Confessions

A fellow blogger posted their top ten confessions on being a mother and challenged others to do the same. I'll give it a shot.

1) I remember great things about the baby stage. I remember being a zombie from about 6 months to 2 years old.

2) Lately, I have felt pretty great about my mothering skills. I'm screwing up a lot less!!! :)

3) My child will soon be ten. That freaks me out a little. I'm planning a "ten" themed party. Shhhh.....

4) Abbie knows what she wants to be when she grows up. I can see it happening. I'll be working for her someday.

5) Sometimes, I really think I have been cloned in my child. I can see myself in her (not looks). It's kind of like watching yourself grow up. I hope I can steer her around the backwardsness that plagued me.

6) I love that she likes to read. I just found some books I had in elementary school, and I can't wait to share the stories with her.

7) My one big regret is not having another child.

8) My next big regret is not having a smidgen of patience.

9) I hope she will enjoy scrapbooking and traveling so that we can do it together.

10) If/when she goes to college (she says she's not going - ha!), I secretly plan to move to wherever she goes.

Summer Camps

We have not loaded down our summer with a lot of activities - mostly on purpose. We skipped swim lessons this year - finally, I can say, she doesn't really need lessons anymore unless she just wants to perfect her skills.
I did let her pick some activities - major ones - and we've scattered those throughout our calendar. We've been to Splash Country, and we've painted pottery. We've gone to the library. We went to Jonesborough for lunch one day to hear a storyteller, but the show was sold out so we strolled and bought expensive chocolate instead. In a few weeks, we're going to Forbidden Caverns. We still need to go to Dollywood.
Last week, she had a half day summer camp at her school. The teacher she will have in 4th grade was doing an Ooey Gooey Science summer camp. They made some pretty neat stuff everyday - volcanoes, slime, quicksand, gopher guts, lava lamps, etc. I think they also blew up some stuff with alka seltzer or maybe it was mentos in coke???
This week, she is in an all-day camp associated with the Methodist church. It's out in the boonies, but she is really enjoying it! Maybe next year she might like to try sleep away camp. If we let her.
I'd also like to do an all-day letterboxing adventure with her. We've got to get that on the calendar. After summer camp this week, there are no more summer camps scheduled. We'll spend the rest of the summer drinking Kool-Aid, eating Popsicles, and hanging out. Our weather has been very agreeable this year (I think the last 2 summers have been mild).

Kid in A Candy Store

Once I get my pictures loaded, I'll post some about our beach trip.

Abbie's been gone for two days - spent the night with my mom one night and the next night with her cousin. I hate her being gone, but she had fun. I asked her if she missed us, and she said no. !!!!!

Before I went to pick her up today, I went to the library (the candy store). Abbie and I both needed more books. While I love, love, love going to the bookstore; I also love going to the library. Since the books are free to borrow, I usually check out more than I can read b/c I can't seem to stop myself. I discovered a new writer (Adriana Trigiani), and I'm trying to finish the series. The library had one of the ones I needed, but I also got another book of hers that is unrelated to the series. And I got a cookbook. While looking for the cookbook, I discovered a college lecture series on DVD. I checked out the science selection since that is currently Abbie's favorite subject. The DVD has about 8-10 lectures on it, and there are 5 DVD's for this subject. I wonder if she will find them boring? Well, if it's just a professor standing there lecturing, I will also find them boring. But if there are lots of pictures, I think we'll enjoy it. There were many other subjects available. It was hard for me to make up my mind.

With the library being downtown, there are usually some interesting characters hanging around. Homeless people come in often to enjoy the heat or air conditioning depending on the season. As long as they are reading the paper, book, or magazine; they can stay as long as they like. I'm glad.

I had to return some books upstairs in the reference section (our library has a cool program for book clubs), and this area is where people go to get on the Internet. Many, many interesting people there too. I like to look at their screens as I walk by just to see what interests them (no, I don't read their stuff, I just look at the website in general). I can remember when we didn't own a computer when we lived in Kentucky, and I had to go to the library to check my email. Glad I don't have to do that anymore. Librarians must have an interesting job, but I'm sure they don't enjoy "babysitting" the public like they sometimes have to.

I remembered some books that I enjoyed in middle school that I thought Abbie might enjoy. I couldn't remember the author or the titles, but I asked a librarian to help me anyway. I gave her a description and she knew the books! Unbelievable!!

I did possibly meet a "disturbed" person as I was walking in today. When I started up the walkway, he got up off the wall and started walking directly in my path (there was lots of room around me). I was afraid I was going to get accosted, but he didn't touch me. Although he did look directly at me and mutter some ugly words as he walked past. Bleh!

The only thing I don't like about the library is that some books that you want are either checked out, or they don't have them. I like immediate gratification.

I got several books for Abbie. We'll probably have to go back to the library this week because she reads fast like me. I can't keep her in books so she sometimes has to re-read her favorites. Thank goodness she has a huge collection already. I'm getting her a new series for her birthday. She just finished the Dear Dumb Diary series. I am on the last one because I like them too. I try to keep up with what she is reading. These books are hilarious, and I don't understand how I man writes so well about a middle school girl. I wish these books had been available when I was Abbie's age.

Today, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. As usual, she said she didn't know. I have a feeling that I will have to wing it.

P.S. the new Wendy's frosties look scrumptious! We're going tomorrow after church.

A New Milestone

Sometimes, when you don't have a small child anymore and you know people that do, you feel a little left out.
There is always some milestone for parents with small children. A new tooth or the first lost tooth or their first taste of real food or their first steps or their first time to go to the potty or their first time to sleep through the night, etc.
This isn't a complaint because we've experienced all those too.
But when your child gets older, the milestones get farther apart. But there are milestones; maybe not very typical but still really important.
Bigger kid milestones:
Doesn't cry anymore when you leave her at preschool/school
Can reach the kitchen faucet
Can pour their own drink
Doesn't need a sippy cup*
Can play outside without constant parental supervision and OCD alertness for danger
Doesn't cry when they get a shot
Finally has all their immunizations
Will actually request that their nails be trimmed
Can multiply
Will request to download a song on the iPod
Wants to practice texting

I *starred* the sippy cup comment because I was cruising the grocery store the other day and walked past the baby/kid stuff aisle. And I thought how I don't have to go down this aisle anymore, and it kind of made me feel sad. I remember when I had to go down this aisle all the time because I always needed more sippy cup inserts.

Abbie reached a new milestone this past week. A leetle late. She can now ride a bike all on her own without training wheels or any help or support of any kind. She's semi-pro.

This is practically an engraved announcement milestone for her.

We're so proud of Abbie, and she is so proud of herself.

Abbie Still Lives Here

Some people (hopefully) may wonder why my blog is hardly ever about Abbie. Maybe Lorrie just likes to write about herself or cats? Not true.

Abbie still lives here. She's still sweet and snuggly and an animal lover and cute!

Here's what she's been up to: school (a given), homework (another given, but she has struggled this year - a post for another day), playing with the cats, riding her scooter, reading (a lot), playing Poptropica - an online game, asking when we can go to the animal shelter again, not watching much TV, whistling (I have to tell her to quit whistling at night so she will go to sleep), speaking with a French accent, and being sweet.

She likes to read books about animals - cats, dogs, foxes, manatees, you-name-it. She is currently reading a book about a fox named Rusty who gets caught in barbed wire.

And she likes to eat candy with Paul - they always have a stash somewhere.

She also likes to make elaborate snacks. I don't even think I could describe it, but she puts a lot of thought and variety in it.

Eating - she is such a great eater! I read an article in a parenting magazine that said you just have to keep serving healthy food to your kids, 0ver and over, and one day, they will eat it. They finally get used to seeing it. And the advice was that you shouldn't make them separate meals when they won't eat what you've cooked. That sounded like a lot of common sense to Paul and me so that's what we've done. In the past, when she wouldn't eat much of her meal, we said, "that's okay, we'll put it in the frig for later if you get hungry." WORKS! Whatever I cook (when I do cook), we put a little on her plate of everything available. She never makes a face and never declares "yuck" or "I'm not eating that." She doesn't always like what I make, and that's okay. We don't make her eat stuff she doesn't like, but she does have to try it. And we never make her clean her plate. But I can't say we've been good influences about drink choices, but I do find that she likes water more than she did. I guess I'm bragging about her eating habits b/c my own eating habits sucked for a looonngg time!

She has also developed an interest in climbing trees. She gets a chance every time we go to my mom's house. There is an apple tree there that is perfect for climbing.

Today, her class had a kickball competition with the second graders. They play them again tomorrow. I like cheering for her and watching her run the bases.

School is almost out - yippee!

Her Life Long Wish, Part 2

Abbie showed us her picture tonight.
She got the gold earrings from Katrina, Matthew's girlfriend, while we were in Utah.
Abbie says she put the earrings on the scroll to show how important it was (I guessed right). Oh, and I forgot to mention that she had made a little tent placard that sits in front of the scroll that says "Long Life Wish" but I'm sure she meant Life Long Wish.
Abbie explained each aspect of the picture.
Her place is called Best Friends Forever Sanctuary. When you drive up to the ticket office, the acronynm BFFS (large letters) sits on the roof. You buy a ticket to gain entry and then drive through a gate.
You enter the main house where Abbie lives - there is a kitchen, sun room, living room, bedroom, bathroom and laundry room. Off each section of the house are sleeping quarters for cats, dogs, and rodents. Outside is where all the awake animals are: cats, dogs, birds, snakes, lizards, and bunnies. A fence encloses the many acres of the sanctuary and there are many food and water stations spread around.
As I said, the picture and layout is well thought out and everything is labeled. Sweet!

Her Life Long Wish

Recently, while trying to bring some sort of order to the chaos of Abbie's room, I discovered something important sitting on one of her shelves:

A white piece of paper rolled scroll fashion and secured with a rubber band. On the rubber band, she had fastened two, dangly, gold earrings. I've never seen these earrings before. They aren't mine or hers (I'll have to ask her). On the outside of the scroll, she had written, "My Life Long Wish." To me, the gold earrings further illustrate the importance of the scroll. If this were an ancient Egyptian artifact, decorated richly in gold, it would mean that it must have belonged to someone very important or to signify the importance of the document itself.

That statement, "My Life Long Wish" blows me away. I didn't even know she knew that phrase.

So I looked.

She had drawn a very detailed picture of an animal sanctuary. I know that her dream job is to have her own animal sanctuary someday. We've discussed it extensively. But we usually use the word "dream job" or "what she wants to do when she grows up." I've never heard her call it her "Life Long Wish." The drawing shows all the types of animal habitats her sanctuary will have and the name of her place.

I have yet to sit down with her and ask her about it or have her tell me the story about her creation - I'll probably do it today. I'm glad that she knows what her "Life Long Wish" is at 8 years old. I know that without a doubt she will have this wish.

Being In The Country

Today, Abbie and I went to my dad's house for my biweekly cleaning-fest. We got out of the car, and I had the trunk and various car doors open so that I could unload the supplies that I had brought.

As I busily looped bags onto my arms, Abbie said, "It's so quiet here in the country."

I stopped what I was doing and listened. And heard....mostly nothing.

I'm glad Abbie noticed and shared her thoughts with me. It was a nice kind of quiet.

Guess What?

Last night was Abbie's back-to-school picnic. Her teacher told us that Abbie came up to her the other day and said,
Abbie: "Guess what, Ms. Holley."
Ms. Holley: "What?"
Abbie: "I'm a rascal!"
Ms. Holley: "You are?"
Abbie: "Yeah, and I get it from my dad."

Proud Mother Confirms Story

Yes, it's true! Abbie can make authentic light saber sounds! We're pretty excited that her fund of Star Wars knowledge is growing. We hope she can get a full scholarship to the Intergalactic University where she will major in Jedi Mind Games and minor in Tatooine History. As soon as she gets a handle on cursive, she plans to write an essay on Yoda's youth for the morning Rotary Club's annual essay contest. Many of the senators attend this club.
This summer she attended a summer camp where they taught everyone how to make repairs to an astro mech droid. Abbie was really hoping for some experience working with the mouse droids, but that will have to wait until next summer. Only the first three sentences of this story are true, and we are very proud!

Third Grade

I remember third grade. My best friend who lived in my neighborhood had moved to another town. I was so anxious about my first day back to school without my best friend that my mom actually took the day off work to take me to school. THAT one fact is very profound. She never took off work for me - not if I was sick (my dad took care of me b/c he could get off work easier), not if I had a school program, not if it was "eat lunch with your parents day." That tells me that I must have been pretty upset, nervous wreck, terribly anxious, overly shy. I'm not sure why I would have been so upset because I had other friends (and I was never in the same class as my best friend - we always got different teachers).
I met my new best friend that day. Her mom had brought her to school too because she had just moved to Greeneville from Illinois. We sat at the same pair of desks that day. I even went home with her after school (I would never let Abbie do that if I didn't know the parents).
I remember that boys were starting to get interested in girls. My new best friend caught the eye of many boys. On Valentine's Day, she got a ton of gifts (and I'm not talking about cards). I remember wearing rainbow colored suspenders (like Mork's from Mork & Mindy). I remember talking about "who shot J.R." at school. I remember having a hard time learning how to tell time. I remember really getting into spending the night with my friend and watching her "pirated" cable channels. We still played with dolls then.
Abbie starts third grade tomorrow. I hate that summer has ended. I am a little shocked that I have a third grader. That seems so much more grown up. I'm not really ready for it. I feel a little nervous about tomorrow. I don't really know why. I know that she starts getting real grades this year. Will she do well? Why should I care this early in her school career? I know she has to learn cursive and multiplication this year. Will she catch on quickly or fall behind? She really likes math so I'm not too worried. But she is very precise in her letter writing so I am worried that she will write in cursive too slowly and will miss recess sometimes in order to get caught up.
Will she develop a true best friend this year? It doesn't matter to me one way or the other, but I defiinitely don't want her to feel left out. The good thing is that her school and class is so small that everyone pretty much hangs out together. But I know that girls can be clique-ish, and I saw some of this developing last year.
She already likes her teacher because she is her cheerleading coach. But will they develop a good relationship now that she'll be her homeroom teacher? Will her teacher like me? Will we have good communication?
I just don't remember worrying this much in past years. And I can't say that this is the kind of worry that will keep me awake at night or cause knots in my stomach. But it just keeps nagging in the back of my mind.
Abbie and I have a great relationship. She and Paul do too. I am trying to let her be more independent. Up to now, I have been choosing all clothing purchases and choosing her outfit for the day and choosing her hairstyle. She doesn't mind at all. But this summer, I have been saying, "what would you like to wear today?" or better yet "go get dressed." If she picks something that doesn't match, I might gently make another suggestion or let it go altogether. I went shopping for school clothes and let her pick items out of a catalog ahead of time. Tonight, I showed her the outfit I was thinking of for tomorrow. But she said, "no, I want something more special!" So she chose something new that I had just bought. Then she chose her hair accessories and said I could fix her hair however I wanted.
I really dread the 6 am wake up time tomorrow. I think I'll go set the coffee pot right now.

Lollipop Guild

Here is Abbie in her Lollipop Guild costume.
The curly flounce around the shoulders and skirt was very cute and feminine.
She wore flowers in her hair too. And she also has on makeup per the performance rules - brownish eyeshadow, blush, and lipstick and black mascara.
I am fairly proud of my ability to create a smooth bun (with no prior experience!). Some moms just don't have a clue on how to do it - the smooth part, not the bun part. I should create an instructional video on YouTube!
This is Abbie's friend, Tatum. Believe it or not, they are both in the second grade (they are also in the same class together at school). They are in different ballet classes at the ballet school because Tatum started taking ballet a couple of years before Abbie so she is more advanced. Tatum was a munchkin in the performance and her group had more parts and also danced with the older girls in some numbers. Tatum turned 8 in October and Abbie won't be 8 until June which accounts for some of the height difference, but Abbie is the smallest girl in her class. That's okay.

Abbie's New Phase

Parenting takes you through so many interesting phases. I've been through many phases but not all. For example, Abbie had a short tantrum phase and a mini-biting phase - so I don't consider myself an expert in these areas, but like Disney World, I can say I've been there.

Abbie is a really interesting young lady. Recently, she has been very contemplative about why people smoke, and more importantly, why there are people who make cigarettes if they know they are bad for a person's health. We've had many conversations about this (she starts the conversation). These conversations have led to the topic of there being people in the world who will do anything to make money - so we've discussed greed and scam artists (and she wanted very specific examples of scams).

Now, she asks a lot of questions about money and if I think it was a good idea to invent money. And she suddenly doesn't want to spend any money. She doesn't want me to buy her anything (pack of crackers, for example) at the store. At the museums in DC, she didn't want anything from gift shops and said, "I have enough stuffed animals." She didn't want to eat out in DC. She kept asking why I couldn't cook. I had to force her to let me buy her lunch - I just didn't give her a choice. If I ask if she wants anything, she will sometimes be tempted then ask, "Does it cost anything?" When I reply, "Yes" she then says "No, thanks." At a recent school field trip, she didn't want anything from the gift shop. I know some of the other parents thought I wouldn't buy her anyting, but I really did try!

One day after school, before this phase really kicked in, I asked her if she wanted to go to Marble Slab for ice cream. She immediately said yes. As soon as I pulled into a parking space and turned off the engine, she told me she had changed her mind. She said she didn't want ice cream since it wasn't fair that there are other people in the world who can't afford ice cream. It was really very sweet and kind hearted of her - and compassionate too! But I told her that we help a lot of people who are less fortunate and I listed our volunteer activities (for example, we've cooked for and served at the local soup kitchen) and I listed the places we donate money to. I tried to explain that even though we have spending money, we do try to help others who are less fortunate so she finally decided to have ice cream that day.

It will be interesting to see how long this phase lasts and which phase it will lead into.