Last week were Andy's parent/teacher conferences. In our district they do "student led" conferences, which means your student comes and tells you what they've been working on and then you spend a few minutes with the teacher and they tell you a little about your kid. I'm not going to sugar coat it, I think student led parent/teacher conferences are stupid. I don't understand them. I want to go to the conference and talk openly about my kid and find out if he is being good or bad or respectful or not and I don't feel that the teacher can honestly answer that question with my kid sitting right there starting at them and waiting for an answer. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. I think this new way of conferences is being dictated by helicopter parents such as the one my neighbor overhead in one of her daughter's 8th grade conferences who asked the teacher to make sure her kid drank his water when he got to her class because by sixth period he was a little dehydrated. Yeah, like the teacher has nothing better to do in a class of 13 year olds than to make sure one of them is drinking enough water.
Anyway, Andy was fully aware how I feel about these conferences because I may have gone off about them at the dinner table on more than one instance last week. That was because a) I hate them and b) he was supposed to be babysitting the girls while I went to them but since I had to bring him I had to make other arrangements and ask another favor of one of my friends to watch the girls yet again. Luckily I have nice friends. Prior to the conferences, each of the teachers had the kids fill out a personal evaluation as to what they have learned so far this year, how they think the school year is going, if they are struggling with anything...you get the idea. Then when we got to the conferences they were supposed to share the evaluation with the parents, show them a few things they have been working on so far, and then we got a few minutes with the teacher.
Knowing my frustration with the situation, Andy decided that he didn't need to take the evaluations overly serious. His answers were not disrespectful, but some were a little sarcastic. One of the statements from his math evaluation was my favorite by far.
Statement: This is what I have learned this year from having to collaborate with classmates:
Andy's response: Be a good colorer, or you can't help.
Man, I love that kid and I sure hope he is learning something besides the fact that his coloring skills are lacking. By the way, his conferences went fine, it wasn't as bad as I thought, he is being respectful to his teachers and fellow students and is currently rocking straight As.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Friday, September 18, 2015
My Little Giant
When I was a kid, about once a year my mom would make me try on everything in my dresser and closet to determine what still fit and what I needed for the year to come. The process was torture and I hated it. I'm pretty sure, especially now that I am a mom, that she hated it as well. It took forever and was boring and I moaned and groaned through the entire process.
A couple weeks ago Andy informed me that he had outgrown his pants and needed some new ones. Except he didn't do it nicely, because that's not always how he operates these days. Instead he just barked at me, "Buy me pants". I fought to ignore his statement, went upstairs and counted to ten, and then came back and told him that I would be happy to purchase new pants for him after we went through his closet and dresser to determine what he had that actually fit. What's the saying? Paybacks are hell.
One day after school this week we holed ourselves in his room and went through all his clothes. I'm pretty sure that we've only done this one other time in the past three years we've lived here because it is so unenjoyable. We found multiple things that still had the tags on them that probably haven't fit in two years and other things that fit up until a month ago. The kid is growing like crazy and will be taller than Charlie and me by Christmas.
By the time we finished, we had two good sized bags of clothes to give to two of the neighbor kids that are a couple years younger than Andy, and another bag that will be donated. He can close he dresser drawers once again because now he only has four pairs of jeans that I bought him in the spring, two long sleeve shirts and a short stack of t-shirts and shorts (that will not fit past this fall). As soon as Old Navy has a good sale, or we have no choice because it starts to get really cold, we are going on a serious shopping spree.
He can't fit into kids' sizes anymore and now is wearing men's small. Which means the price of his clothes just doubled but he's still growing out of them as fast as a kid. I really don't see him slowing down anytime soon.
Despite his size, he still likes to be tucked in at night and read with us and even snuggle and hold our hands once in a while. But I don't see that lasting much longer. The other day he said he couldn't believe he was going to be in high school in two years and then said, "Where did the years go?". Funny, I thought that was my line.
Where indeed my little man.
A couple weeks ago Andy informed me that he had outgrown his pants and needed some new ones. Except he didn't do it nicely, because that's not always how he operates these days. Instead he just barked at me, "Buy me pants". I fought to ignore his statement, went upstairs and counted to ten, and then came back and told him that I would be happy to purchase new pants for him after we went through his closet and dresser to determine what he had that actually fit. What's the saying? Paybacks are hell.
One day after school this week we holed ourselves in his room and went through all his clothes. I'm pretty sure that we've only done this one other time in the past three years we've lived here because it is so unenjoyable. We found multiple things that still had the tags on them that probably haven't fit in two years and other things that fit up until a month ago. The kid is growing like crazy and will be taller than Charlie and me by Christmas.
By the time we finished, we had two good sized bags of clothes to give to two of the neighbor kids that are a couple years younger than Andy, and another bag that will be donated. He can close he dresser drawers once again because now he only has four pairs of jeans that I bought him in the spring, two long sleeve shirts and a short stack of t-shirts and shorts (that will not fit past this fall). As soon as Old Navy has a good sale, or we have no choice because it starts to get really cold, we are going on a serious shopping spree.
He can't fit into kids' sizes anymore and now is wearing men's small. Which means the price of his clothes just doubled but he's still growing out of them as fast as a kid. I really don't see him slowing down anytime soon.
Despite his size, he still likes to be tucked in at night and read with us and even snuggle and hold our hands once in a while. But I don't see that lasting much longer. The other day he said he couldn't believe he was going to be in high school in two years and then said, "Where did the years go?". Funny, I thought that was my line.
Where indeed my little man.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Concert Bound
About a year ago Charlie and I bought tickets to the Taylor Swift 1989 concert. Yes, they went on sale almost 12 months in advance. Luckily we were on top of it. We bought enough for our family and a few extras which allowed us to invite a few friends.
My friend, Larisa, and her daughter, Natalie, flew in for Labor Day weekend to hang out and go to the concert with us. On Sunday we took them to Garden of the Gods, our favorite place to take out of town guests since we've been there more places than anywhere else, and then came home and headed out to the concert. We had dinner first and were forced to sit at the bar because we didn't know we needed reservations. While there Sarah said, "Mommy, it's so much fun to sit at the bar." Man are we going to be in so much trouble with her some day.
Sarah and Andy got to go to the Taylor Swift Concert in Miami in November of 2011, but this was Amanda and Natalie's first concert. Amanda was so excited when it started and kept screaming, "I love you Taylor, I'm your biggest fan, I want to marry you" but about an hour in she was ready to go home. Sarah and I had a blast and because we listen to the album a ridiculous amount in the car knew (almost) all the words and sang along to it all. Charlie and Andy didn't sit with us because we couldn't get that many seats together, but I heard that Andy knew all the words too.
Overall we had a great time and were so glad our friends could come visit and share in the fun!
The girls in their concert shirts before the show. Natalie is only a year older than Sarah, but she is on the tall side and Sarah and Amanda are on the short side.
Sarah waiting for the concert to start.
Amanda waiting for the concert to start.
My friend, Larisa, and her daughter, Natalie, flew in for Labor Day weekend to hang out and go to the concert with us. On Sunday we took them to Garden of the Gods, our favorite place to take out of town guests since we've been there more places than anywhere else, and then came home and headed out to the concert. We had dinner first and were forced to sit at the bar because we didn't know we needed reservations. While there Sarah said, "Mommy, it's so much fun to sit at the bar." Man are we going to be in so much trouble with her some day.
Sarah and Andy got to go to the Taylor Swift Concert in Miami in November of 2011, but this was Amanda and Natalie's first concert. Amanda was so excited when it started and kept screaming, "I love you Taylor, I'm your biggest fan, I want to marry you" but about an hour in she was ready to go home. Sarah and I had a blast and because we listen to the album a ridiculous amount in the car knew (almost) all the words and sang along to it all. Charlie and Andy didn't sit with us because we couldn't get that many seats together, but I heard that Andy knew all the words too.
Overall we had a great time and were so glad our friends could come visit and share in the fun!
The girls in their concert shirts before the show. Natalie is only a year older than Sarah, but she is on the tall side and Sarah and Amanda are on the short side.
Sarah waiting for the concert to start.
Amanda waiting for the concert to start.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Babysitter In Training
Last week Charlie was out of town and I needed to be somewhere. Usually if Andy is gone I will ask the girl across the street to come over for a few hours and watch the Sarah and Amanda, but Andy was home and she is the same age as Andy so that was a no go. When he is home I usually get one of our teenage babysitters to watch all of them - play with the girls and leave Andy alone only telling him when it's time for him to go to bed.
This time I thought I would try something different. Andy knows how much I pay our babysitters and knows I pay them well. You always pay your babysitters well because a) then they are almost always available for you and b) because they are taking care of your kids. So I decided to ask Andy if he wanted to babysit the girls, but first I had to lay down some ground rules. He was required to pay attention to them (that sounds easy but with him you never know) and play with them (what they wanted to play, as any babysitter would do). He also had to put them to bed.
He wasn't completely excited about it but he's in a money making mode so agreed. I also was going to be less than a mile from the house so if anything really happened I could be home in less than five minutes. The girls weren't thrilled because they love all of their female babysitters, but they didn't get a lot of say. Honestly, I love our babysitters too but I also like the idea of keeping the money in the family.
So I left for two hours and when I came home the house was still standing. There were no broken bones, everything was in order and the girls were in bed. They were still awake and when I checked on them they said they were scared, but they couldn't really tell me what they were scared of. Nobody was traumatized and we just might be able to do it again.
With the amount of traveling that Charlie has been doing lately, I see this as a win-win. I won't do it often, but I know that it's always an option.
This time I thought I would try something different. Andy knows how much I pay our babysitters and knows I pay them well. You always pay your babysitters well because a) then they are almost always available for you and b) because they are taking care of your kids. So I decided to ask Andy if he wanted to babysit the girls, but first I had to lay down some ground rules. He was required to pay attention to them (that sounds easy but with him you never know) and play with them (what they wanted to play, as any babysitter would do). He also had to put them to bed.
He wasn't completely excited about it but he's in a money making mode so agreed. I also was going to be less than a mile from the house so if anything really happened I could be home in less than five minutes. The girls weren't thrilled because they love all of their female babysitters, but they didn't get a lot of say. Honestly, I love our babysitters too but I also like the idea of keeping the money in the family.
So I left for two hours and when I came home the house was still standing. There were no broken bones, everything was in order and the girls were in bed. They were still awake and when I checked on them they said they were scared, but they couldn't really tell me what they were scared of. Nobody was traumatized and we just might be able to do it again.
With the amount of traveling that Charlie has been doing lately, I see this as a win-win. I won't do it often, but I know that it's always an option.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)