Today my baby turns seven!  I can't believe that he is already in the 1st grade.  It seems like yesterday we were driving home from the hospital and stopping at Wendy's for a bite to eat. 

What can I say...he's the third and I was hungry.  We really did stop there on the way home with all three kids when Little G was about 20 hours old.

On my baby's 7th birthday I am posting seven bits of useful advise.  Maybe someday he'll read these words and realize just how smart his mama is.

1. Girls do not have cooties.  In fact, many of them can swing a light saber better than some of the boys you know.
2. School is not something to cry about.
3. There are no monsters in your closet.  Really.  I checked.
4. Chocolate bars are not a breakfast food.
5. You likely will not find a job where you can be barefoot 24/7.  Shoes are just something you have to get used to.
6. Girls love boys who make them laugh.
7. There is a special spot in a mama's heart for her baby boy.

Happy Birthday Little G.

How young is too young to have an inferiority complex?

My son's teacher told me today that he has been crying at random times pretty much every day. 

I was sad to learn this as he hasn't said anything to me about it. 

He was excited, and maybe a little bit worried, about first grade for most of the summer.  But, I would never have expected that he would be so emotional so early on in the school year.

I sat down with him tonight and talked to him about it.  I wanted to find out what was making him so sad and you know what he said, through his tears.

"Everyone has four pages written in their journal and I only have one.  No matter how hard I try I will never catch up to them."

Seriously....it's 1st grade.

Why is he so worried about what everyone else is doing?  I tried to explain to him that everyone works at their own pace and that one awesome page is just as good as three.  That school is not a contest.  That doing your best is the most important thing.

This did nothing to alleviate his anxiety about being the last person to complete his journal in the entire classroom. 

We've only been in school for two weeks.  He actually had trouble falling to sleep tonight because he "couldn't stop thinking about it."

I'm sitting here wondering what I've done to him to make him feel like he needs to be the fastest and the best all the time?  How can I make this better for him?  Is he always going to be this hard on himself?

Any suggestions?

Dear Little G.


Are you ready to tackle all that 1st grade has to offer?  There will be homework.  There will be reading and there will be math.

You may even have to sing in music class instead of just faking it.

I loved that you were both excited and nervous at the start of this year.  I think you are going to do just fine.  I am really looking forward to hearing you read to me again.  Don't tell your teacher, but I kind of let you slack off on that a little this summer.

You had a way of looking at me and convincing me that we were both on vacation.

I am excited to be taking just you to school this year.  It will give us a little extra one on one time in the morning.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you make a few more friends this year.  Some of your good buddies are in different classes this year and you are going to have to break out of your shell a little and talk to someone new.

Here's hoping for a great year, filled with firsts!

Love,

Mommy

Over the weekend, my family and I went to see our high school's presentation of the musical "Footloose."

My six year old son sat beside me fascinated.

He didn't really understand the story.

"Why aren't they allowed to dance?"

"It's the law," I said.

"That's a stupid law," he said.

He danced every time they sang and then asked me if that was against the law.

I said, "No.  It's just against the law in the play."

"That's good 'cause I like to dance," he said.

Two hours later it was over and I asked him if he liked it.

He said, "I liked all them songs but I'm not sure why it took them soooooo long to sing them.  We've been here for like 16 days."

My baby started kindergarten today.

Neither of us cried.

He rode the bus to and from school.

He brought home papers that he created.

He was animated and excited.

He was exhausted.

And he was surprised to learn that he had to do it again tomorrow.



Here he is with the sign I make everyone hold at the start of a new school year. I think, by the way he has his eyebrow cocked he finds the idea a little odd. That's okay, he's not the only one.

Grand prize winner gets their blog advertised on Jay's bald head! 

My daughters love to go and get their hair cut. They really look forward to it and they put a lot of thought into just how they are going to get their hair done. It is kind of funny to me because most of the time I can't get them to brush their hair without a fight, but say "Who wants a haircut?" and they jump right up. Sunday was no different. As soon as I mentioned that it was a possibility they started drawing potential hair styles.

Middle G, above, decided that she was going short and getting bangs. I don't think she's ever had bangs, at least not recently enough for me to remember. She was glowing in the salon chair and admiring her look before she was even finished. I'm pretty sure she continued to smile and brush her hair for the next three hours.



Big G, my oldest and the one who resembles me the most, also has my unruly, wavy and uber thick hair. She told the stylist that she wanted it much shorter in the back than in the front and low and behold this is a really good style for her type of hair. Who knew? Not, I. You can't see the back in this picture (I really should have taken one) but is is really cute.

Both of the girls are totally excited about their new looks and encouraged me to cut off a lot of mine and to bring back the bangs I grew out more than two years ago. Maybe tomorrow I'll post a new one of me.

One things for sure, I won't look nearly as cute as these two.