Sunday, August 24, 2008

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

In First Grade Already?

Je mentioned that she needed to bring candy for a boy in her school or he was going to give her a "paperclip shot".
Screech!
What did you say?...
No, you do not have to bring him candy, nor should you.

As we asked a few questions it turned out that this boy intended to bring a paperclip from home and use the end to poke her in the bottom. Thus the "shot". She seemed a little scared but sure that she had to give in. We all tried to explain that she didn't have to, no one can make you do this. By this morning she seemed to get it. I got a little more information out of her, and it seems that the incident happened on the bus. So I walked across the street to tell the bus driver that this had happened. She immediately knew the little boy in question, another first grader. She promised to take care of it. I had already emailed Je's teacher and she responded quickly that she would look into the situation. By noon, Je had talked to the counselor as had the little boy and the email said that his parents would be notified. I don't know the family or even their last name so I wonder how that will go. The bus driver told me when she dropped Je off that she and the principal had spoken to the little boy and that should encourage him not to repeat his threat. I was impressed by how seriously they take this at Je's school. They jumped right on to the problem and responded to my communication quickly. It is problematic that this little boy is only in first grade and already doing this. After school, Je told me that she knew of another little girl who'd been told to bring him candy or else. So far no one did, but this morning, Je was picking out some candy from her stash of parade candy. I made her put it back.
We've all been bullied at one time or another. I worry about it especially with Je because she is so tenderhearted, and reserved. She doesn't always stand up for herself. Jo probably will stand up for herself and tell the bully to leave her alone. Je hopefully will learn to do the same. She heard the same message from her parents, Nana, her teachers, the counselor and bus driver. Maybe it will sink in if she hears it from several directions.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Remember this, or this? We finally got rid of them a month or so ago. It was nice to have the living room looking like a living room again. The girls didn't seem to mind having the boxes go, at first. A week or so after they were gone they started bugging us for the tents my sister gave them for Christmas a few years ago. (Thanks, Min!) I held them off through vacation and their visit to grandmas but today, they wore me down.





And in case you missed the first day of school and were interested.... Every morning Je and Jo go stand on this rock in our yard. They call it the watching rock since they use it to watch for the bus. There goes any chance I had to get it out of my yard...

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

So she isn't deaf

Today, being the first day of first grade for Je, I tried to entertain Jo. Mom gave me a couple coupons for Penney's, so we went to the mall to bum around. I figured it was going to be too hot to be outside much and the mall has an indoor play land. Jo wanted a pretzel and I had a buy one get one in my purse. She was specific in her pretzel demand, she wanted to get a cinnamon pretzel and eat it at the mall like she does with Nana. Okay. One time you get a pretzel to go and you never hear the end of it. We each ate about half of the pretzels and brought the rest home. Shan came into the family room this evening and seeing them on the counter asked me how long I was going to leave his pretzel there without telling him it was there. Jo heard him, and from her bed all the way upstairs said "That's MY pretzel!" Oh yeah she has no hearing problems at all. Two floors away and she is protecting her pretzel.

Monday, August 11, 2008

I Can't Decide If it is Beautiful or Ugly

The kids spent the week at my inlaws last week. It was sooooooooo quiet around here. We (mostly I) eagerly set off Friday to go out there for the weekend. I looked up near the Elsworth/Lincoln County lines. I saw this:









As we drove they seemed to multiply. I counted 22 at one point.








Then we topped a hill and as we came around the corner...There were hundreds and hundreds of them. I can't decide if it is a beautiful site or a really really ugly one. Seriously. It is awe inspiring. We both gasped when we saw them all. I don't know if they are part of the answer to the energy question or just a pipe dream designed to make us feel like we are doing better. I like the idea of using the energy that God provides, solar, wind, water...but I don't know if they can be a miracle cure to the energy problem. I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer is going to be more about conservation and using less energy than finding a new souce to replace current sources. Which means work and change for all of us. Can we do it? We'll see.

Friday, August 01, 2008

What Have I Done?!

I eagerly went to PTO last fall for the first time. I volunteered cautiously for things, and added ideas to the discussion over the months. So I knew the other mothers a bit from that. The PTO president lives down the street across from my mom and knew that my kindergartner got off the bus there a couple afternoons a week. We had become friendly through this. So when she left a message on my machine yesterday, I wasn't alarmed. I was dreading the call a bit because, I knew, she needed volunteers for PTO. The last few years, the same group of moms have done the jobs in PTO because no one else would volunteer. Many of them are now burned out, and several have moved to other schools, or even out of district, and their kids have moved on to the middle school. So finding a new crop of parents has been a challenge. I think they had most jobs filled until recently when a sudden flurry of moves changed that. She had a list of PTO positions that needed filling. The easiest job on the list...PTO president. Seriously. I am the PTO president for my daughter's elementary school. On the bright side, I know from experience that the person in charge has an easier job than the person who does the pancake feed, or some of the other jobs. Thanks goodness. If I didn't have enough to do before...well I do now.