You win some.

Back at school, homework, activities; bought a house, need to scrape 80 year old wallpaper, paint, pack, move, changing jobs and still entrusted with making these little follows turn into good men  and responsible citizens of this planet. I'm not sure I'm getting it all on the mark.

Sam: Mrs. MacDonald told us today before “reading buddies” to make sure we were nice to the 2^nd graders. She said,  “you are huge to them. Think about how you would feel if your little brother or sister or cousin told you that one of your friends was mean to them”. I would say, ‘listen, that is my cousin, guys. What are you doing? That’s not ok and she is smaller than you and you can’t treat them like that. And if they continued I would just say, listen, Ellie, we’re just going to walk away.’ Because I would be so really mad if someone treated Ellie or Miles or Julia or even Aidan or Noah badly. And if Bailey goes to our school, nobody can be mean to her either.”

Incidentally, Eloise (Ellie) is 18 months old and Bailey is 6 months old. He's given this some thought.

Meanwhile in the second grade, they’ve been preparing “All About Me Biographies”. Obviously meant to work with all types of learners, we have seen at least four different drafts from fill-in-the-blank to free response. There was a final version but before that came home, we got a stack of these little introspectives in their shiny new take-home, puppy folders. Here are some things I’ve learned:

Aidan wants to be a scientist, feels special because he has a lot of friends, wants to have a lot of field trips, would like to improve his handwriting, is worried about learning cursive, thinks of himself as athletic and adventurous, dislikes poachers, Camp Ripen with Me (the group they shared a camp with this summer) and military time. He is excited about the new school building, was bored on the first days of school and wants to read more “big, long chapter books.”

These little eHarmony ads are cracking me up. So I move along to Noah’s collection of personals.

Noah feels special because he is a twin, is a little worried about new kids, excited about multipicion (though clearly has some ground to cover in spelling), wants to go to the Museum of Play and dislikes Camp Ripen with Me and being slapped in the face.

WAH WAH WHAT?!?!? 

Yes. This is clearly what it says in the line following “I don’t like_________”. On the top of his list was being slapped in the face.  I also dislike dirty diapers, haunted houses, watching people embarrass themselves and leaky plumbing, but would never choose them to rise to the top of things folks need to know about me.

I start compiling the list of people who will testify on my behalf when I try to get my children back from CPS.

No that is too drastic. I’m going to gather evidence.

“Aidan”, I call. “I love these pages all about you. Will you tell me about them?” Of course Noah is at his heels, dying to tell me about his too. I keep him waiting, knowing he’ll sing like a canary when it is his turn.

When Noah gets his shot, we talk about his stuff, just like I did with Aidan. They both really H-A-T-E Camp Ripen with Me (Mommy, I mean that really strong word). He lands on disliking being slapped in the face, laughing.  

Joan Crawford is leaving the building.

Me: You don’t like being slapped in the face?? Who could blame you?” Still he’s giggling. “When have you ever been slapped in the face?!

N:  Me and my brothers play that game sometimes.

“Your Honor, I am a good mother.  Please allow me to submit into evidence, the following story Mrs. MacDonald told us today before “reading buddies”...