Haiku Friday: Punt

Oh yeah, Haiku Friday.

Um, I've had a coupla beers. (And it's only 7:45 pm, Sis ... don't tell Mom!!)
There was no school today so after we drove Husband to work we went to Ikea. Where I ordered cabinets for the pantry and DuckyBoy played nonstop for an hour in Smaland.

And then I had to drag DuckyBoy out of the mall playspace 'cause he was, like, pile-driving a toddler. Not on purpose, but still. He, really, just didn't know.

Here ya go!

Taking a Risk on Jury Duty

So, you know that person who rolls in an hour late when you've already been sitting in the jury room for an hour? Well, today that was me.

I'm usually the person there on time, listening to all the instructions, etc, etc.

But today was the first day of school. (I can hardly believe DuckyBoy's in 3rd grade!)

So, I took him to school around 8:15, drove back to Forest Hills, parked the car in our usual spot and walked over to the courthouse. I was proud of myself for not rushing! It was around 9 when I arrived. I went in and had no idea what was going on. So I sat down and read my book. (The funny part is, people kept coming in after me and asking me what was going on!)

The clerks called people by row "if you have questions," so I stayed seated. Finally one clerk said, "Anyone who still has a summons, come up now. Last chance."

So, all by my lonesome, up I went. And it was fine.

Most of the folks got sent to another jury room, but about 2 dozen of us were left behind for an hour or so -- at which time the clerk returned and announced we had fulfilled our obligation and were being sent home. YESS!!

I was going to leave at 2 pm anyway to get DB, even if I had to sneak out a bathroom window ... so it all worked out fine. I even had time to get groceries and eat lunch before going to get DB.

And it seems like his first day was fine. He's sooo happy with one of his teachers that he knows a little bit from last year, and I've heard nothing but great things about the other teacher from several moms. He has informed me that it's going to be a "pack my lunch" school year. As he would say, What-ev-er!

Haiku Friday: Eight Years

Eight short (?!) years ago
DuckyBoy arived, and BAM!
What I thought I knew,

who I thought I was,
all was up for grabs again --
still is, in some ways ...

I'm a proud mom (?!) of
somebody very special.
Happy birthday, son.

For his birthday, DB wants the big Lego City police station, and he just told me all the logical reasons why on the phone -- "I have so many Lego policement, and they need a place to stay, and I want to be a policeman when I grow up!"

Grandma H has already bought it, all we have to do is pick it up at the Lego store and head out.
Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 5-7-5. More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON'T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week. I will delete any links without haiku.

Haiku Friday: Ode to Big

Grandpa PotatoHead is going to help me with this week's haiku. We just got him yesterday at Costco ("Can you go shopping just ONCE without DB getting a new toy?" Husband lamented last night.) -- Db was the one who realized why he was at Costco -- because he's BIG!


Huge boxes and jars
Stare at us, floor to ceiling,
as we roll the aisles

Here's something we like,
we won't eat that fast enough,
let's try this sample.

Nuggets not crunchy,
but whole-wheat pasta's thumbs up,
and sweet-pepper sauce.

Who knew the samples
would expand DB's palate,
a little at least!

Want to play along on Haiku Friday? It's easy!

Just write a haiku (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) on your blog, any theme.
Put the post url into Mister Linky here, then please leave a comment after linking.

Not a blogger? Feel free to write your haiku in the comment field. Or just tell me what you think of my haiku. Or what your weather is like. Anything!

And have a great weekend!

Lesser Known Milestones

The past couple of weeks I've noticed some subtle milestones in DuckyBoy's life, ones the parenting books never talk about:
* Thirst not satisfied by small bottle of water
* Snack-size ziploc bags don't hold enough of anything for a snack

That got me thinking about the others that, since there's such a wide range of when they occur, the books just don't even bother with. But aren't they huge for moms, like:
* Wipes own butt
* Orders own meal at restaurant
* Can be left alone 5-10 minutes while you run to mailbox or put laundry into dryer (especially in an apartment building, where a locked door and an elevator separates you), or in front of apartment building with heavy objects while you get the car a block away and pull up.
* Turns on TV
* Changes channel on TV
* Finds own DVR'd show

I'm still waiting on these:
*Sets DVR for own shows
* Eats restaurant meal without your having to cut up the nuggets

Doesn't Feel Like Much, Yet...

These are my days this week so far... (this is kind of an amalgamation but you get the idea.)

7 am:
Pack DuckyBoy's snack.
Get Husband's pain meds.
Take shower.
Get dressed.
Get Husband his prednisone by 8 am. (That's what the dosing info says?!).
Have first cup of coffee.
7:40:
Pick up DuckyBoy's friend and drive both boys to school.
Drive home and pick up Husband.
8:30:
Drive him to work.
Have 2nd cup of coffee.
Drive back to Queens.
9:30 am
Shop at Trader Joe's. Get heavy bag of water, flowers, chips.
10:30 am
Scrounge quarters so I can park in front of the nail salon.
Park twice so I'm not too far away from the curb.
10:35:
Let myself get talked into having my eyebrows and lip waxed in addition to bikini.
11:30:
Drive to DB's school and pick him up.
12:00:
Listen to DB vent at me.
(Monday) Take him to dentist on Long Island.
12:45:
Sit in chair with DB while dental assistant cleans his teeth.
Pet nice kitty on the way back to the car.
1:30:
(Monday) Take proud son home. Agree he should be proud to have endured cleaning he was scared of.
3:30:
Agree to take him to Disney store for a white Puffle because he was so good at the dentist. Resist comparing white puffle with tooth for fear it will be a turn-off (likely). Remind him that the Lego store (latest obsession) opened in the mall.
5 pm:
Begin feeding DB dinner.
6:45 pm:
Go to pool because it's too hot to go home.
8:10 pm:
Get home and give DB enough to eat that he stops saying "I'm starving!" and will go to bed.
8:25:
Help DB brush his teeth. Read to him. Set up "guards." Get him cold water. Check hamster. Give her fresh water. Turn off room light. Turn on nightlight and music.
8:40:
Change his fuzzy blanket for my old quilt... slightly less heat-holding, yet still protective from things that go bump in night.
8:50:
Collapse on bed next to Husband and watch TV.

* * *
We've also been to the Hall of Science with a friend, and we've been to the pool I think 3 days out of 3. And today we went grocery shopping. And, sucker that I am, I agreed to go back to the mall. I swear, this is the last Lego for a while! (I'm taking a cue from my friend and have offered DB a deal -- his next coveted set for some math work with coins ... now if I can just find that workbook I bought!

Haiku Friday: Harrumph

Apparently DuckyBoy is doing great at summer camp. He's (fairly) upbeat about getting on the bus, where his friend is riding for the summer who usually goes by car during the school year. Not that I dare call him a "friend" because then DB will be sure to rebuke me: "He's not my BEST friend!"

Anyway. No one bothered to tell us moms that the kids are arriving half an hour late ... meaning DB and his friend are on the bus for just about an hour and a half each morning!! And they miss the "social activities worksheets" the kids do over breakfast. Of all the things to miss!!

But his teacher says he's been great so far. Which is good, because as soon as he sees me he turns into Drama King, unless he's in the pool or I am doing exactly what he wants me to do.

Which I am Not.Doing.Any.More.

Can you tell I am a bit p.o.'d at DB tonight?? We went to the (half an hour from nowhere near anywhere we ever go otherwise) dentist today and he screamed, fought, cried, and screamed some more when they tried to clean, just clean, his teeth. I'm spitting mad at him and he knows it. There was no mask, no laughing gas, and he's had a cleaning at least twice. But no. Apparently his new schtick for the dentist office is to freak out. He'd better not repeat that shtick on Monday when we go back for the cleaning! The dentist did get him to let her count his teeth, and she promised that's all she'd do and kept her word.

Did I mention they're a half an hour from nowhere??

Don't worry, he's been reassured that he is loved, and always will be, but he had no TV and fell asleep on the couch during our Bible study tonight. "I'm having trouble enjoying this relaxation time without tv," he moaned at one point. I told him his choices were to try, or go to sleep.

Can we tell a story? Um, no. I was honest with him -- I'm too mad at you, I said. Can I help you find a Lego part? Um, no. (I did help him download a pattern.)

I don't care that it's been like, 1,000 degrees here in NYC the last few days. I don't care that he's probably worried about 3rd grade and certainly reacting to the end of 2nd grade.

He's got to reason to be the way he's been toward me. The things he says range from mean to demanding to rude. I'm totally sick of it.

So mad at my son
and yet I love him so much --
my heart breaks in two.

Sigh. That's the best I can do today. I look forward to reading everyone else's haiku to pull me out of this funk! (And guess what? NO school-camp on Fridays, so we're stuck with each other all day! As of tonight my plan is: I'm going to get a bikini wax, a pedicure, and grocery shop. I also may need to criss cross Queens looking for 16-oz iced-coffee cups with lids. (Who knew they'd be so elusive?) Any other ideas, besides driving past every playground with a cackle?? Humph.

Please, do better than me! Link to your haiku post below, and leave a comment, too, unless you'd rather kick and scream for me...

Haiku Friday: Our First Fads of 2010

Fuzzy Zhu-Zhu pets ...
DuckyBoy rolls on the floor
with desire for them...

We have the real thing,
even fun accessories!
But this ... this is NEED.

How 'bout Silly Bands?
He has so many can't count.
Invented a day

For next week at school,
Unofficial Official
"Class Silly Band Day!"

He'll have to share them,
but so far so good with that;
from abundance comes...?

Want to play along on Haiku Friday? It's easy!

Just write a haiku (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) on your blog, any theme.
Put the post url into Mister Linky here, then please leave a comment after linking.

Not a blogger? Feel free to write your haiku in the comment field. Or just tell me what you think of my haiku. Or what your weather is like. Anything!

And have a great weekend.

Haiku Friday: Life Spins on a Dime

Our new family motto is, "Life spins on a dime." Husband claims we had one already ... "Life sucks, then you die" ... but I don't remember ever voting for that, as if I ever would!

Last week for Husband's birthday I made this giant dime from posterboard and put a spinner on it, then taped things around the edges like "I go get your breakfast from 7-11," "Open Present #1," and "1 hour of watch shopping."

His birthday was Saturday, but we used it all weekend. I plan to use it again, because it made for a great weekend. Even for a guy who claims to not like surprises!

I liked that he was trying to guess what it was while I made it -- yep, I was brazen enough to draw it right in front of him! He thought it was a quarter as in, "A quarter of my life is over?!" -- which, since he turned 45, wouldn't be so bad.

Life spins on a dime:
DB will be Citizen,
his teachers told me!

From life on savings,
now full-time income again,
things feel so diff'rent.

I can charge something
and leave the house without guilt
and still get things done.

We don't live for it,
but money plays a big role;
life spins on a dime.

Want to play along on Haiku Friday? It's easy!

Just write a haiku (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) on your blog, any theme.
Put the post url into Mister Linky here, then please leave a comment after linking.

Not a blogger? Feel free to write your haiku in the comment field. Or just tell me what you think of my haiku. Or what your weather is like. Anything!

And have a great weekend.

Taping Together a Plastic Bucket

I've just spent an evening (ok, half an hour) taping the pieces of a cheap plastic bucket back together after said bucket, filled with water, was dropped and broke at the park.

Oh, the weeping and gnashing of teeth!!

Part of me is about ready to gently say, "You know, some things just can't be fixed," and the rest of me wants him to come to that conclusion on his own. I don't know which is gentler.

For DuckyBoy, it's usually better for him to reach a conclusion on his own.

Especially when it's a personalized bucket.

The other day as I was walking him downstairs to get on the bus, he said, "I don't feel like talking again today." We went back and forth a few moments and he said,. "It's hard to get in trouble when you just don't say anything." Then he added, "I did talk a little bit, I answered questions."

Can I tell you, we were overjoyed! how many years have we been telling him some version of, "Just don't say anything!"

He even said, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Geez Louise, he HEARD ME! Or, heard somebody, anyway.

Haiku Friday: The End of the School Year Nears

School year winding down
Last chance to be Citizen ...
can DB do it?

All should get a turn,
but his outbursts caused some doubt
within the past month.

This week's going great,
new mp3 for the bus
and getting driven

3 days out of 5
seem to help a great deal.
Wish I knew the key!

Want to play along on Haiku Friday? It's easy!

Just write a haiku (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) on your blog, any theme.
Put the post url into Mister Linky here, then please leave a comment after linking.

Not a blogger? Feel free to write your haiku in the comment field.

And have a great weekend!

Has Parenthood Changed Your Sense of Humor?

It's changed mine in that I'm more aware of what I find funny as I see DuckyBoy get jokes that I'm not sure he'll get, or explain ones he doesn't and watch the light dawn.

I also notice there are certain things I don't find as funny -- cringe-worthy topics --as a parent and just as I get older, I guess.

I also sometimes have to NOT laugh at things I (sigh) have to send the Responsible Adult message about. Fortunately, Husband and I can usually take turns being the Serious One and the Snickerer.

Our latest favorite joke is from a recent Reader's Digest:

A guy is really lonely, so he gets a pet centipede and a little box to keep him in.

One night the guy says to his new pet, "Hey, do you want to go get a bite to eat with me?"

No answer.

After a couple of minutes he asks again: "Are you up for going out to eat?"

Nothing.

He waits a few minutes more and then shouts, "Hey, do you want to hang out or what?!"

A little voice says irritably from inside the box, "I heard you the first time. I'm putting on my shoes."

(Badda-bumm.)

$2 Spongebob

We were in midtown Manhattan last weekend to do some corporate-job-clothes-shopping for Husband, and we encountered a street fair with benefits, aka characters with tip jars.

DuckyBoy wanted his picture with Spongebob. Having just returned from the artificially priced worlds of Disney and Atlantis, how could we say no to the paltry sum of $2? (The green thing in Spongebob's hand is his tip jar. It's clearly marked.)

Haiku Friday: Guest Poems by DuckyBoy

Perhaps hosting Haiku Friday is not the best model for helping my son learn to write poems, which they do every April in school. Here are some of his, clearly dashed off during homework time at afterschool. I think they probably expect a little bit more, but then again, it's only second grade.

homework
homework, homework
lots of it, every
day and every
night, let's hope
I don't have
to do any more
work!


penceil
sharp, point yellow
tool used to write
(His teacher wrote next to this one, "That's a bit short!")

paperclip
tiny
skateboard
like a paperclip
long
oval glide
fast
(There's another one on this theme
but it's written in a circle
and I can't read the overlapping letters.)


Birds
tiny
little ani-
mals that fly around
the area.

That last one's actually almost a haiku! So here's my version:

Birds, tiny and fast
little animals that fly
up, down; flit in, out

How about if this week, I remember to put Mister Linky in!

If you'd like to play along on Haiku Friday, just write a haiku on your blog and post the link (to that post) here:


And please leave a comment to let me know what you think of my future haiku-writer in the family!
Have a great week and take a look at my happy guys enjoying their bike ride last weekend in Washington, DC:

(More DC pix on my Flickr page.)

Family Lemonade Stand

DuckyBoy has asked at least once a year for the past couple of years to have a lemonade stand.

I think it's adorable when kids do that, and would love to see him increase both his social and business acumen from this type of endeavor, but...

I'm really shy about stuff like this. And he's not old enough to do it himself.

This year, I hit upon the bright idea of "We have to ask Dad if he'll do it with you!"

So last night, when we got home from school, after DB asked me in the car if it was a nice enough night for a lemonade stand, he asked his dad so nicely that Husband said yes. And then, because it's not like I have something more important to do, I said I'd come along.

And it worked out great!

Dad gave DB pointers on when to make his sales pitch, what to say when they decline ("have a nice day) and the right tones of voice. A cop even stopped his car and bought a cup.

It was awesome, I couldn't have helped him with ANY of that because I can't get past my own self standing there waiting to get rejected.

I dug up the dirt in the flower boxes while my salesmen did their thing.

Oh, and another best part? DB wants to donate the money to the people of Haiti. (Previously he's wanted to keep the cash. This time he decided in advance he wanted to donate it.) Awesome!

Here's his sign, which I didn't help him with at all. It says:

All of your funds will go to the people in Haiti

LEM[o]EN-
ADE

(There is also a dollar bill with a glass of lemonade in place of a president, and another refreshing glass of lemonade at the bottom of the poster.)

Nature on Display

We had beautiful weather in northern Indiana last week. My brother's town is small and surrounded by fields, so it's full of beautifully chirping birds, his yard is covered in violets:



And Duckyboy had a blast trying to "jail" a ladybug, who kept blithely meandering over the sticks that comprised his triangular cage:





Between being able to run in and out of the house which was full of people and cats to play with inside and lots to look at outside, at one point DB said, "This is even more fun than playing on Club Penguin!" Which, believe me, is saying something.

This Is Family: 21, 14 and 7

Here's my sister's daughter, my brother's youngest son, and DuckyBoy. They sat like this for probably 2 hours, playing some funny online game together.

After awhile I realized the 3 of them are exactly 7 years apart: 21, 14 and 7.

We went to Indiana for a few days to see my Dad, expecting the trip to be nothing but, well, pretty sad. Actually what I really wanted to do was give Dad a CD of old heaven-focused hymns, see how the conditions are at the home, and tell him that if he wants to, it's OK to let go, that his brother is waiting for him in heaven.

I did all that, but the surprise benefit of the trip was seeing these cousins make connections. Plus one, this beautiful young lady is my brother's 16-year-old:


Dad may not know us any more, but he brought us together. God does work in mysterious ways.

Haiku for Manhattan

My friend called me out,
said haiku's s'posed to evoke
a feeling or scene ...

she is right of course,
in the traditional sense ...
a cocktail haiku?!?

The feelings I stir
tend to be quotidian
more than expansive ...

In my own defense,
I point to Club Penguin ... where
Sensei-bird speaks 'ku!

Ahem, let me try a "real" haiku...

Manhattan pulses
a million different drummers
contribute a beat ...

the air is alive
with movement, thoughts, change, and life ...
dull senses quicken.

Tires revolve and fade,
voices run sharp, soft, pleading,
underground trains hiss ...

My boy wants to stay
he can feel the energy,
it mirrors his mind ...

Eyes, heart, neurons drawn
to the new, spicy, unknown
that keeps us alive ...

Want to play along on Haiku Friday? You know what to do: Write haiku, any theme. Put the post url into Mister Linky here, then please leave a comment after linking.

And be sure to have a great weekend!

Why I Don't Want My Son To Say "OMG"

I've never liked to hear people say, "Oh my God," which usually comes out "Omigod."I don't even remember when I first noticed it, but I've always felt like a bit of prude for feeling this way.

Unlike most things for which I have felt like a prude for, though, I've stuck with this one. I'll say"Oh my gosh," and I'm sure there are purists who say even that is bad, but they're not my concern.

My concern is that now the second graders say it. In fact I'm sure I heard it last year from DuckyBoy's classmates, which means 6-year-olds are in the habit of it. They have no idea why, it's just something they hear all the time. It's "just" part of speech nowadays, like "wow" or "oh" or "huh."

It's not exactly taking the Lord's name in vain, because you're not cursing anyone out, or angrily saying "Jesus Christ!" like sometimes people will do. But it just makes God's name ... meaningless. To me that's even worse. The name of the Creator of all life is reduced to ... a throwaway phrase? An empty fill-in? Sad. (Some of these kids go to Christian churches, too.)

Now there's OMG. The phrase is so pervasive that it's got a text shorthand version. The kids just say "OMG" sometimes.

And I'm not sure how I feel about that. Because I know the origin is not people who didn't want to type out "oh my gosh."

I can say "G for gosh" to myself when I see or hear OMG, so it's a little better, but not much.

I have asked DuckyBoy not to say "Oh my God," and he's been really good about respecting me on that (even though I know he hears it all the time). But what do I do about OMG? It's kind of its own thing at this point, an exclamation with no background meaning. I'd rather he say that than "Oh my God."

But I'd really rather he not say OMG, either.

Husband just told me this morning that he read someone who believes CS Lewis is evil because he used the phrase "Gee whiz" in his books, which apparently was originally shorthand for "Jesus's whiskers."

Is OMG really that different?

I'll see how often DB comes out with OMG. If it becomes a habit, I'll ask him to stop. I'm sure he'll think I'm the worst mother in the world sooner or later anyway, so I might as well stand up for what I believe in. Right?

A Hairy Haiku Friday

This is my son's hair,
hanging down off of his head
soft, golden, messy



Took upside-down pix
because when he's standing up,
we can't see his eyes!

We got DB's hair trimmed about a week after this photo was taken -- so at least his bangs are above his eye level now -- but his hair is still pretty long.

Adults either love or hate his longish hair. He has raving fans, and people who can't imagine why I'd let him have it so long. He likes it to cover his ears, so I get it cut to that length and have the stylist make it short enough in the back so it's not too snarly when we comb it. After that, it's fine with me.

She left it long in the back this week, so after his haircut I noticed in the bathtub that his hair is long enough I could put it in a little ponytail ... now THAT is not my thing for boys. (Db showed no signs of being interested in it either.)

Would you like to join Haiku Friday? Just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 3 lines, and count syllables, 5-7-5. The best haiku evoke a feeling of place or emotion. (Unlike mine which are often factual.) More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). Don't sign unless you have a haiku this week. (But you're welcome to leave a comment without a haiku!) If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. If you'd like, pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.