Parenting is quite hard, and doesn't seem to let up. I thank my lucky stars every single day that my children are cuddly and affectionate and attentive. It really does temper the rest of it.
Luckily our children are charming and cuddly in direct proportion to their annoyance.
We had a lovely minibreak last weekend. We managed to spend three days away for less than $200. I have a long blog post simmering with lots of pictures. Hippos! Giraffes! Lions! HIPPOS!
Sunset over our front yard.
The sun sets at 5pm these days, so I need to hustle the kids out to a park at 4 for an hour of running about. I am certainly my mother's daughter: I know every park within a few miles and I know where to go to draw out as much physical energy as possible. We play until and maybe even past dusk. It's great to see the people that emerge at 4:30 at the playground when dusk is setting in: folks that work all day and are thrilled to take their kids to the park even for 30 minutes. We met a family today with a gorgeous daughter, easily six inches taller than Oscar. She spied Oscar riding his scooter by and catcalled out "Hi, Oscaaaar!" It turns out that she's in Oscar's reading class at school. Oscar couldn't remember her name (stoopid boy) but I introduced myself to her and she didn't seem too offended. She was a charmer and liked Oscar plenty.
Those of you that know our boys know that they are quirky guys. You probably also know that they are engaging and charming. We are lucky to be in a school system that is on top of kids that might need a little help for whatever reason, and our guys, for whatever reason, need that extra help.
I am incredibly angry at Clinton School for putting Oscar through three teachers last year, one of which should have retired years ago, one that should have stayed on, and one who was hand-chosen by the principal to join the school for good. Unfortunately, that last one was a 22-year-old moron that didn't correct a frickin' thing in four months, and never returned a single test. We are just now dealing with learning issues with Oscar that could have been determined last year, had we had a teacher with some experience and foresight. We are figuring out what learning issues Oscar has; and let me tell you, they were present last year, and I brought them up to all three of his teachers last year. The only one that took it seriously was forced out by the principal for the idiot 22-yo that didn't do a damn thing. So now we are dealing with those learning issues here, and we are blessed with attentive teachers and accessible administrators. But I will never forgive the "teachers" and administrators that ignored his issues last year, even when we brought them up again and again. Because now we have to deal with it all, but without our support system. Again: I will never forgive them for this. A year "off" in their many years at a school means tens of kids that will be let back by the system.
Don't get me wrong: I am the strongest supporter of teachers. My dad was the best teacher I've ever known, and I know that he butted heads with both the administration of his school (which he declined to join, multiple times) and his union, which I "marched" for in my baby carriage. But the principal of Clinton school decided that this class was a wash, and took away a capable and loving full-time-sub to put in a 22-yo fresh out of school girlfriend of someone's son on staff. And my son suffered because of it, and my family is suffering because of it, since we need to deal with these learning issues now, after the Clinton teachers pushed it off, and now here we are with NO support and NO friends and hey! Your kid has educational issues and let's dive in!
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