Bribery

Daughter, arriving at 2am: "Mom, I'm cold."
Daughter in my bed at 3am: "T-e-n spells ten! Hey! Mom! I can spell ten!"
Daughter in my bed at 4am: sits bolt upright, an announces in manner of eureka: "Hey! I can draw fruit!!"
Finally made warm milk for daughter, which worked.
Son, arriving at 6am: "Mom. I'm bored to death."

And this is why they are having a sleepover at grandma's tonight.

Oh Yeah!

Am happily bragging today about my great emailed news from the magazine Appleseeds: my pitch to write a piece on medieval "dirty work" got accepted for one of their upcoming themed issues! Now, how to write a long and interesting piece, and then hack it back into a well- crafted 300 word mini-masterpiece ... I got done with my first example of wonderfully disgusting work and it was already at 344 words, so clearly I should aim for haiku.

The Two Year (k-12) Itch

Son, eating breakfast: I'm not going to school today. Yesterday, I quit.
Me: No you didn't.
Son: I... retired?
Me: Nope.
Son: Oh! I dropped out!
Me: NO, YOU DIDN'T.

Week? What week?

We elected to skip: the city trick or treat, the YMCA trick or treat, and the university safe trick or treat this year in honor of "we survived a play and then got fevers so really, we should stay home in the evening" week. We then celebrated birthay number 8 for Son. Guest of honor at the party: a vulture! and an owl, scorpion, snake and hissing cockroach, all from the university's Nature Reach. I do actually feel like a cool mom, having figured out how to work education into a birthday party... and it was the first one the NR had ever done one, too. There, that's my boast for the day!

We spent many hours this weekend selling boyscout popcorn at the supermarket, outdoors. The boys had many, many opportunities to help folks to their cars and return carts!

And then... there was trick or treating. We had a pega-corn (unicorn with wings) which was son's costume when he was 2, but daughter at 5 can squeeze into it like it's an amazing pair of knickerbockers. She complemented the look with stripy tights. Son wore a skeleton costume, and his bag is also a cloth skeleton with legs and head, so he held it up and told everyone it was his kid brother, a pain in the neck. What hams.

Me, to determinedly trudging daughter, on the walk home: Shall we slow down? We're nearly home.
Daughter. Nope. I have GOT to get to bed!

Shakespeare in Love

So Midsummer Night's Dream was gorgeous, in every respect. My two carried themselves beautifully, bien sur! Daughter and her BFF, another 5 year old, wooed and won the audience easily. Son was on stage a bit more as the changeling boy, and also did well. We (I, and mom of daughter's BFF) spent the first three of the four productions (and all rehearsals) in the green room, getting the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern view of the production. It was lovely to be out front and actually see it all from the flip side. It was great spectacle.

And now, we have bona fide theater brats. This minute, they are creating a three-ringed circus, in PJs. Daughter is tech designer and props manager. She has taped elaborate cutouts from construction paper to the legs of chairs tipped upside down. Son has balloons, and a stick. He is trying to kick balloons from a handstand position. He says all he needs now is a hula hoop, and fire, and he'll have a ring of flame... I think they are applause junkies, but have locked away all sources of fire.

And a thank you to wonderful teachers: Mrs G, the kindergarten teacher of our two five year olds (and both their older brothers) who came on Friday night and stayed to adore them for ages after the show, which is why we adore her too; Mrs S and Mrs T, the second- and fourth- grade teachers of both brothers, who also came and were generous with their time. The kids felt so proud to have their own comp tickets to bestow, and felt even prouder when their teachers came. Thank you so much for giving so much!

Break a leg!

There is much glitter in our household as both children are cast (I use that term loosely, since hubby is the director) in the main stage production of Midsummer Night's Dream. They are: Changeling boy and Spring fairy. They have: big hair, much hairspray and glitter, much body paint, and amazing costumes. They are: excited (they did the high school production this morning, but it's opening night tonight...) and exhausted. Their hair is still up from this morning's production, and they are flitting around in the in-betweenness of shows, bestowing glitter around the house. Despite daughter's horror the first time someone told her "break a leg," they are by now green room regulars, and as bored with makeup and hair routines as the most seasoned actors. Spring fairy did just break Changeling boy's glasses a few minutes ago, and when I asked her "are you injured?" (after checking on son) cried: "no, but I'm huuuuuurt!" in a more "unstrung" than "spring" fairy-like way. A student this afternoon told me I had glitter under my nose. I shrugged. She said it kept catching the light. I thought: I have cool fairy boogers. Wait 'til I tell the kids!

Fair Enough!

Son, immediately on entering the house at 3.20pm: "Great, can we eat?"
Me, perplexed: "Why are you so hungry?"
Son, as if it's obvious: "Because I just spent seven hours in an elementary school!"


Ironically, in addition to a school-provided snack, a home-provided lunch, and a PTO-provided carmel apple (at the afternoon reading celebration), I figured it was indeed a fair comment. After all, I had only spent two hours in the same elementary school, and was ... hungry too. And pooped. People who spend all day in elementary schools but who are not themselves elementary school students: Kudos to you! Me, I'd have to keep pockets full of chocolate. But I had my first lovely session with a second grader (not my own) to begin story development with them for their young author stories they will write after the winter break. Forty five minutes flew by, and second grader number one has a map and story notes. Her story is going to be a hit!