No awards for parenting

Grayson has already missed a day of school. Monday night he got all snotty in the wee hours and woke up whimpering pathetically, so I kept him home.

It was a full day of pajamas, TV, nintendo and crafty projects. By noon of course he seemed perfectly healthy.

Payback's a bitch, though. Yesterday when I picked him up after school he had a whole folder of make-up work he had to bring home to complete. We'll still be working on it this evening. Let that be a lesson to us both. Sick day = homework.

Looks like the new school will not assign regular homework like they did at Wilson. It looks like he'll get homework only when assignments don't get finished during class time. We are expected to study his spelling words and practice "math facts" (whatever those are) every night, and he is supposed to do a half hour of reading a night. But other than that, no assigned homework. That suits me fine. I hated the nightly battle over homework last year. And it always made me feel like a sub-standard mom that I didn't sit down with him and go over his answers to be sure everything was right. I know his dad would have done that. I don't know why I almost never did. Must be because I'm a crappy mom.

We had a nice family dinner last night with my folks and B. They seem to get along just fine.

I had a few too many glasses of wine during the course of the evening, unfortunately, and paid the price this morning when I woke with a thumping headache. I did manage to get my kid up and ready for school on time (if only just), but then I went back home, sat down on the sofa and the next thing I knew I was waking up an hour later. I got to work 40 minutes late. Later than usual, I guess, really. Whoops.

There was rain and thunder last night, which means I shared the bed with everybody in my house except the fish. So none of us slept particularly well. I had the devil's own time getting Grayson out of bed... this was not facilitated by my desire to get back into it myself. Then, when I finally extracted him from the bed, I turned around to discover that he had just relocated himself to the sofa, where he was hiding under a blanket. When I came over to ask him to get dressed, all I got was The Hand... which came out to tell me that Grayson had moved to San Francisco. I suggested to The Hand that it go back under the blanket and grab Grayson's butt and drag it to his room so he could get dressed for school. But not before snapping a picture of The Hand in action.

Crazy kid.

Summer's End

Summer is drawing toward its close. Some OKC schools have already started, and G starts school on Thursday. Back to the routine of homework and limited TV time and hectic mornings and trying to get dinner on the table. Yet I look forward to the start of school and the return to some semblance of family life for me and my boy.

It has been a good summer, despite all the changes and craziness of schedule. Grayson has stayed busy and un-bored. I've been settling into a new home and new life, enjoying the slightly slower pace of Norman living. The dogs are home and happy. I haven't DONE as much with my summer as I had hoped, but you never do. Now that the new school year looms ahead, I begin to think, as I always do at this time of year, of new beginnings.

This year I will...
Get Grayson to school on time and prepared
Limit his TV time more effectively
Spend more time with friends
Get a new lease on work
Read more and write more
Take good care of myself
Get out and do stuff

I think my list probably always looks similar to this one. But it makes me feel better to make it.

Meanwhile, summer still has a deathgrip on the weather. This weekend B and I decided to make a return trip to Tahlequah to float the river with the boys. It's just too good a lazy summertime activity for them to miss, and makes a great closer for the season. Sun, water, junk food and a full day of just cruising along, enjoying the journey. Sort of a metaphor for summer itself, don't you think? Nowhere to go, just enjoying the trip.

So I got us a groovy kids suite at Holiday Inn with two twin beds and a kids area with TV and Nintendo, so it should be a regular party.



I miss having a family. Grayson and I do pretty well. But it's different.

Tonight, to change the subject, I get my G-rex back for good, and we are celebrating by going to opening night of the new Miyazaki film "Ponyo." We're both very excited about it. It will be a great Friday night together, followed by an early morning to head out to Tahlequah.

Another Milestone Missed

Last night I realized that I have washed Grayson's hair for the last time.

I ran a bath for him and then hung out in the living room, reading a book and drinking wine while he splashed about. He came out all wet-headed and warm and cuddly in his jammies (which are, once again, noticeably too small) and I realized that some time in the last few months I washed his hair for him for the last time. I don't even know when it was, and of course at the time I didn't realize it was the last. I know I washed it for him at least once while we were at the apartment, but I haven't done so for months. Another piece of his childhood, gone and over with. I stroked his wet head and tucked him into bed and realized in another year or so I won't be doing that anymore, either.

Of course I want my boy to grow up strong and independent, but it's hard to lose these little pieces of him. He is such a sweet, gentle little boy, it's hard to imagine him as an adolescent. Hard to imagine myself without a little boy who wants to sit on my lap and hug me and play with me. Who loves me more than anyone in the world.

G told me that on the way back from their trip last weekend, Grayson asked him if he believed in Santa. Sigh. I will have to remember to hold on tight to every minute now....

Friday he goes back to his dad for the last week of summer, and then I get him back full time. I have enjoyed having some time to myself in the summer, but it's been too much! I feel as if he has spent all summer with his dad. When he's with me, it feels like we barely have time to get used to each other before he's gone again. I'll be glad for the beginning of the school year and the return of a normal schedule for us. It's selfish of me, but I don't care. I've missed him!