Summer is Officially Here

The ice cream man has arrived in our neighborhood!

8 Things About You at Age 8

1. You are into trading card games. Any and all of them. Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Harry Potter, Dinosaur King, 39 Clues... If there are cards to collect, play with and trade, you're in.

2. You're developing your own sense of style. Graphic tshirts, dragon pendants on a leather choker and Silly Bandz. You're pretty cute.

3. You decided on your own to audition for a speaking part in the Second Grade play. And you got one of the leads! You've also asked to take Irish dance lessons.

4. At the lunch table you and your friends discuss economics, theories about the Bermuda Triangle, the existence of alien lifeforms, inventions the world needs, and the differences in various religious traditions. I am totally blown away by that.

5. You put all the change in your piggy bank in a donation bin to help underprivileged kids go to camp.

6. You're a really great brother. I love seeing the bond between you and P. You can always make him laugh. You never think twice about helping him, playing with him, translating for him and advocating for him. He's lucky to have you.

7. You still love sugar above all things. With french fries and chicken fingers coming in a close second.

8. You still really hate it when we have to wash your hair or cut your nails. But you're a lot less whiny about it than you used to be.

1. You still love all things Toy Story. We're definitely going to see TS3 in the theatre as soon as it's released!

2. You will eat frozen meatballs if I don't catch you fast enough.

3. Swimming is still your favorite but you're starting to enjoy running too.

4. You just got a STAR award at school for showing the most growth over the school year.

5. A 1929 Model-T Ford drove into the parking lot of a local diner while we were having dinner. You turned to me in great excitement and said "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!"

6. You're a really great brother. I love seeing the bond between you and M. You can always make him laugh. You miss him when he's not around. You'll bring him the toys and books you know he likes and play for awhile, even when they're not your favorites. You ask him to sing to you at night so you can go to sleep. He's lucky to have you.

7. You think hanging out in a fort made of boxes and couch cushions and blankets is the coolest thing in the world. Bonus if there are snacks and a movie on the portable DVD player involved.

8. You've been using an augmentative speech device and doing really well with it. We've also noticed a real increase in your vocal speech since you've been using it.

More Random Musings

• Why is it that the Littles can hear and converse with Stuart and his friend Margolo, but act hard-of-hearing when Snowbell speaks?
• We are in that curious holiday limbo where the decorations from the holiday(s) just past are halfway down and the decorations for the next holiday are halfway up. It looks like an explosion in a Party City.
• The noise from the Star Wars video game is highly annoying. Therefore, I am setting the timer.
• Grocery shopping whilst hungry will result in 5 different kinds of bread. Where is my copy of the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet book?
• Why can I never find my Advent Wreath? Even when I pack it away with the fall decorations, it goes missing.

Ten Things You Don't Want to Find in the Washer or the Dryer

10. Tissues

9. Rocks

8. A Fork (?!)

7. Chewed up Starburst candies

6. Grass

5. Marbles

4. Eyeglasses (the kind from the dollar store, thank heavens)

3. Crayons

2. Realistic-looking toy snakes

1. Poop!

It's sooooo much nicer to find money. I would also like to point out that, other than tissues, I never carry any of these things in my pockets.

You know you're a Mom when...

• Any sentence with the words "temperature" or "degrees" in it automatically makes you think of fevers instead of weather.
• The only thing you want to say to the young studly lifeguard is "stop twirling that thing before you poke someone's eye out!"
• A stranger in your immediate vicinity 1) sneezes 2) cuts their finger 3) gets dirty or 4) has a clothing emergency. Without even thinking you reach into your purse and hand over a 1) tissue 2) a bandaid 3) a wet wipe or hand sanitizer and 4) a safety pin.
• You also carry snacks in your purse. And crayons. And paper. All in multiples based on the number of children you have.
• You know the locations of all the public bathrooms within a 50 mile radius of your house.
• You know the guy who makes smoothies at the local Dunkin Donuts by name. And he knows you and your kids and who likes strawberry and who likes mango.

True Confessions

• I've never finished reading Little Women. Along about the time that Laurie and Amy get engaged, I just stop caring. Every few years I drag it out, determined to finish and... quit in the same place.
• I don't sort my laundry, I just use a lot of Shout Color Catchers. A few months ago I felt guilty and pretended I was in an old Cheer commercial. I didn't notice any difference at all and it took 45 days to get the laundry done instead of 31. So the heck with that.
• I sometimes secretly reload the dishwasher after D. does it (actually it's probably not that much of a secret, he's just too much of a gentleman to bitch about it)
• If I do something that's not on my 'to do' list, I write it down just so I can cross it off.

Random Unjustified Fears

• Whenever I smell something in the basement, I am immediately convinced that there is a gas leak and we will all be blown to smithereens. Even when it is obviously the towels I left in the washer for 2 days.
• I once spent an entire night in my childhood home wondering what would happen if the furnace blew up and envisioning how I would make a sling for the dog from my quilt and jump to safety from the porch roof.
• The Prize Patrol will come to my door and I'll be wearing the pajamas with the holes and my hair will resemble a styrocasaurus with twice as many horns as usual.
• My car will careen off the Grand Island bridge and I'll be swept over Niagara Falls. (I actually had a recurring nightmare about this when pregnant. I went the long way around to NF for 7 months).
• Scientists will discover a junk food that will ensure weight loss and is good for your heart. Naturally it will be the one I absolutely hate.
• My kid will bring home a bat for a pet. Or a komodo dragon. Or a giant anaconda. (hmmm... suddenly a puppy doesn't sound so bad!)
• I will never meet Tim Gunn.