PinkGirl: Part of Your World

This is one of the songs PinkGirl has been rehearsing for the last two weeks as part of “American Idol” day camp.

I’m slightly proud.

crispy eddie haskell.

So FavoriteSon was invited to go to the beach with a bunch of friends. This is a big deal. Going to the beach without us. Not even with an organized, supervised school or church group, but rather two vehicles full of kids and two parents/drivers.

That would be some new freedom. His dad was fine with it. I wasn’t sure. Here’s the way the conversation went:

Me: “FavoriteSon, if you want more freedom and privileges, you need to demonstrate some personal responsibility, like for you own self-care. For instance, what is one of the most important things you would need to do if you spent the day at the beach without me or your dad?”

FavoriteSon: “uhhhmmmm. Not do anything that would be displeasing to God?”

PinkGirl: “I know! I know! Wear sunscreen?”

Me, to FavoriteSon: “Your sister can go.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like his answer too, but seriously – what a suck up. Eight years of Christian school can sure bring out the Eddie Haskell in a kid. I would LOVE it if he spent his day at the beach thinking about how he could please God, but he would still come home crispy. I continue the questioning:

Me: “What would you look for to find out if there’s a rip tide?”

FavoriteSon:“. . . waves?”

Me: “At the lifeguard chair . . . “

FavoriteSon: “a . . . sign?”

Me: “A red flag.“

Me: “What do you do if you’re caught in a rip tide?”

FavoriteSon: ” . . . relax?”

Me: “well, okay. Then what?”

FavoriteSon: “uhhhh”

Me: “Swim parallel to shore till you get out of it.”

FavoriteSon: “I KNEW THAT!”

Me: “umm hmm”

FavoriteSon: “REALLY! I KNEW THAT!”

Me: “You are so going to drown.”

Thankfully, the plans changed and they went to Wet-N-Wild instead. Lots of lifeguards, no rip tides. Just free water wedgies. We had to shell out $45 for a ticket, but it gets him in free for the rest of the year. I have a feeling PinkGirl and I will be buying the same ticket this summer.

Anyone want to hang out at Wet-N-Wild? I like me a l a z y river. Float. Walk backwards for exercise between lifeguards. Rinse, repeat.

539 out of 200

yep. I said that right. That would be 539 text messages on a plan that allows for 200 per month. And the month wasn’t even half over.

FavoriteSon and FirstHusband went on a field trip to Washington DC last week and while the students weren’t allowed to talk to each other on their phones, they were allowed to text each other. Just for the fun of it, when they got back, I got online to check FavoriteSon’s usage.

Voice Minutes Used: 8 (and he didn’t even call his mother)
Text Messages: 539

That was February 14th and the billing cycle ends in March.

So after a little family pow wow, I got on the phone and increased his text message to 1,500 for an extra $10 per month. Back dated to include the 539 messages so he won’t have to pay 10 cents for each one over 200.

Because he’s 13. And communicating with his peers. Which he wasn’t really doing so much last year. Before the contact lenses. and the clear skin. and the cool hair. and the team sports. and he’s a good kid, who gets good grades and does his chores. most of the time. and is sweet to his baby sister. some of the time.

Besides. He’s paying for it.

The rules? We’re making them up as we go along, but so far:

1. This rule was instituted the day he got his phone: No phone in the bedroom at night.
2. We get to look at his text messages. If we ask, he allows us. (he can read mine)
3. He promises he will not text anyone anything their parents will need to call us about.
4. No texting during homework or family meals.
5. He doesn’t forward chain texts & tells his friends to stop sending them.
6. He has to check his own minutes and self-regulate.

He is very motivated to keep these rules. He’s eligible for an upgrade.

What teenager cell phone/texting rules have worked for you?

hiccupy tears & Despereaux

Spoiler Alert! Grown-ups and Big Kids Only!

PinkGirl: “maybe” (hiccupy tears)

“there” (hiccupy tears)

“really is” (hiccupy tears)

“a” (hiccupy tears)

“tooth fairy” (hiccupy tears)

“maybe” (hiccupy tears)

“she just came” (hiccupy tears)

“and saw” (hiccupy tears)

“that daddy” (hiccupy tears)

“already left the money” (hiccupy tears)

“and the note” (hiccupy tears)

“and so” (hiccupy tears)

“she didn’t have to do anything” (hiccupy tears)

Mom: “you think?”

PinkGirl: “mmm hmm” (hiccupy tears)

Mom: “Well, how about this . . . next time you lose a tooth, daddy won’t do anything and we’ll see what happens.”

PinkGirl: okay. (hiccupy tears)

Mom: “But you can’t tell any of your friends or any little kids about your doubt, okay?”

PinkGirl: “I would never do that. It would break their heaarrrrrt.” (serious heart breaking full blown crying)

“I wish” (hiccupy tears)

“I could forget” (hiccupy tears)

“I ever asked you.” (hiccupy tears)

“Why didn’t you LIE to me????” (MORE heart breaking full blown crying)

Lots of hugging.

This all took place after she came into my office, turned me around to look at her and said. “Mom. Look me in the eye. Tell me the truth. Are you the tooth fairy? Did you put the money under my pillow? Tell me the truth.“

I honestly told her that I did not put the money under her pillow.

“Mom. Tell me the truth. Are you the tooth fairy?”

“I am NOT the tooth fairy.”

She gives me “the look.”

pause.

“Daddy is.”

Hours later, before bed: “Mom? Is Santa really Santa?“

FIRMLY: YES.

“Is the Easter Bunny really the Easter Bunny?”

STILL FIRMLY: YEP.

“okay.“

I just put her to bed and she’s in there thinking. About Despereaux. She likes to “think for 5 minutes” before she goes to sleep and I decided to help guide those thoughts away from this afternoon’s drama by reading aloud to her tonight. We started reading The Tale of Despereaux. We said prayers and as I kissed her on the head I prompted, “You can dream about Despereaux exploring the castle!”

Tomorrow, she will wake up, put on her school uniform and follow rules all day. Tonight, her imagination takes her to wonderful places.

Little Red Riding Hood

PinkGirl and BestDaddy went Trick or Treating with neighbors tonight. They made a short stop at the house to dump candy and then went out again, just the two of them. FavoriteSon was invited to a friend’s house tonight. It was the first time he missed Trick or Treating and carving his pumpkin. PinkGirl took advantage of the situation and quickly confiscated his pumpkin. She had both a Prince AND a Princess jack-o-lantern. Double the work, double the fun.

She was Little Red Riding Hood tonight – a creative, homemade (free) costume! You can see the crumpled cape in the background at the top of the photo.

Amazingly, she set aside candy to share with her brother. And not just the candy she hates.

Even though she had a lot of fun, BestDaddy says she really missed Trick or Treating with FavoriteBrother. At the end of the evening, she said, “It doesn’t really feel like Halloween.”

my little concordance.

So we’re riding home from Thursday night’s football game. It’s kinda late, past 8:30 p.m. and I remember PinkGirl has a scripture test Friday.

Mom: “PinkGirl, do you remember your scripture verse this week?”

PinkGirl: “. . . nooooooo.” (followed by pitiful lamenting)

Mom: “Wait, wait. Do you remember the actual chapter and verse? We can look it up.” (We carry a Bible in the car. This is not the first last minute scramble to learn a Bible verse.)

PinkGirl: “Ephesians . . . 13 and 14. Chapter 6!”

FavoriteSon: “I got this.”

Mom: “What!?”

FavoriteSon: “I know this one. I learned it in 5th grade. Mrs. C taught it to us. I’ve got a memory trick.” (We LOVE memory tricks in this family.)

We spent the next 15 minutes learning verse 13. The memory trick was an accompanying clapping rhythm. PinkGirl woke up this morning and rattled it right off. Perfectly. She is quite a fan of her FavoriteBrother today.

Can you believe that? FavoriteSon remembered this verse perfectly – having memorized it THREE years ago! THAT’s one of the reasons we send them to Christian school. (We have other reasons, too.) All this time, while he’s been learning his multiplication tables (and now freakishly scary math), all this time he’s been learning about photosynthesis, making volcanoes, writing witty stories with vocabulary words and creating PowerPoint presentations on the books he’s read – ALL this time – he’s ALSO been devoting equal time to learning just as much about the BIBLE. And that’s one of the things we were going for – a strong foundation in the Word.

He’s my little concordance. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve asked him where a certain passage is – and he KNOWS. I used to use FirstHusband as my concordance, but this new one is more compact and more portable.

Oh, and we learned verse 14 this morning on the way to school.

proud new owner and real estate tycoon

PinkGirl: “Mom! He made me pay $200 for POCAHONTAS! That’s not fair! It was originally $100. He’s cheating!”

UNFavoriteBrother: “She doesn’t have to pay. She can just say no thanks.”

PinkGirl: “But I WANT Pocahontas! That’s not FAIR!”

Mom: “PinkGirl, if you get Pocahontas, you’ll have three of the same color and you’ll be able to buy cottages and castles, so it’s worth more than what it originally cost. If your brother wants $200 for it, you have to decide if you want to pay the $200. It’s your decision. He’s not making you buy it.”

$200 and a Pocahontas card quietly change hands.

Proud New Owner. And Real Estate Tycoon.

with snacks.

the cure for blue lips.

We got our redneck (above ground) pool set up and ready for swimming last weekend. Completely Tadpole-free and clean!

PinkGirl spent most of the afternoon in there with FavoriteBrother, but when he finally bailed on her, she asked me if I could invite some friends over. I did and they hadn’t been in the pool together for 10 minutes when PinkGirl started shivering. Her lips were actually BLUE, but she did NOT want to stop swimming. Her friends were swimming and she didn’t want to miss the fun!

So she went inside and got in a warm shower for about 5 minutes, came back out and swam for another 1/2 hour!

My little problem solver.