My long, heartfelt post about the end of school and events of this week was tragically eaten some Typepad stall-out. How it hurt to click the button that closed the web browser! So I offer instead a brief recap:
School ended, and I did not really cry like I thought I would. I was too busy taking pictures and arranging a playdate at the appropriate moment. The other room parent and I got beautiful mosaic stepping stones made and autographed on the back by the whole class, and that did make me slightly weepy. Ruby brought home her report card, her journal, a stack of homework, a photo album from her teacher, and a sweet little poem and gift bag from her teacher. In an effort to improve (and by that I mean "create") a process for storing all the school papers and artwork, I bought a really cool but ridiculously expensive storage system for each kid. Yes, it's just a big box with other boxes that fit inside it, but it's archival! It'll hold everything through high school! It's cute! Ruby has pretty well taken over the thing, even though I keep explaining it's for Mommy to store things.
Ruby is at zoo camp this week, and seems to be having a great time. She's studying water animals and from what I gather she gets to see things like piranha feedings and elephant washing, she does art work, and she does experiments that explain why the ocean is salty, for instance. We could all learn a lot from the folks who organize zoo camp, with the cute t-shirts and everything all neatly arranged and the color coded, electronic sign-in, and costumed characters greeting everyone in the mornings. The only thing I've ever encountered close to it was Disn@y world.
Carl is still at preschool, because he's still too young for most camps, and yet I can't have him underfoot all the time, right? Don't feel too bad for the little tyke; the summer class is a lot smaller and they are doing a lot of art, water play, and goofing off. He is grumbling about going, but he seems happy enough once he gets there.
I am trying to figure out how to work a little quasi-academic activity into Ruby's summer routine. Generally Ruby practices her reading at bedtime, which is too late; she is crabby and tired and fuzzy by then, so we need to find a better time. I would really like to see her make some real reading progress this summer. Right now, she reads pretty well on a first to second grade level, but you can tell it's a challenge for her, and I don't think she'd choose reading as her fun activity of choice. On the other hand, she loves to be read to, so I do have hope that she'll get there soon enough. At the very least, I don't want her to lose any ground over the summer, as she is going into the class with the formidable Gifted and Talented crowd and I know many of those kids are ace readers already. I'd also like to have her do some journaling/letters/other writing, and to work on day-to-day math a bit. But I don't want summer to be a drag, and I don't want to turn into one of those pushy crazy moms with the phonics tapes and workbooks and charts.
As for me, well, I haven't had any time to go car shopping, but I do have new witnesses to my car air conditioning problem. I want Rod to go with me to test drive, and I think he'd like to, but guess what? He's way too busy! So, I will have to just go do it; let the sales managers do their worst. I am trying to get some cleaning out and organizing done, and to get to the gym. Otherwise, I mostly drive kids around, pack and unpack the pool/camp/preschool bags, put sunscreen on people against their will, and do dishes and laundry. It's a glamorous life, you know.
Carl has been a challenge this week, the management of him bringing me to the point of tears more than once and pushing Rod's buttons excessively, too. I know deep down this is not really Carl's fault, but more a matter of how his parents have been choosing to respond to him, right? Or maybe he's just a twerp. Ruby 's party is Saturday, so I need to quickly pull together the food and whatever. I have only the vaguest idea how many people are coming, which worries me only in that I might run out of favors or cupcakes, or the birthday girl might be sad that no one's there. I guess I need to come through with a present for her, too, and Carl is already gearing up for a major jealous fit over the whole thing.
One of our cats has been trying to get out of the house for over a year, and he's been increasingly successful at slipping past no matter how quickly we slam the door. So last weekend, we surrendered and let him out. And out Sir Plus has been, many hours a day since then. He comes back dirty, with a coat full of burrs, and happy. I am still not thrilled about it, because my previous cats that went outside all ended up being run over sooner or later, andresearch suggests that letting cats be outdoors cuts their life expectancies by 1/2 to 2/3. But the doorway is a much more peaceful place now.
Rod is going to Norway next week, because it's lovely there this time of year (and yes, I am deeply jealous.). Ruby will have a week off from camps, or a week to pester me all she wants, depending on how you look at it.
