Upspide Down

He says "upspide down" instead of upside down. It always makes me want to sing,

Upspide down,
Boy you turn me
Inside out and
round and round

A few weeks ago while visiting the library, he really turned me inside out. There was a little boy in the children's section, and Aidan could not have been more rude to him. Aidan laughed in his face when the little boy introduced himself, and it did not improve from there. I decided the best thing for us to do was high tail it out of the library, so I gathered up the kids and our books and headed for the check out desk. While I was chatting it up with the librarian, Aidan wandered away from me, and next thing I knew he was back by my side and the little boy's mother was wagging her finger in his face saying, "You don't push!"

Could I just crawl into my library bag and die now? I was disappointed with Aidan, and I was also shocked that the little boy's mother decided to get in Aidan's face instead of mine. Now I know how little boys can be; I have a little brother and I've heard plenty of stories about George when he was a wee one. This wasn't our first altercation either.



The funny thing is I forgot about all of this until today. We were leaving the library and guess who I saw? From the look on her face, I'm pretty sure the little boy's mom recognized me too. She gave me a curt smile, and I barely eked out a hi. A few steps later Aidan said, "Is that the little boy I pushed?"

"Yes, it is."

"I really want to say I'm sorry to him."

So we turned around, despite the pit in my stomach weighing me down, and Aidan apologized to the little boy. Then Aidan added, "Do you want to be friends?"

Little boy of mine, you sure know how to turn your mother upspide down.

"Thug means never having to say you're sorry." U-Turn from Weeds Season 3

In Sync

This is Avery's second season on the local synchronized swim team. To be quite honest, I have been somewhat out of sync with synchronized swimming. Perhaps it is the practice four nights a week, the out of town meets, the synchro moms I seem to have nothing in common with, the meltdown that occurs when we can't find a nose plug.

Before this season started, I entertained the idea of buying Avery out, giving her the registration money in lieu of signing up for another season. Just think of how many Lip Smackers she could have bought with all that money!



But no; as hard as it has been on me, synchronized swimming has been good for Avery. She has become a more fluid, graceful swimmer and has formed bonds with team mates.

And now she has learned the thrill of placing first in competition. That's right, she received her first blue ribbon. I am so proud of her, but she is cool about the whole thing. She may say "What's the big deal Mom?" when I congratulate her once again (perhaps I need to revisit those articles about excessive praise), but I see a smile of satisfaction light up her pretty, sun kissed face. Good job Avery. Way to Kip.

A Warning To Parents of Computer Literate Children

If your child knows how to turn on your laptop, get to craigslist, click on pets, and find a listing for a white bunny that needs a new home, all before you have had your first cup of coffee, you might find yourself in my current situation.

Last night, around 8 o'clock, at the end of a long country road, we welcomed a new member into our family. Meet Honey Bunny.



Our first family pet. George and I had the family pet discussion back when Avery was still in diapers, when we had to drag ourselves away from the litter of puppies up for adoption in front of the grocery store. Yes, they were incredibly adorable, but we decided that we would wait to adopt a family pet until our children were old enough to ask for a pet. Then we would be the coolest parents ever when we said yes.



But even better than being cool parents is seeing our children take care of their new pet. Avery has read three bunny books, cover to cover, and is now an expert on what a bunny eats and what it can't eat, how to hold and pet and groom a bunny. Aidan told me it was like he was the bunny's dad and Avery was the mom. They check on the bunny every few minutes, pick lettuce from the garden to feed the bunny, let the bunny eat raisins out of their hands, draw pictures of and for the bunny, and even fight over who will clean up the shavings she kicks out of her cage. As George said, let's hope this lasts. And more importantly, let's hope Honey Bunny grows to love our family.

If you don't want this to happen to you, I suggest you put a parental block on craigslist.

Vacation Sick

When my brother was 6 or 7 years old, he came down with the stomach flu while we were vacationing in Lake Tahoe. He came out of our room onto the porch, clutching his stomach, looking green, and said, "Now I know what it feels like to be vacation