Sterling's Nap

Sterling has his own night time routine. We go into his room together and kneel beside his bed. I help him say his prayers (mostly him repeating my prompts). Then he climbs in bed. I sing "I Am a Child of God." Then he points and says "laundry room." The laundry room is visible from his room. He will calmly fall asleep in his own bed as long as I have not A: gone downstairs or B: entered my bedroom (ensue instant howling).

Sterling wanted to be near me the other day while I was wrapping presents in my bedroom. It was nap time. I put his pillow on a small area rug and told him it was a bed. I started wrapping presents. He laid down on it and babbled to himself. Then I started catching words "(l)ead me, (gu)ide me (w)alk (b)eside me . . ." and realized he was singing "I Am a Child of God" to himself!

Merry Swine Flu to All

The boys' school offered swine flu vaccines to all the students yesterday. Kaith bravely took his. Trevor declined. Either way, it may have been too late. Trevor was feverish and coughing starting yesterday evening. I've had a cough since Thursday, and Sterling has had a low-grade fever with a cough, so I wasn't overly pampering. This afternoon, with Trevor's temp. at 102.9*, Cory took him to the walk-in clinic. He called to inform me that Trevor had tested positive for swine flu. I asked if he was joking. He wasn't. The doctor prescribed medication for our whole family; Cory stocked up on popsicles and other beverages. Kaith stomached the medicine fine. Trevor and Miriam vomited within 5 minutes. Sterling vomited within about 5 seconds. Cory and I have adult capsules, which hasn't bothered us yet.

Nathan and Rebekah: our best wedding present to you was that we did not attend your wedding today. Have a healthy honeymoon.

Even though I have an extreme excuse for missing Church tomorrow, I feel bad missing my first full Sunday as Relief Society President.

Sustained

Such a friendly bishop. After a few weeks in the ward, we still hadn't met him, so he called us one weekday evening to bring the whole family to come meet with him. We went. He called me to be Ward Relief Society President. Seriously. He insists it was inspiration, not desperation, and we believe him. I got sustained last Sunday. The plethora of sisters who had never met me were very warm in their expressions of support and appreciation, which helped me feel more at ease. I've spent half my free time this week getting oriented in my calling. The other half I've spent putting the house in order. Fortunately that includes at least a little interior design, which I love. If this week is symbolic of the average busyness of my calling, our family can handle it, as long as God keeps helping.

Suspended

Really, I didn't know they suspended kindergarteners. Leave it to Trevor to find a way. Last Friday he had a one day suspension from riding the bus because he was a repeat offender on spitting (a serious health concern, the school administration noted). Trevor doesn't know how to spit. It's more of a fine mist. And he's sent to time-out when he does it at home. His one day suspension from riding the bus was actually his best day at school: he brought home a behavior sheet with an unprecedented 8 smiley faces. I think he enjoyed having Dad drive him to school, even though Dad was lecturing half the way there.

I'm planning to move his bedtime up significantly, because he's really hard to wake up in the morning, and frequently falls asleep on the bus ride home. On days when he's especially difficult to wake up and we have to really push him to not miss the bus, he seems to have a rougher day at school. Like yesterday. He started by head-butting a friend. Trevor claims the friend thought it was fun-it was just that the teacher thought it was mean. If he had stopped there, he might have been okay. Of course he didn't. Next he kicked, spit upon, and licked another child. When he was reprimanded, he rolled on the floor laughing. While in time-out in the office, he stuck his tongue out at a teacher. I'm not clear which part of this series of events the school took most seriously, but they suspended him from school for today.

After being upset with Trevor, Cory suddenly saw the funny side. How is it Trevor, who is probably half a head shorter than the next shortest kid in class, and probably ten pounds lighter than his peers, ends up as the bully of the class?

Really, I'm renewing my efforts to domesticate my children. Evidence? Kaith has pulled a sticker-a-day in his behavior report (they only get a sticker if there is nothing to report for the day) and told me today how he was going to get a fifth. Now please ignore that my daughter cut her hair this morning for the umpteenth time.

My Sparkley

My husband-to-be had exquisite taste in choosing my diamond engagement/wedding ring. There wasn't a ghost of a "couldn't this be exchanged" thought to be had. Sometime after our seventh wedding anniversary this spring I had a broad dry patch of eczema on my ring finger. Naturally, I set aside my ring to let the skin heal. The children kept finding my "safe" hiding places, which left me constantly finding new hiding places. Well, sometime around May, I stopped seeing my ring, even when I looked for it. We waited, prayed, searched, waited, prayed, searched, again and again. We packed up and cleaned the house. It never turned up. Threads of hope rapidly unraveled. Three thousand miles later, I feel self-conscious taking my family places with my under dressed finger. It sheds doubt on one's virtue. Not that strangers care, but I do.

Today I was looking for my poinsettia pin, so I could wear it to church tomorrow. I opened the box that held my pearl bracelet, and down fell a lump of gold and diamond. I sat on the closet floor, squeezing it, laughing, crying and praying. I made more fuss over finding it than I did when my husband first gave it to me. I had been sure it was lost forever. So, rejoice with me. My hand looks whole again.

Non sequitor: as if that didn't make the day fabulous enough, while I was gone for a few hours, Cory managed to install our light/ceiling fan in the master bedroom! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Trevor's School

By the time Trevor began attending his current school, he could read any short-vowel, 3 letter word you threw at him, combined into sentences or short paragraphs. His teacher assigned him to pre-reading group, level 1, because, even though he could read, he didn't pass that "reading readiness test." Fine. She sent me a note today that she'll be testing him tomorrow and expects him to move up. I can't believe Trevor spends 6 hours and 45 minutes at school, and it has taken him a month to pass that far. At this rate he'll be sounding out c-a-t around June. Oh, wait, he was doing that in preschool. Right now I feel like kindergarten is a waste of our time.

The one thing his school does best at is behavior/discipline. His teacher reads books, daily, about appropriate behavior. She made out a personalized behavior plan, and sends home a report, daily, of how he has done. Really, she's trying. Trevor brought home his fourth discipline referral form for the week today. Yes, I know it's only the third day of the week. You do the math. Instead of improving in his behavior, it's more like he's regressing. I partly blame it on the excessively long school day. When he was on half days, at his last school, he adored school, his teacher, and the whole process. I don't think I ever heard a complaint about his behavior. Now it's daily.

His current teacher wants, as soon as possible, to set-up another conference with me. What could I possibly say to her? Certainly not that he would be reading better if he was still homeschooled. It's funny, I waited so long to put my children in school because I didn't want them to experience negative peer pressure, when (what do you know?) my own children are the negative peer pressure at school. Their own worst enemy. Seriously, though. What do I say to Trevor's teacher?

Wet Electronics

For the minority of planet Earth who have been trying to contact me, you may have noticed my cell phone is off. After being negligently left in a pants pocket, it enjoyed a wet ride with a load of darks, while I spent half a day wondering where it was. There's a slim chance its internal workings survived. I've bee trying to wait for it to dry-out before turning it on.

By the way, what's the market for water-proof electronics?