World Spay Day 2012 Online Pet Photo Contest

World Spay Day 2012 Online Pet Photo Contest

We're trying to raise funds for the spay/neuter clinic that was only possible through Aunt Linda's tireless work to get it running. I should've done this much sooner as the contest ends on the 29th. Please take time to make a simple $5 donation, or more if it tickles your fancy, to assist with fewer euthanizations in Putnam County, TN. Thanks!

One Quiet Morning

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken

Gaby's Big 6th Birthday

I finally located the pictures that were downloaded from my camera.

We celebrated Gabriel's birthday on the 2nd.  This year it was pretty easy to plan the party because he did it all, from the invitations to the Green Lantern cake.  We bowled, played bean bag toss, and had a pinata.  In between planned games, the boys "partied" downstairs to loud music and played with toys in their room.

Nana came from Tennessee as well.  His actual birthday fell during the week, so we had our first birthday cake that night.

We had a couple friends over on the day of his party.  We ended up with a huge cake that was made by mistake.  Instead of blue teeth, this year we ended up with green teeth (Gaby's favorite color). 

Gaby's classmate marveled, "Gaby, you don't act like this at school.  You're crazy!"  We were pleasantly pleased, yet puzzled, as to why he doesn't act this usual way at school. Gaby said, "Because at school I'm bored and I just want to stay home."

We encouraged Gaby to have the party at the skating rink, but he was more excited about having friends over.  I think this was the first time he's had a party at home, and he planned it well. 

This year we all got him Legos for his birthday.  We have about a gazillion sets in his room and he enjoys building things with them. 

Gaby baby, please don't grow up too fast my cuddly sweetheart.

Just Becuz...

...I am happy that much was accomplished this week with the help of a wonderful hourly, drop off daycare that is very reasonable. Relishing the long wait at my medical appointment, I was able to read Time magazine in peace.  I read that I am an introvert and introverts aren't supposed to be called shy or something.  It means we introverts are overwhelmed and thereby overstimulated by certain social functions (check) and that we also don't do so well in groups because we need time to think (check, check, check).  But then I had to stop reading because the darn doctor interrupted my peace to give me the good news that those pesky ovarian cysts have disappeared.  Yippee.  I can't wait til my next appointment...maybe I'll see the podiatrist and dentist sans kids next time, or I can drop off the boys and hang out at a book store for a couple hours even if I don't buy anything. Yes!

Testosterhome

Refreshing Candor

Overheard while driving this afternoon:

Jojo:  "Christian, I'm talking to you, butt cheeks!"

Christian is the child who is forever daydreaming and who has vivid dreams during his sleep.  He also likes to express himself verbally and through the written word.

His class spends time writing daily.  Earlier in the year he wrote about topics that interested him, such as dinosaurs....

If I Had a Dinosaur

or dream houses (the kind that hold dreams).

If I Had a Dream House

Lately, he has been writing letters to me.  Last week he advised me on how to discipline Jojo when he screams.

What To Do If Jojo Screams

Jojo does not like Chuck E. Cheese, and I don't blame him. I don't have anything against Chuck E. Cheese, but such places induce such sensory overload that I want to stick a fork in my eye.

The letter I received today was about how refreshed he felt when he emptied his bladder.  The latest vocabulary word he puts to use, 'refreshed', has appeared many times in his recent communications. 

Full Bladder

Maybe he meant to say 'relieved' instead.  However, emptying the bladder is a good analogy for a confession. It really is.  Christian says he'll feel 'refreshed' when he makes his First Confession this month.   Instead of his full bladder causing him to feel tense thereby requiring relief, Christian instead felt invigorated once he released it all (probaby because he plays tetherball after lunch on the playground). And that's how our souls feel when we've made a good confession.

Speaking of confession, we had an incident with one of our neighbors last week.  It was very unfortunate that she made Christian and another boy apologize without getting the full story.  She took her daughter's word (her daughter is three years older than Christian) that he and the other child were making fun of her dead dog when they were actually singing silly rhyming songs about an annoying purple dinosaur and other ditties.  Christian and his friend were in the midst of helping other neighbors move things from their garage to their house, and after getting the story straight I realized that the boys were most likely ignoring this girl who wanted to play with them.

After my neighbor told me they were singing a song about "mustangs and dogs" or something, I asked Christian in front of her if he was singing about mustangs and dogs.  He asked, "What's a mustang?"

I have been pondering this all weekend because this is not the first time this neighbor has come to complain about Christian's apparent cruelty towards her daughter who obviously pines for her mom's attention. This neighbor has come over to complain about the other neighborhood boys even when she admits that our boys were not responsible for teasing her daughter.  Why she still came to tell me is beyond me, but I rounded up the kids and asked them to stop bothering her daughter that time.

What really concerned me about this latest incident was the way she forced the kids to go into her house and apologize to her daughter.  She did not tell me this when she came over, yet she knows that my kids are not allowed in her house.  Christian was scared, and secondly, a forced apology does not teach kids a thing, especially if you did not witness the episode. I am prepared for the next time and I will ask the neighbor to bring her accuser daughter to explain to me and the boys what happened.  It will be her word against theirs.  And if I feel that there was wrongdoing on their parts, I will ask them to apologize.  I am sure Christian didn't feel 'refreshed' when he apologized to the accuser.

Sometimes adults are more difficult than children.