25 March 2009

I'm ready to go.

I'm so ready for it to be June, for us to be moved and back together again.

I'm exhausted. I know I'm on the downhill slide; only a few more months. But the daily grind is getting to me. Every day:


I wake up.
I wake the kids up.
I negotiate the great cereal battle.
I cuddle with the youngest.
I dress the youngest.
I negotiate the next battle.
I try and shower and get ready.
I make three or four beds.
I clean up the bathroom.
I clean up the kitchen.
I negotiate yet another battle.
I spot-check the house for show-readiness, just in case a Realtor comes by.
I grab my cell, just in case a Realtor calls.
I grab my work stuff. Jackets.
Try to make the laundry area neat.
Negotiate the car battle.
Drive to school.
Answer at least four questions from the kids as we drive.
Drop kids at school.
3 out of 5 days, I cave and get coffee on the way in.
Work.
Run errands at lunch.
Work more.
Pick up kids.
Negotiate the homework/chore battle.
Make dinner.
Do laundry.
Feed kids.
Negotiate another battle.
Bathe kids.
Clean up from dinner.
Ask eldest to do some sort of housework. Half the time, she remembers.
Take out trash.
Tuck in kids.
Say prayers.
Spray monster spray.
Re-tuck kids.
Take my bath.
Check on son; remind him it is an hour after his bedtime; must put Fudge book down.
Try and do homework, give up, play on Facebook.
Crash in bed.
Try to sleep.
Some nights, fall asleep. Others, toss and turn for hours.
Get up, do it again.


Add in allergies, my class on Tuesdays, and then the constant running on the weekends, plus the pressure to keep the house perfectly clean, and I'm just wiped out. Can someone please buy our house within the next few weeks? That alone would remove a huge burden.

16 March 2009

I have weird children


My eldest's entry for the Great Potato Contest for St. Pat's. Note the cannibalism:

11 March 2009

Why I like my Senator

Sen. Claire McCaskill takes on a few of my reporter compatriots at the recent Missouri Democratic Days events:

02 March 2009

Supersmart

In preparation for the move, I had C2 tested for giftedness.

I honestly had no hunch how smart he was until this September, when he suddenly had a switch go on. He started reading voraciously (like me). He started doing hideous math problems for fun (like C1).

Unlike C1, it wasn't obvious right away that he was gifted. C1 was freakish in her ability to conquer skills that most three-year-olds don't have. For example, do any of you know a three-year-old who will sit for hours and do 40-piece puzzles, one after another? Yeah, that's how I worked from home sometimes: I'd edit book anthologies while she was surrounded by puzzles. Three hours, minimum, of quiet.

Not normal.

C2 was very normal. Hyper, active, boy normal.

Then the switch went on.

Don't get me wrong, he's still boy normal. But he's also incredibly good at making disparate connections (something I do, as well). He will just pop out of nowhere with this philosophical stuff, something C1 never did.

So we had him tested for giftedness this weekend. Now I'm wishing I'd done it sooner. They fit him into the class right away. Even though it will only be a few months, he's completely psyched. He's been beaming ever since he found out he got in. He smiled when I dropped him off. He smiled all day, according to C1, who also attends the gifted pull-out program.

"This is the best day ever!" he announced when I picked him up to take him to aftercare.

I honestly have NO idea what we are going to do with him after we move. I suspect a very long conversation with the guidance counselor is in order first thing this summer. The gifted programs in Texas work differently than here, and as best I can tell, he has a long shot of getting in, despite IQ and test results. He needs a challenge, but he also needs to hang with other boys his age, socially.

Parenting is not easy. Honestly, I wish I had a guidebook for this stuff.

And I'm looking at C3 and wondering what freakish skill set she's hiding from me right now.