can find one in a couple of months, even if it is fast food, retail, etc.

I try to guide her in positive directions but she refuses to help herself. If I have unintentionally instilled this in her, is there anything I can do to reverse the damage done. Any thoughts here?

All you can do is guide and direct to good paths. As to reversing the damage done, I'd say stop rescuing her. It's kind of the sink or swim theory. It is within her power to do both. Keep coaching, loving, guiding, and teaching (these do not equal nagging) about how to be a responsible adult. But she has the opportunity to choose to help herself or to choose to sink. It's possible she will sink, but that is her choice. It's a painful one to watch. It may be pretty rocky in the beginning and then level out. With age and maturity she might get it and start to do something productive and responsible. She honestly may not. Her ultimate success is not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to help guide and direct her to better paths, continually love her, and support her good decisions.

Scorched

Holy heck has it been hot here this week! Triple digits every day and today is looking to be the hottest yet. We got to the park at 8:30 and we were both ready to leave before 9! By 11am it was 96* real temp, but with 49% humidity the heat index is more like 101 already. Tooooooo hot!

We need a swimming pool.

Some people just have issues

You remember our fence issues? Well, after pricing it out and having 5-6 companies give us estimates, we found a company. They weren't the cheapest nor the most expensive, but they seemed the most professional and thorough. We decided to get the rot board on the bottom and have them stain it, so for our 130' of fencing it's going to cost us $3969 total. Not a small chunk of change. Plus, half has to be paid up front when they start and the other half has to be paid upon completion. So, it's not like we're financing this or anything.

One of the two sections we're replacing is totally ours since it's the front of our house facing the street.

Originally I thought the other section of the fence was totally our neighbor's responsibility. I figured that whatever side the posts were signified ownership of the fence. I was wrong and found out that it is legally a shared fence. I know this because the last time we had fence issues and received a letter from our HOA, I double checked legal responsibility. It was discovered that it was a shared fence, so they then sent her the same letter they sent us. After she got the letter saying the fence needed fixing, she came over and went off on this rampage about how it's not her fence and she'd had fence problems in her back yard and the people sharing the fence wouldn't help and blah, blah, blah. I tried to be really nice and non-defensive. By the time she left she had diffused a little bit and later when Matt was fixing the fence, she came out to see if he needed any help. Finally, I thought we were on the same page (or at least close to it) about the legality of the shared fence.

Before we got the fence replaced this time, I thought it would be best to run it by her, especialy since we'll be staining it. Anyway, I tried going over and chatting with her, but no one was home. So I made a copy of the estimate invoice and wrote a little note on the back. I explained we were getting the fence replaced and that it was a little more expensive than we expected. I let her know that the shared fence portion was costing us $1736. I tried to keep it from sounding like we expected them to pay half for that section, but that anything that they could contribute would be greatly appreciated. I gave her my number and said if she had any questions or concerns to either call or come by.

Tonight while I was out, Matt received a nasty call from her. She went through the same things she did the last time, claiming it wasn't her fence because of the positioning of her house, so she shouldn't be responsible for anything. Matt explained that according to the platt that it was legally a shared fence. He said that we can't force her to pay anything, but that seeing as though it was a shared fence and bordered her yard, it would be nice if she could help with something. She was defensive and belligerant until they hung up. So no help there. Honestly, we wouldn't have blinked an eye if she called and said, "You know, I really wish I could help you out, but I'm really strapped right now." But her tone and quarrelsome nature make it so much more annoying. Especially since we've been through this before with her.

The funny thing is, she was soooo mad about her back door neighbor not helping when their shared fence needed to be fixed. Um, hello lady. Don't you see you're doing the same exact thing?

Summer days

We've had two great days in a row. Yesterday was just packed full of fun.

6:30 -7:45 Got up with Dean, gave him milk, made us oatmeal, saw dad off to work
8-9 Walked to the park and played until I got too hot
10:30-10:45 Library
11-12 Pool
1-2:30 Nap for Dean while I made some low sugar blueberry jam
3:30-4 Errands
4-5:30 Dean played with Susie (he calls her Suzu) and I visited with Alexis (my awesomely organized friend)
5:45-6:15 Dinner
6:45-7 Scriptures, teeth brushing, prayers, and bed time for Dean
7-9 Tried organizing our files while I watched SYTYCD. The only judge I ever listen to anymore is Nigel. I mute everyone else and it helped me focus and get more done.
9-10 Relaxed
10-11:45 Cleaned up, watched Conan (still sad Leno's gone), read scriptures, and went to bed


This morning hasn't been quite as packed, but we had lots of fun at the pool. We met a couple friends there, so that's always fun.

Dean was the most adventurous I've ever seen him! I bought some water toys and that really helped keep him entertained. He also ventured to play in the fountains rather than just touch them with his hand. He still wasn't too keen on the idea of his feet coming off the ground when he got too deep, but he was more content to stay in the shallow end because of his new toys. I also experimented and tried to get him showered and dressed for the day there, and it worked out decently. Note to self: remember to bring "no tears" shampoo because it's really, really hard to wash the soap out of his hair in the shower without getting it in his eyes. I used his little watering can and that helped, but it was still hard. He was a real champ at the pool though.

I really love the good days.

Organizational Envy

I was at a friend's today and was slightly envious of her mad organizational skills. I want to be organized. I try to organize. But some how I always fall short of finding good, lasting systems. I don't have great vision as to how everything will work together or what I'll do if I get more stuff that will need to fit into my organization. Plus, I can't quite figure out a good system on a good budget. I finally found a nice looking file cabinet with 2 locking drawers, but I think it's going to have to take the back burner to the fence for a little while at least. And if I can't buy a $200 file cabinet, I surely can't justify buying a $135 Tupperware pantry storage set. Rats.

I am even having a hard time organizing my files properly. I made a good effort tonight, but I didn't even make it half way. It just isn't in my wheelhouse* I guess.

*I'd never heard that phrase "in my wheelhouse" until Matt used it a while ago. I had no clue what he was talking about or that it was a real saying. Since then I've heard it quite a bit! How did I miss it previously? Am I the only one?

Officially Scheduled

In the beginning of this pregnancy, I went back and forth on whether or not I should try a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) or just schedule a c-section. At first I was all for VBAC. We've discussed having a total of 3-5 kids, taking it one at a time and seeing how we feel after each addition. Since we're not sure how many kids we'll have, I was worried that having too many c-sections would limit that number. I've heard many doctors only recommend 3 c-sections, but my sister just had her 4th and she said recovery was easiest this last time! So, who knows.

Matt was very opposed to trying a VBAC. He was worried I'd have the same problems I had with Dean. If my original c-section had been the result of a cord wrapped incorrectly, the baby being breech, the baby having a BM before delivery, etc. I would have tried VBAC. But I was just plain too small for him to fit through. Since I haven't gotten any larger, and this baby probably won't be any smaller than Dean (he was only 8 lbs. 6 oz.), it's highly likely that this one will get stuck as well.

So, in the end, we decided to eliminate the 18 hours of labor and the emergency part of the c-section and just schedule one instead.

While this option is nice because 1. I will get to deliver a little early and 2. We can plan a little better as to when we need help, this is not without it's drawbacks. Matt's done a lot of internet searching as to the problems that can arise with scheduled c-sections. Apparently the chance for respitory and other problems is higher for babies born before 39 weeks. My doctor won't deliver any more than 1 week from the due date (so 39 weeks), so this shouldn't be that big of a deal. But it still scares Matt, and if anything happens to go wrong health wise, I know he'll always blame it on the c-section being too early...

Yesterday when I told him his concerns just made me want to try a VBAC, he said that scares him even more than scheduling a week early. So on the books we go; the scheduling nurse called me today and set it up.

If all goes according to plan (and who knows, I could always go into labor before this. People tell me all the time that "it must be any day now, right? You look like you're gonna pop!"), I'll be having this baby on Monday July 27, 2009 at 7:30 am. That is exactly 1 week before my due date of August 3rd. Monday is the day she normally does surgery, and I want to be sure that she is the one doing it. She did such a fabulous job the first time around (even after a full day of delivering babies and going home only to be called back in under emergency cicumstances), I don't want to risk someone else botching this one up.

I have to check into the hospital at 5:30 AM, so we'll probably have someone come and hang out here until Dean wakes up and take care of him until Matt gets home from the hospital a couple hours later. Today I asked a former piano student of mine (oldest of 5 kids and I trust her and her family completely!) if she could, and while she didn't have her schedule with her (we were at the store when I saw her), she thought she'd be able to do it.

It's kind of weird to have such a detailed plan involving a birth.

Some days just don't go as planned

It's 2PM and I'm finally feeling human. Last night I was determined to clean the day away today. I'm getting sick of seeing the grime on my fridge doors and bathroom sinks.

But then I woke up today, and BOY was I tired. Almost non-functionally tired. I had tears of tiredness in my eyes as Matt left for work. After he left, I made Dean and me some waffles at Dean's request. They were blueberry waffles and Dean just picked out all the blueberries and ate those. (Though he did eat a waffle for lunch that he pulled off the counter after we got home.) By the time we ate and I got the kitchen cleaned up it was 10. Dean wanted to go to the park really badly so I got us dressed and stepped out the door. We made it about 1/2 a block before I turned back home. Yahoo weather says it was 85*. My body said it was at least 90*.

I just couldn't take that mile walk and 1-1 1/2 hour of play at the park in that kind of weather at 33 weeks pregnant.

So I came back home, got us dressed for the pool and by 11 we were "swimming". I use that term loosely. Dean is not yet a water baby. Oh, he LOVES playing in sinks and with watering cans and drinking from the spigot, but he is a little afraid of getting his whole body wet at once. The pool we go to is less than 4 ft. deep at its deepest. It has a nice shallow area with little fountains. For some reason he wants to wander the whole pool and gets thoroughly freaked out (shrieks and screams..sometimes with a terrified smile...sometimes not) when his life jacket picks his feet up off the bottom when he walks too far out. Even with me holding him and making sure he doesn't face plant in the water.

We got home at 12:20 and by the time I fed Dean lunch and got him down for a nap it was 1. I took a shower and decided it would be best to lay down for a half hour. Then I was starving and had to eat lunch myself.

Now it's 2:11 and I'm feeling human again. But what am I doing? Blogging instead of cleaning. I guess that means I should get a move on. Who knows how much longer Dean will be asleep...

A father's day message from Dean

It's always difficult to film a wiggly toddler, but boy is he a funny and smart 19 mo. old.

Moving in the right direction

I figured I ought to write about our attempts at potty training. Yes, this post is about poop and pee. So stop reading now if you don't care to read about such topics.

We got a potty chair from a co-worker when I was pregnant with Dean. When I was doing the cloth diapering trial it seemed like a good time to introduce the concept at least, knowing full well he probably wouldn't really get it. So I pulled it out. Since he was pretty young the chair was a little too tall for him to sit on by himself, plus the hole seemed way too small for a boy. If he ever made any mention of the potty, or wanted to sit on it, we let him try. I was getting pretty frustrated with the ergonomically incorrect potty chair, so I purchased a bjorn potty off of craigslist. Waaaayyyy better. He could sit on it by himself and the hole seemed correctly proportioned so a boy fit without spraying everywhere.

He's starting to get the concept a little more, and he'll request to go at least once a day. However, he doesn't quite understand timing. He'll request to go "pee pee" most frequently after he's just pooped in his diaper. Since I have to change his diaper anyway, I figure it doesn't hurt to let him try. He likes to sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up. That's a bit tiresome, but at least he's not afraid of the potty. We've had one incident of pee all over the floor, but twice he's actually made it in the potty. It's pretty cute to see him try to "squeeze it out" when I tell him to. He'll even make grunting sounds and really make an effort to push. haha. Not bad. I just need to start putting him on his toilet (without him necessarily requesting) in the morning right after he's had a sippy full of milk. That's almost a guaranteed poop time. Maybe that would help him understand that poop goes in the potty as well.

Here's to hoping he'll be out of diapers by 2 1/2! (I think that's totally possible.)

Reaping what we sow

This is our third year in attempting a garden. We've always gotten something out of our garden, but we've had our share of failures and problems. This year Matt put me in charge of planting, and I kind of messed up a bit.

I put the zucchini closest to our fence since that row had the most room, but it also has the most shade. Matt's had to spray the plants daily with neem oil to keep the powdery mildew from taking over. We've never had much luck with our zucchini, unfortunately, but we'll keep trying. At least it's not the vine borers yet this year...

I also have the watermelons and cantaloupe sharing a row right next to the cucumbers. They're going a bit crazy and it's hard to keep the vines all separated. While I did thin the cucumbers, I guess I didn't thin them enough, so Matt's had to do powdery midlew spraying on them as well. Additionally, I either didn't plant the seeds deep enough or our storms took off a bit of our top soil, so Matt had to use potting soil to cover some of the exposed roots. *sigh* I never have claimed to have a green thumb.

Despite my mistakes, we're starting to get some veggies. Yippee! We've had a couple great dinners with our fresh green beans. Two nights ago I made some delicious chicken fajitas with fresh bell peppers from our garden (and fresh onions from the farmer's market). We also have little veggie buds on our squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers. The carrots seem to be doing well, though they take AGES to grow. Our strawberries had tiny marble sized fruit, but something (I'm guessing birds since we have a fence around the garden) ate them before we could pick them.

It's always exciting to eat stuff we grow ourselves. It feels like such an accomplishment, and I feel so self-sufficient. I got a water bath canner this year (and proper tools so I don't burn myself like last year) to can our picklers. Oh divine. I cannot wait for homemade pickles...

And here are two pictures showing our fence damage from the storm. The remaining sections on the front fence are not stable at all. I've been getting quotes to replace the fence (rather than repair...it's just such junk wood and it would be a ton of work for Matt to repair) and we're looking at about $3000 for the front and side with the most damage. Boo!

Vocab at 19 mo.

My sister-in-law recently had a great post about her son's vocab boom, and I thought it was a good time to copy the idea since Dean's going through the same thing. In the last week or two he's gotten way better at mimicking me. The words I'm listing here, though, are things he's said multiple times on his own without me prompting him much, if at all. He constantly surprises me with words I didn't know he knew. It's hard to make a comprehensive list, and I know it will be impossible in a few months. Plus, it's really interesting to me to see some of his interests.

Food
Tortilla, egg, milk, nini (zucchini), gee-use (juice), nana (banana), grape, cracker, snack, fruit, water, drink, pizzia (he does add that "i") , oatmeal, mint (he loves cinnamon altoids! this also refers to life savors), jelly beans

*Side note on food* I think it's a bit odd that he will not eat melted cheese or red sauce things very well. He doesn't care for grilled cheese, pastas with red sauces, lasagna, pizza, etc. However, he really likes oatmeal, zucchini, V8 juice, and yesterday asked for more broccoli 3 times. He also loves short grain sticky rice, but he won't eat long grain white rice. Odd. He's drinking from a regular cup (glass cups at that!) at meal times, and he's doing quite a good job with it. Only spilled once this week.

People
Mom/Mommy, Dad/Daddy/Matt, Shosh/Ern (Erin Schlosser), M-ma/M-pa (G'ma & G'pa), Ca-ey (Cathey), baby (this is used for my belly and all children, even up to 8-9 year olds!), Mammen

Items around the house
Couch, scissors, marker, draw, tack, bag, phone, chair, bike, car, keys, DVD, TV, CD, hammer, screw, screwdriver, tool, pool, weeds, fan, speaker, shoe, sock, shampoo, shower, ba(th), soap, bubbles, picture, seat, scriptures, (air) conditioner (sounds like a mix between "scriptures" and "picture"), dirt, mud, high chair, googly eyes (this is one of his latest and it CRACKS me up.), gooey-a (toothpaste...where he got gooey-a, I'm not sure), chapstick, (s)ink, book, tractor

Animals/Animal Sounds (stuffed or otherwise)
Kitty/kittycat, teddy, doggie, duckie, moo, baa, oink, neigh, hoohoo heehee, tsu tsu (bird), nunny (bunny), gaff (giraffe), och (ostrich),

Places
Church, home, bop or pop (park),

Comings and Goings
Hi, Hi Dean (when he wants to be picked up), Bye bye, see ya, out (when he wants to get out of his chair, take his clothes off, go outside, etc.),

Descriptions
Ouch/owie, pokey, ewwww (referring to his feet when we take off his crocks...it really is disgusting), yucky, mmmm, dangerous (it takes a parent to hear it though...), orange (though he usually follows it with juice...even when he's just talking about the color), pee pee, old, hot, cold, cool, wet, no, gyeah (yeah)

Body Parts
Hair, nose, toes, knees, arm, feet, neck, back, ears, teeth, eyes

He still refuses to even attempt touching his "shoulders" in Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and moves directly to knees instead. He can point to a lot more than he can say.

Letters and numbers
C, O, R, 2, 3, can usually be said without me prompting, but not always. Just in the last two days he's been more willing to copy me in counting to 10 and saying more letters of the alphabet than R. His favorites are definitely #2 and R, and he'll say those if he's a bit stumped. I figured I'd leave a few videos of these. I know it'll probably only be interesting for grandparents and relatives.

Counting 1-10


ABC's (a valiant effort)

Too soon in coming

My best friend of the past 3 years here in McKinney, Erin Schlosser (of Schlosser Designs), is moving tomorrow. She'll most likely be back in TX after her husband gets his MBA in a year, but boy am I sad. It's not nearly as easy finding "bosom buddies" that you can hang out with, craft with, and easily gab with after you leave the college roommate scene; so when you find one, it's hard to let go! She will be sorely missed by both Dean and me. Dean loves her (and her kitties) just as much as I do!! He asks for her all the time. "Shosh. Shosh. Kitties. Shosh." He cried yesterday when we didn't stop at her house on the way home from the park!

Goodbye Erin! Good luck in Chicago. May you survive the winter there and come back soon!

4 more posts to replace

I was just about to leave the house to a goodbye party for one of my best friends who's moving this weekend when Matt said there was a tornado warning. The wind was crazy! The worst I've seen since we've been here. I was glad I heeded his advice not to leave. In a town close by, a semi was blown over! Just as the rain/winds started, I heard a crash in back. I looked out our window and our little blow up pool was just about to blow over our fence. Matt ran out and grabbed it. I pulled in the other small toys that were getting tossed about. The crash I heard was our big propane grill being picked up and blown over! It was probably about 6 ft. from where it normally stands. Most of our front fence was blown over. Poor Matt has 4 more fence posts to replace (unless we just replace that part of the fence professionally...I'll have to price that out tomorrow), and one of them is one he just replaced a few months ago!

This was the first time we decided to pull Dean out of bed for the tornado warning. He'd just fallen asleep about 15 min. before, so I felt horrible taking him out. He cried at first since he was so disoriented, but he got over it soon enough. He was very confused by the pillows and blankets in our master bath and kept saying and pointing "uh oh! ba(th)." He did not want to get into the tub with it like that! We stayed there about 10-15 min. and checked the news to find the worst had passed. We let Dean run around the living room for another 15 min. to make sure it was really ok. He was SO FUNNY! He was literally running circles around our coffee table like a crazy man. Matt was on our couch and every time Dean passed him, he bonked Matt's arm with his head and then held his head and said, "Ouch!". I knew I shouldn't laugh, but it was just so funny!

I was super worried he wouldn't go back to bed since he was so wired, but we went into his room, read two books, and I put him in bed. Not a peep out of him. He didn't cry or make a fuss about it at all. I was so relieved.

Belly Beautiful: 32 weeks

Lets see...according to my picture schedule, I technically only have 1 picture left after this! Since I'm scheduling a c-section, I only have 7 weeks left (unless I go into labor early, but I kinda doubt that one). My doctor visits are more frequent than monthly now, so I can't give accurate stats for this week. I weighed 150 at my visit a week and a half ago. That would have been 19 lbs. at that point.


2007

2009
tonight,
two different shirts

The "Deluxe" Baby Gift Set: Complete!

Since I had Dean, my favorite baby gift set to give is a large wrap blanket, 2 burp cloths, and a tag blanket. (Basic tutorial here, though I modified some of the measurements this time around.) These were some of my favorite and most used items that we received.

My sister-in-law is due with a baby boy a week or two before me, and since it's been 13 years since their last baby (don't worry, this baby was planned!), they're starting from scratch again. So, I decided I'd make a "deluxe" gift set. I was really excited with how this all turned out (and that I'm finished so I can now move on to my next project...hehe).

Items in the set:

• double sided large flannel wrap blanket
• single sided large flannel wrap blanket (for the hot summer months)
• hooded bath towel (tutorial here...thanks V!)
  
• tag blanket (I made this larger this time and I like it better. pre-sewn measurements are 16"X17")
  
• 2 burp cloths (gerber cloth diapers embelished. I did a horizontal stripe on the bottom rather than the vertical in my original tutorial.)
  

Cool.

Dean's new favorite word is "cool".

I do say it often when he repeats words over and over. He'll say something like, "Doggie. Doggie. Doggie." and I'll say, "Yep. That doggie's pretty cool."

He picked up on it. It started out that Daddy and his shoes were cool. Now almost everything he likes is "cool". It totally cracks me up.

------------------------

On a totally unrelated note, Dean head butted me so hard (not maliciously, though he sometimes does it when he's mad) today that it made me cry. Not just tears in my eye, but full out cry for a couple minutes. He hit me right on my ear and it pushed my ear into my glasses arm that pushed into my head. I still have a welt and bruise on my head because of it. Ouch. Not cool.

Spring Recital is OVER!

Honestly this was the smallest and least stressful recital I've had, but it's still nice to have it behind me! Last fall I started with 13 students, but all of my high school kids dropped because of time and stress, and I had a couple drop for financial reasons. I was supposed to have 7 kids play, but one had a last minute conflict and another broke her arm a few weeks ago, so it was just 5 kids and myself performing.

The theme was show tunes. The kids were able to choose any song from any movie, musical or TV show. If I couldn't find it in their level, I arranged it for them. I actually arranged all but 1 this time! It's pretty rewarding to hear something I had a part in creating, actually.

Payton (lvl 1): The Pink Panther
Natalie (lvl 1): Zip-a-de-doo-da (couldn't come)
Lexi (lvl 2B/3A): Popular (from Wicked)
Annelise (lvl 1): Beauty and the Beast
Lora (lvl 1): Masquerade (from Phantom)
Cami (lvl 2B/3A): Hedwig's Theme (the one I didn't arrange)
Zoe (lvl 2A): Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo (broke her arm)
Celia: Hungarian Dance No. 5 (featured in Lemony Snicket's)

It took less than 20 min. for everyone to play! The only disappointment for me was how few siblings were there to support their family member(s). My family was so good at that growing up. Unless we had a scheduling conflict, we pretty much went to all performances of our siblings. I think it's good for kids to support their family.