@ Randoms - Almost August

[wawa]

Not sure if we have a july one of these, if so I couldn't find it. 

The growing up thing man, it happens in weird spurts. 

My kids suddenly both are like, "we're big now and would like to use real knives" and...so I'm letting them. Makes me nervous, and we had to have a serious come to jesus moment when Shorti forgot he was holding a knife and started yelling at his sister waving it around.  my mom+batman voice came out. But they're exhibiting good knife safety otherwise. 
they're packing their own lunches, and like, slicing fruit to stick in containers and cutting their sandwiches into triangles.

I am both thrilled and feel slightly superfluous.  they do still need me to cut up things like melons.  I'm not totally useless.

I'm also teaching them both how to use my sewing machine (we covered hand stitching a while ago and they have free range over my scrap bag and notions box.  the weird little stuffies with button eyes and terrible seams are taking over the house) 

it's just...when did they get so big??

but then Sizzli lost his waterbottle (labeled with his name.  naturally) at camp  yesterday, and decided to walk around dragging his backpack on the sidewalk and wore a hole in the bottom, and then they got into a screaming fight over which one of them got to sit in which seat in the truck.
So.  You know.  Still kids.  Especially after a long day in the sun at camp.

How's the second half of summer treating everyone?

[Velar Fricative]

I just realized my kids (ages 6 and almost 10) have had no reason to practice knife skills since they're so picky and they basically don't eat anything that needs to be cut lol. Oops.

DD1 just tested positive for covid last night. She had a 100 degree fever and stuffiness and I knew covid was going around at work (it's always been a very good barometer of when to expect at least small spikes), so I had a feeling that's what it was and the dark red test line came up even before the control line did, so that's that. Her fever is already gone as of this morning, she's just really stuffed up and that's basically it. But it's new territory for us since she was asymptomatic the first time she had it a few years ago and DD2 has never had it as far as we know.

No one who's ever had it in our house has transmitted it to anyone else in the house but if any of us get it from her it better happen now or soon because I've been getting nervous about our Disney vacation next month. For now, she only has to miss three days of camp so not the end of the world. 

[breezy8407]

Velar Fricative sorry she is sick!

DD (11) likes to help cook and bake, so I've had her try a knife a few times but it makes me so nervous. I know we need to practice more.

We are in the throes of youth travel sports and the spring/summer season will end on this week for both. It continues to amaze me how deeply I feel their joy and sadness with these dang sports.

I'm also emotional about them starting middle school. And we are getting orthodontics consults this month. I love this age though and want time to stop.

[karinothing]

DS2 turns 8 this weekend! He has really struggled to make friends and having a summer party isn't the best (most of his friends go to their parent's home country for the summer). He asked me why he has less friends at his bday than his brother and it makes me sad Also it is at a ropes course/adventure park and it is going to be the hottest day of the year so far. So that is fun. I will get popsicles and cooling towels for the kids.

[noodleoo]

Jul 26, 2023 10:34:37 GMT -5 karinothing said:

DS2 turns 8 this weekend! He has really struggled to make friends and having a summer party isn't the best (most of his friends go to their parent's home country for the summer). He asked me why he has less friends at his bday than his brother and it makes me sad Also it is at a ropes course/adventure park and it is going to be the hottest day of the year so far. So that is fun. I will get popsicles and cooling towels for the kids.

Aww that's sad!  Summer bdays are so hard.  DD's friend whose bday is 7/24 had her birthday party a month early at the end of June instead.  They said it was better since everyone is busy or away in July.  Maybe an option next year?  Happy birthday, I hope he has a great party anyway!

[Velar Fricative]

karinothing, happy birthday to him! Any chance he (and you lol) would be open to a September party next year so more friends can be there?

breezy8407, as nuts as youth hockey is we've been having a good time too. It helps that most of our team's parents aren't crazy. I was shocked by the commitment because I never did anything like this growing up, but as long as DD1 is enjoying herself I guess we'll ride along lol.

[karinothing]

noodleoo and Velar Fricative I told him next year that we should have a birthday in June before school gets out. So that more folks can attend (also it won't be 100 degrees lol). I think we will be into it. It old him we could go do something with one of his friends over the summer on his actual birthday. I think he misses his BFF, but he comes back in less than a month so I said we could do something fun together then.

[penguingrrl]

I feel like time keeps speeding up every minute. My oldest is about to turn 16 and is starting junior year and about to start driving lessons (you have to be 16 to get a permit in NJ).

My middle is still greatly struggling and her therapeutic school didn’t read it her for the fall because they feel she needs a higher level of care, which is entirely not accessible to us. We also discovered there is absolutely no mechanism to retain a kid in school. In the past year she attended 70 partial days (never as much as 2 hours) and attended class fewer than 10 times and still “graduated” 8th grade, which is really frustrating.

My youngest is starting middle school (5th grade here) and suddenly seeming so old. He’s going to and from ESY independently, I just push him out the door, and it’s hard to see him so grown up. We just got rid of all our little kid plates and stuff because he now insists on using the grown up dishes.

[breezy8407]

Velar Fricative I always feel like we hit the parent lottery. Most of the parents on our teams are very level headed and realistic. Maybe we all get along so well because we all are living the same lives driving around to practices and games. My kids both love their sports so much, so we continue to support it. 

[scm1011]

This is kind of a mean vent, but my DD (4) is such a glass half-empty complainer of a kid. She has some other really great qualities, but I worry that this debbie-downer vibe will be part of her lifelong personality. Sometimes I feel like I'm parenting a 4 year old version of my mother.

[formerlyak]

My oldest has started working on his college applications and … how the hell is he this old?

My youngest had a really poor teacher last year for third grade. My older had the same teacher before the pandemic and before technology was such a big part of third grade. She is such a different, very checked out teacher now. She complains about technology to the parents all the time, and didn’t teach 2 of the 6 math units. She sent the workbook home and said they could learn it this summer if they felt like it. DS has been in tears thinking he will not be ready for fourth grade. We are working through the material, but it’s becoming increasingly clear she phone a lot of stuff in.

[osulori]

Jul 26, 2023 12:41:18 GMT -5 breezy8407 said:

Velar Fricative I always feel like we hit the parent lottery. Most of the parents on our teams are very level headed and realistic. Maybe we all get along so well because we all are living the same lives driving around to practices and games. My kids both love their sports so much, so we continue to support it. 

That's how we feel about kid #1's soccer...we really hit the parent/kid lotto! This fall the team moves up to 9v9 (from 7v7), meaning more kids on the roster and some shifting around. So roughly 5 (including mine) that have played together for a couple years and 6-7 that have played on other teams in the same age group and guest played with us. Which means we're familiar with the parents and they're familiar with us so fingers crossed the awesomeness continues.

[pixy0stix]

I want to know how the school district picks which parent to email stuff, because my husband and I are on two different email lists apparently.

[breezy8407]

Jul 26, 2023 14:39:45 GMT -5 osulori said:

Jul 26, 2023 12:41:18 GMT -5 breezy8407 said:

Velar Fricative I always feel like we hit the parent lottery. Most of the parents on our teams are very level headed and realistic. Maybe we all get along so well because we all are living the same lives driving around to practices and games. My kids both love their sports so much, so we continue to support it. 

That's how we feel about kid #1's soccer...we really hit the parent/kid lotto! This fall the team moves up to 9v9 (from 7v7), meaning more kids on the roster and some shifting around. So roughly 5 (including mine) that have played together for a couple years and 6-7 that have played on other teams in the same age group and guest played with us. Which means we're familiar with the parents and they're familiar with us so fingers crossed the awesomeness continues.

That's awesome. DD moves up to 11v11 in the fall, so definitely some mixing will happen. But she's mostly been with the same team for 3 years.

[StrawberryBlondie]

My DD found out tonight officially that she made the synchronized skating team (though she already knew because the team coach is her personal coach and she told her) and OMG she is proud of herself. I mean, as she should be, but I swear she's prouder of this than when she made the swim team or won the school science fair.

[jeaniebueller]

Jul 26, 2023 12:48:57 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

This is kind of a mean vent, but my DD (4) is such a glass half-empty complainer of a kid. She has some other really great qualities, but I worry that this debbie-downer vibe will be part of her lifelong personality. Sometimes I feel like I'm parenting a 4 year old version of my mother.

My DD is like this too. If you ask her how anything is, she wants to discuss the negative. We have tried to talk about leading with the positive but…

[fryjack2]

I feel like the summer is flying and it hasn’t even really started. The weather here had been raining most of June and half of July.

My kids have been sick or I have been. It’s been a rough 4 weeks of illness.

They don’t have any more camp booked and their friends are all at their second homes or in camp all day so they are bored. Told them they need to learn to be bored and they have each other and a million things they could do.

We have a packed August and I hope no one else gets covid which would really be a bummer.

And I find myself missing age 8-10 when they were little but big. They are 11 and going into 6th and seem so so old to me now

[scm1011]

Jul 26, 2023 20:05:18 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

Jul 26, 2023 12:48:57 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

This is kind of a mean vent, but my DD (4) is such a glass half-empty complainer of a kid. She has some other really great qualities, but I worry that this debbie-downer vibe will be part of her lifelong personality. Sometimes I feel like I'm parenting a 4 year old version of my mother.

My DD is like this too. If you ask her how anything is, she wants to discuss the negative. We have tried to talk about leading with the positive but…

Same. Like DH took her for a fun day to the Aquarium and out for ice cream the other day and when I asked her how it was she just complained that the Aquarium "only had water animals" and pouted. Dude. 

[wanderingback]

Our daughter is almost 9 months and it’s so fun!

She loves standing up and I can tell she’s gonna be a climber. She loves to wave now and loves to "talk." Our nanny has taught her so much.

In 2 months I took 2 weeks off from work and I can’t wait! For 1 week we’re going to the Caribbean and the other week is her 1st week at daycare so it’ll be a good transition time and me and my partner will have 5 whole days together without her while she’s at daycare to do whatever we want!

[karinothing]

I think someone stole DS2's bike. So happy birthday to him I guess! Ugh. I am so flipping pissed. I don't even know when it happened (I last remember him riding in June). His helmet is here so I know the bike made it to our house from where he was riding.

[wawa]

Jul 27, 2023 7:58:19 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Jul 26, 2023 20:05:18 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

My DD is like this too. If you ask her how anything is, she wants to discuss the negative. We have tried to talk about leading with the positive but…

Same. Like DH took her for a fun day to the Aquarium and out for ice cream the other day and when I asked her how it was she just complained that the Aquarium "only had water animals" and pouted. Dude. 

if you ask me this is one of the weirdest things about parenting. because you want to say "oh it's just a phase, they'll grow out of it" but it's not like there aren't adults out there who are 100% like that. so am i underreacting if I just gently correct, model and move on? who knows!

I had a long conversation on this at work the other day with two coworkers who both have slightly younger kids than me. They're both looking at me like I know what i'm doing on issues like that and it's hilarious. Sorry guys! no clue either!

I have no idea if your kids actually an asshole! I mean, all 3 year olds are kinda, so your chances are good that it's just a phase and with consistency and modeling not assholishness you'll be fine, but maybe yours is gonna stick like that? I can make you no promises. (coworker is the one with the 3 year old here...in case that was confusing)

Fingers crossed for all of us.

[rubytue]

wawa, waving knives around? Come down to the mill and we can show him how to really wave a sword around 😂😂 (my fencing club is there).

[georgeglass]

My daughter starts college in two weeks. My son (twins) starts in 3. There are moments where I am chill and (more) moments when I can't breathe.

My daughter definitely had negative thought tendencies when she was younger. I am an aggressive optimist (not toxic positivity, I hope) as a direct result of listening to my MIL complain incessantly. H inherited some of the pessimism and has recognized it in his mom, so he has worked hard to change his mindset. It's been annoying but SUPER helpful to have this real life example of "is this who you want to be when you grow up?" in my MIL. In my daughter's younger years we focused a lot on gratitude and thinking of three things to be thankful for each night. We talk about it A LOT and it gets so much easier the more you do. I am sure I overcompensated but my MIL is a piece of work and I couldn't handle the idea of my kids (or H) also being that constantly miserable.

[macmars45]

My DS(7) has struggled hard to learn how to read! This summer he's had a tutor come 2-3x/week (except the last two weeks because covid can bite me). It's finally starting to click and I can see his confidence growing before my eyes! I'm so proud of my kid!

[scm1011]

Jul 29, 2023 9:45:40 GMT -5 georgeglass said:

My daughter starts college in two weeks. My son (twins) starts in 3. There are moments where I am chill and (more) moments when I can't breathe.

My daughter definitely had negative thought tendencies when she was younger. I am an aggressive optimist (not toxic positivity, I hope) as a direct result of listening to my MIL complain incessantly. H inherited some of the pessimism and has recognized it in his mom, so he has worked hard to change his mindset. It's been annoying but SUPER helpful to have this real life example of "is this who you want to be when you grow up?" in my MIL. In my daughter's younger years we focused a lot on gratitude and thinking of three things to be thankful for each night. We talk about it A LOT and it gets so much easier the more you do. I am sure I overcompensated but my MIL is a piece of work and I couldn't handle the idea of my kids (or H) also being that constantly miserable.

I'm also very much an optimist and have a very pessimistic mom so I relate.  Good call on the daily thankful exercise, I'll try that. And hugs on the impending college transitions!

[ssmjlm]

I found out from being on the PTA that the school hasn't replaced the librarian slot despite the previous one announcing in early May they were leaving.

And admin either has a great poker face, or there truly isn't a sense of urgency in filling the slot. I'm hoping it's the former.

The library cannot subsist on the PTA volunteers who help check out books. They don't do the programming the librarian did.

[somersault72]

I just filled out our August calendar. Jesus take the wheel. DS (15) did XC and marching band last year and is doing both again AND decided to join the soccer team. He also works at McDonald's. Thankfully he has friends doing all 3 of those things who can drive and are great about bringing him to/from things. As if that isn't wild enough the 5 year old is doing pee-wee cheerleading. She starts kindergarten in 3 weeks and I'm excited for her. My teen, I get so emotional about how old he's gotten. I don't know how we've gotten here and I'm so painfully aware he's graduating HS in 3 years. I just want to spend all the time with him and he's like meh. JUST LET ME LOVE YOU!!! (lol)

[somersault72]

Jul 29, 2023 9:45:40 GMT -5 georgeglass said:

My daughter starts college in two weeks. My son (twins) starts in 3. There are moments where I am chill and (more) moments when I can't breathe.

My daughter definitely had negative thought tendencies when she was younger. I am an aggressive optimist (not toxic positivity, I hope) as a direct result of listening to my MIL complain incessantly. H inherited some of the pessimism and has recognized it in his mom, so he has worked hard to change his mindset. It's been annoying but SUPER helpful to have this real life example of "is this who you want to be when you grow up?" in my MIL. In my daughter's younger years we focused a lot on gratitude and thinking of three things to be thankful for each night. We talk about it A LOT and it gets so much easier the more you do. I am sure I overcompensated but my MIL is a piece of work and I couldn't handle the idea of my kids (or H) also being that constantly miserable.

Big big hugs to you sending your babies off to college. 

[breezy8407]

somersault72 All of my kids' activities are in my phone calendar, but I also like to use an old school paper calendar. When I start a new month its always overwhelming seeing it all laid out.

georgeglass good luck! I haven't let myself think that far ahead with my twins, but I can imagine going from a busy house to an empty house suddenly will be emotional.

[Velar Fricative]

Jul 31, 2023 9:48:17 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I found out from being on the PTA that the school hasn't replaced the librarian slot despite the previous one announcing in early May they were leaving.

And admin either has a great poker face, or there truly isn't a sense of urgency in filling the slot. I'm hoping it's the former.

The library cannot subsist on the PTA volunteers who help check out books. They don't do the programming the librarian did.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t be surprised if they think a PTA volunteer can do the job. Many admins and many members of the general public have no idea what is involved in being a librarian and literally believe it is just checking books in and out. I would advocate for the role’s importance whenever you can.