Tuesday, November 15, 2016

September 2016

Family social life
—Lots of things going on in September, including an overdue dinner at the Carneys (where we stayed longer than intended and the kids + grownups had a blast); the Lendlers driving down to visit and bringing homemade Indian food (aaaaaaahhhh!) and the kids paired off to play Pokemon (A. & Theo) and Hot Wheels (L. & Dylan) for literally hours while we adults drank champagne and ate till we couldn’t anymore; and a modest celebration of our 24th anniversary, kind of low-key because A) the date crept up on us, B) next year’s is a bigger deal, and C) we were trying to get ready for Disneyland! But it was nice, and there was cake, so.
—Almaden art & wine festival: This time we did a better job of getting there early, before the sun fried us all where we stood. The kids had a great time in the bouncy houses, and doing this martial-arts obstacle test culminating in kicking a board out, etc. And of course R. and I drank beer and ate street food, so that worked out. When we got home, it was pretty much the last pool day of the year — a good way to close things out!
—Another screening of The Empire Strikes Back: An overcast, low-key day … perfect for Empire. Annika haaaaaaaaaaaaaated it (too scary!), and Lukas loved it. 
Things & whatnot
—Halloween costumes early: Unlike childhood me, these kids knew a long time ago what they wanted to be for Halloween this year: Annika chose a sort of gothy vampire princess dress — dark red taffeta, black velvet, with a hooded cape and a set of fake teeth — and Lukas was adamant about being a Storm Trooper. So I ordered the costumes early and Lukas wore his pretty much every chance he got from the day it arrived. He likes to recite bits of Star Wars dialogue in costume — either actual Storm Trooper stuff or things Han and Luke said while dressed as STs. ha! 
—Annika gets actual braces: We weren’t sure when this would actually happen, but apparently it was now — she got her expander wired into place as is, it having done its job, and they installed a row of braces on her top front teeth. That wasn’t a problem — she’s handling this whole thing like a champ! — but these so-called “bite buttons,” aka rods sticking backward into her mouth that prevent her from actually biting (her teeth do not meet; there’s about a half-inch gap — so she can only eat liquid or very mushy foods, nothing that needs chewing at all, surprise!), those were a problem. She was so upset about it — and honestly, how can I be expected to put an almost-nine-year-old on a liquid diet for weeks or months??? — and we were about to go to Disneyland, so I was That Mom and took her in on a Saturday to get those things removed. Braces are one thing; this stuff is a other. Whew. So we’ll see what happens next!

School days
—3rd grade Kinder Buddies:
Annika’s class were assigned members of one of the Kindergarten classes as “Kinder Buddies,” with whom they will meet weekly in the hope that the 3rd grade can influence the K kids with “positive behaviors.” Annika is thrilled at the big-sisterly aspect of this, and she looks forward to each weekly meeting with her buddy … whose name she does not recall. hahahaha!
—Student council speech: 3rd, 4th and 5th grades elect two students per class to the student council, so each kid who wanted to participate was told to write and present a speech. Annika’s was just about perfect — short and sweet, but with good details and solid plans for what she’d do to represent the class on the council. She rehearsed and revised, gave the speech to us several times, and was ready for it. She didn’t get elected, but it was a great learning experience and we were super super proud of her and her campaign!
—Fever Strikes: Annika and Lukas tag teamed for over a week on being feverish (about 102 degrees) and staying home sick from school, one at a time, miserable and logy. I had a day of it myself, but mostly it was them.
—Star’s party: A new kid named Star, in Annika’s class, invited everyone to her birthday party at the cabana club her family is a member of. She seemed nice enough, but it was soon apparent to me that she’s part of a demi-Mean-Girls clique with three classmates — one is a would-be co-leader, and two are followers; the four of them together were unspeakably irritating to me (not outright mean, not yet and not in that setting w/parents everywhere, but insular and clannish in a way that pings a lot of alarms for somebody who’s been through that). To her utter credit, Annika did not seem to notice or care, so yay! But still: Grrrrrrr.
—Volunteering in both classrooms: I’m doing regular Wednesdays in Lukas’s class now, helping out with “small groups” the teacher breaks the class into. My section has involved tempera paint each time thus far, but that’s fine by me. I’m getting to learn what the kids are like — it’s cool! For a few weeks, I went to Mr. Dinh’s class to help facilitate “book groups,” with medium success. That feels like good and important work, but the organization is somewhat lacking and I suspect the gig won’t go on all that long — fun while it lasts, though! 

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