And Dirty thinks I'm Hermione...

So we are looking into a language immersion school for Monkey next year because we aren't thrilled with our kindergarten option and he didn't test into the "gifted" (but really accelerated not gifted) school. Originally, I was turned off of the school because it's a Charter School. In my circle, Charter School=The Devil because when children go to the charter schools, the money that the government uses to pay for their education, is redirected from the public schools to the charter schools. There is a whole moral side to this that I now feel bad about. I am contributing to the decline in enrollment to the public schools and taking away the money that would follow my child through the public school system. I am not completely able to put all my feelings eloquently into words on the subject and therefore, I digress.

At this point in time, there are two language options: French and Spanish. I believe living in America that Spanish would be the most useful. I took French in high school and have never used it. I didn't even use it when I went to Canada to be perfectly honest. The French teachers at the school, and apparently the staff as well, all push for the French option. Their argument, French is spoken in more countries throughout the world than Spanish. Okay...that is true. French is spoken in more countries throughout the world and a heck of a lot of those countries are teeny tiny countries, and larger coutries, in Africa, a few countries in Europe, Canada (And who really counts Canada? I kid.), Haiti, then finally tiny remote islands in the Pacific ocean.

Spanish on the other hand is spoken throughout Central America and South America and by so many people throughout the United States. I wish that I took Spanish in high school. There have been so many instances when I could have interacted with people. The Scientist's friend in first grade's mom was from Ecuador and she wasn't comfortable enough to speak to me in English. His other classmate, J, I don't know where her family was from but again there was a language barrier and her mom only felt comfortable talking to the mom from Ecuador. In both instances, the most interaction we had was saying hello and smiling. Most conversations were stunted after that. Anyway, I decided that the Spanish option was the most practical since Mandarin isn't available yet.

Now, I would like to give a brief excerpt from my conversation with a staff member who was pushing the French option:

Enrollment Lady (EL): Have you decided which school?

Me: Yes, Spanish. I have no plans to move to the Great White North.

EL: Well, it would help with pronunciation of the street names. For instance, it isn't show-tow; it's Shuh-toh, and it's pah-pahn; not pay-pin.

Me:(thinking) It's not win-GARD-ium levi-OH-sah; it's win-GARD-ium levi-oh-SAH. Yes, we live in a French settled city. Yes, we pronounce the street names incorrectly. French is still a useless option in my opinion. It doesn't seem like a strong enough argument to learn a language just so you can pronounce the street name correctly. I've gone my entire life without people pronouncing my name correctly. I got over it by the end of high school.

I apologize if I've offended anyone by my lack of interest in using or learning French or in thinking that it is at all useful. I guess it's also obvious that the way these French speakers conduct themselves in promoting French just rubs me the WRONG way.

Not anything new...

but I'm so very excited to have my acceptance to UMSL's College of Nursing. I had to apply as an undergraduate before applying for clinicals, and even though I had that acceptance I didn't feel like I could call myself an UMSL student. Now, I am proud to say, "I'm a nursing student at UMSL." Sure I haven't actually started my Clinical Major, but I have acceptance to start. Knowing that makes my insides feel bubbly. GOOOOOOOO TRITONS! (Which can I say seems like an odd mascot since it's not living? Are there other inanimate object mascots? I can't off the top of my head think of any.) YAY!

I have my advising appointment in April on my birthday. That is when I'll get to register and get my official UMSL id. I can't wait, but I am also trying to enjoy my time at the community college. It's going to get pretty hectic once I start clinicals. I won't have my Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays off anymore. As Jillian Michaels says, "You don't get to the finish line and stop. You finish stronger than you started." That's how I want to finish out my community college career. I'll start by getting back to the four short stories that I need to read for tomorrow morning's class.

SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Today, I hitched up the trailer bike, and Monkey and I rode over to the R.'s house for a morning playdate. The ride was a little brisk but not bad overall. It was one of the first times in a while that AR and I were actually able to sit and talk without child interruptions every 30 seconds. Afterwards, Monkey and I rode home taking a slight detour through the park. It was a really nice morning.

The mailman was delivering mail as we pulled in front of the house. I opened the door and let Monkey in, and when I looked down I saw a packet...from UMSL...it's the piece of mail that I've been waiting for for just over a month!!!!! I opened the packet and skimmed the cover page. It's a packet!!! It has eight items!!! It says it contains an acceptance letter!!! I then moved to the actual letter. "Dear Me, I am pleased to inform you that you will begin the Clinical Major in Fall 2010 at the College of Nursing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis." SQUEEEEE!!!!!! I immediately called Dirty and posted a status update on Facebook.

I am so excited. I got in. I am relieved. I didn't apply anywhere else. If I didn't get into UMSL's program my four year plan would be totally screwed. I didn't really want to go to Chamberlain. At the moment, it isn't one of the schools in the area that is very reputable. I think that is mainly due to newness in the area. SLU and Maryville aren't really an options due to price. Barnes-Jewish admits on a first come-first serve basis and I didn't apply soon enough. I feel like I can take a deep breath. I don't have to worry so much about my classes as long as I can keep up a "B" average, which shouldn't be a problem because I have had, up until this point, straight "A's." I did get my first "B" on a paper today though. I have to admit that I didn't do my best. What was I thinking making page long paragraphs? I am not going to just stop trying in my classes, but the stress of keeping straight "A's" to get into a merit based program isn't quite as necessary. Phew.

Morning Routine...

There are only so many moments where I feel I get the chance to really focus and connect with my boys. For most of the morning, while we're getting ready for school, there's so much silliness between them. It's mostly potty humor with "butts" and "pooping" being the main focus. They are little boys after all. I try to limit this because it's really easily escalated to running at top speed through our apartment. (I'm still processing The Scientist breaking his arm in this way; running through the house, not the potty talk. I was the cause of the fracture.) Somehow though, we are able to complete our routine in time for Monkey's bus.

I usually supervise, heavily mind you to keep on schedule, the getting ready of Monkey. He tends to sleep later which gives him less leniency with his time. Plus he's a little boy, and he hasn't quite trained his body to focus yet. Eat, get dressed, brush teeth, put on coat and backpack, head to bus stop. These are the steps to our morning. I walk with Monkey alone to the bus stop. The Scientist continues getting ready while we're gone.

As we walk, we sometimes hold hands. I don't check my phone. My undivided attention is his. Sometimes we see special birds. Sometimes there are questions that pop into his head. "Which one is our Christmas tree?" "Why did daddy put it there?" "Which one is a yard waste dumpster?" "Why is it green?" Sometimes I ask him questions about the night before. "How was gymnastics?" "What did you do last night?" "What was your favorite part?"

Most days he runs ahead to the corner. Every single time I get nervous. I wonder if he'll remember to stop at the corner? Once I catch up, he usually finds a game to play. When it snowed, he threw "snowballs" at me. This morning and yesterday morning, he wanted to break up the ice in the gutter. I usually stand and watch for the bus to turn onto the street at the end of the neighborhood. As soon as I see it, I tell him that his bus will be there soon. He always gets a little giddy when I tell him. This makes me sure of the fact that, while sometimes he is not motivated to go to school, once he's moving in that direction he enjoys himself.

As the bus pulls up in front of us, I offer him my hand. Partially, this is to make sure he doesn't run out too quickly. The other part, is because I don't know that he'll always let me take his hand. One morning he didn't want me to walk him to the door of the bus. It was bittersweet. Luckily, it only happened once. I give him the option now that he's done it once, "Do you want to do it yourself or do you want me to take you?" I now ask him daily as I offer my hand. I lean down so I can hear him better over the street noise. Every time, since that one time, he says, "I want you to take me." My heart melts. He still needs me. He still wants me. I walk him to the door and say "Good morning." to the bus driver, and "Bye Monkey." as he steps onto the bus. Then, I walk back to the curb. I can still feel the warmth of his little hand in my palm. I stand and wait. I watch to see if he'll remember to wave goodbye.

Most mornings, he does. I watch him put his seat belt on. Then, I see his little face, grinning widely, peering out the window. He waves to me. Again this feels bittersweet. He won't always look out the window smiling, waving. One morning we were fighting. I put my foot down and wouldn't let him take two different toys that each had many pieces to lose. He was angry with me. He wanted to take the pieces. He wanted to take both action figures. I wouldn't bend. There was no time for negotiations. Despite bus schedule regularity, I'm always anxious we'll be late. We never are. The walk that morning was tense. He was so angry. As we walked, he listed reasons why it was fine for him to do what he wanted. I tried to explain why it was not. We did the routine.

I told him when I first saw his bus. As it pulled up, I offered my him my hand, he took it. Now, I recall this was the morning he wanted to walk to the bus himself from the curb. His being angry with me pushed him to grow a little. I gave him his space. I supervised him from the curb. I watched him put on his seat belt. He turned his head to look out the window. He was smiling! I was surprised. He was just so angry with me. I watched his eyes as he remembered he was angry. He tried so hard to change his smile to a frowning, pouting face. That morning, like some other mornings, the bus driver took a little longer to pull away. That morning, like the other mornings, I was grateful for those precious extra seconds. In that time, he couldn't turn his smile into a frown. He began to laugh and smile again. He waved in a sort of silly resignation and turned forward as the bus pulled away.

It was over. He was fine. We were fine. In the mornings, after his bus pulls away I feel light as I walk back to the house. He's five already. He rides a bus to school. He still needs me and misses me while he's gone. Sure I enjoy the time during the day when the boys are away. I also miss my time with them as a stay at home mom. We need time away from one another though. It makes those times together that much more special. I've been so lucky to stay home with them those first few years when they develop so much socially and emotionally. I 'm so lucky to get those few precious minutes of just he and I in the morning when he's so confident and happy to move forward in his day. It makes me feel as if I'm made of air and light.

Over the Holidays and then some...

This is take two because the first take my slideshows were set to some music that I didn't endorse or approve. It's going to just be slideshows, I think.

Thanksgiving/Christmas Celebration with my dad's side of the family:

My brother, A, came into town and visited with my dad's side of the family. He hasn't done that in many, many years. He spent most of the time with my dad, stepmom, and two brothers, R and N. Then we got together with my dad's siblings and "the cousins" on Saturday for our traditional Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration. This year, my aunt's typical planning craziness included a Christmas Cantata that included worship and a sermon from her pastor. She was almost lynched though when she wanted to have the cantata before the food. We L's LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our food. So to postpone dinner was a dicey gamble. It was a fun time. Then A came home with me and the next morning my brother K, his wife M, and their boys T and G, met us for brunch at MoKaBe's. It was a good time.

Our tree farm trip:

First our car started acting funny and we had to take it to the mechanic. By the time we got on the road, The Scientist was SO CRABBY! We did everything we could to appease, or ignore him (in a nice way), to let him know that we were trying to give him an experience. It took a little creativity and patience.

Christmas:

Dirty's mom came to visit us for a week and he took off the whole week. It was a really, really nice way to start the Holiday break. Monkey developed an uncanny ability to guess what presents were. He guessed what most of the presents were that he was getting. It was completely crazy. We enjoyed a lot of family time and I didn't want the break from school to come to an end for the boys. They did start acting like my sweet boys again. So it's good to know that in two weeks, I can dust off the snotty, disrespectful attitudes and have the awesome, loving children that I raised thus far. Oh, and next year, I'm getting the boys, and maybe even Dirty and I, pajamas for Christmas Eve. Our Christmas morning pictures are a bit white trashy with The Scientist with no shirt and Monkey with no pants. You live and you learn. I try to anyway. ha.

AAAAHHHHH........

That's me breathing in a deep big breath. I made it through the semester. My children are acting a bit like kids whose parents don't spend enough time with them. I'm hoping I can reverse that over the my winter break. I'm very hopeful. I know that my sweet, considerate, loving children are in there just below the surface and I will get that back. That's the child update and now onto the family update.

It's only been three days since I finished my final and I already feel like I've crammed a ton of family-time into those few, short days. Friday was laid back and relaxed. I took Monkey to the bus stop and The Scientist to school. Once there, I was invited to coffee at one of the other mom's house. My original plan was to head to Target and get some shopping done, but it's hard to pass up coffee and visiting with people you like, so I went there instead. Oh and LK brought donuts. I think they were from the place on Southwest. I can't remember but they were good. Anyway, after leaving there I did end up at Target. I spent two hours walking around and trying on clothes. I only ended up with a skirt and a dress, but I like them both a lot and only spent fourteen dollars. Awesome. After Target, I went to El Burrito Loco and got their specialty, El Burrito Loco, and went home to eat it. I was starving after shopping and the drive home from near Carondelet Park to my house just north of Tower Grove Park was excruciating. I watched nutjobs get followed with a camera Jersey Shore and ate my burrito. Then I headed to Monkey's class party. They didn't celebrate any holidays because there is one Jehovah's Witness, but there were two birthdays so there were cupcakes and singing. I was miserable throughout the afternoon after El Burrito Loco, but I pushed through.

Saturday I cleaned in the morning and my MIL came in a little after lunch. We had a nice time visiting in the afternoon. Then everyone got ready to go out. I took the boys to my Aunt L. and Aunt J.'s house. We met my mom, her husband C., my brothers J and A, and my brother K, his wife M, and their kids T and G. Unfortunately, Monkey had NOT taken a nap and he was great for about an hour, but then he was bouncing off the walls. My aunts are very particular about their Christmas tree. My aunt J keeps each individual box to put the ornaments back into. They used to have pretty indestructible ornaments when they had cats, but they no longer have cats. I was on pins and needles all night about Monkey darting around.

He was extremely fast and precise in his movements and I was having trouble keeping up in the small space winding around people. He kept turning on the same Charlie Brown Christmas ornament of Linus saying his Christmas speech. That was fine, but it scared the crap out of me when he would dart at the tree. It was like a praying mantis. One of the times I thought he was going for the ornament and I went to spot him and make sure that's all he did, but instead, he went straight past the tree, picked up this little ceramic vase thing, walked around the island, up to the refrigerator and tried to stick the vase thing on it in the span of about one and a quarter seconds. It didn't stick though and instead crashed to the ground making a skin cringing shattering sound. I wasn't too far behind, but not close enough to catch it. UGH! My aunt turned around and said a little sternly, but more entertained, "What was that?" I apologized profusely and she said she'd been hoping that thing would break so she could get rid of it. Thanks Aunt L.

That started the extremely hectic portion of the evening where my kids only wanted sugar due to tiredness leading me to defending the food from their little monkey paws and them snapping at each other, and at times Monkey would hit. It was awful and I kept remembering conversations with other moms when we would wonder why So and So's kids are so awful to each other. I mentioned above that I think it stems from lack of parental interaction and I've noticed it slowly getting worse since I started back at school. ICK! At least I know there is a problem and we're going to attack it.

Sunday I went to breakfast with my mom, C, my brothers, SIL and nephews. We went to City Diner because I thought I remembered a friend saying that it would be a good place to take my vegan brother...it was NOT a good place to take him. Everyone else seemed to like it enough. I would have rather gone back to MoKaBe's though. But my mom needed to get back to Ohio to write a paper and get back to work. Poor A was stuck eating french fries and that was it. Sorry A. After that, my MIL had the boys help her make breakfast sandwiches to freeze for the week. Then she took them to Washington, MO for a sleepover and visiting with family.

Dirty and I hardly knew what to do with ourselves. We went to the place I despise and would sometimes rather be submitted to test out medieval torture devises than step into Wal-Mart where we had gift cards. However, without children and only one child husband to appease while shopping it was almost pleasant. I was able to get a sewing machine for under $100 AND it also comes with a subscription reimbursement for Martha Stewart Living. Major score. Plus later when we got home, we realized that the guy who couldn't wait to get around us, when we were waiting for another couple to come out of their aisle at Wal-Mart, bought us a 5 pack of Hanes V-neck undershirts. Thanks Rude Dude. Although, I don't think that will make him any more chipper this holiday season, but we got a kick out of it.

We also went out to lunch and it was one of the most freeing feelings of eating out without your kids. After the evening spent at my aunts' house, I really needed that. While there, I asked if he wanted to go see The Road. By the time we hit another handful of stores and got to the movie theater, Dirty mentioned that we still hadn't seen New Moon and it was going to be another 2 hours. It was going to be two more hours at The Galleria too, but I argued that at least we could look around for more Christmas gifts. Now for my New Moon theater going story...

This story isn't that great, but it's a little funny. We got to the theater and I didn't expect a ton of people since it's been out for a while. We ended up being two of 11 movie patrons. There were five other ladies only one of which came by herself. The other four came in pairs. Then there were two homosexual couples who I think came for this. One of the couples I overheard remarking about Jacob Black stating that he was "born that way. It isn't a lifestyle choice." I have to say I might be one of those creepy women waiting for Jacob Black to reach the age of majority. He was pretty fine. I think Dirty liked him too. He kept saying the line from Austin Powers, "Women want to be with him, men want to be him." We then came home and wrapped presents and had cocktails. It was a really nice night.

Today, Dirty went for a bike ride. I worked out. Then the boys came home and we ate lunch. Monkey went down extremely easily for a nap, and I took a three hour nap on the couch. Once we were up, we attempted shopping again with the boys. That didn't work. We ended up at Toys 'r Us and the boys were able to spend some of their Christmas money. I tried checking my grades on my phone and it worked. Straight A's baby!!!!! I guess that there have to be some sacrifices and I'm processing how I feel about my children acting like hoodlums. Like I said before, I'm hoping to reverse that over this winter break...as well as apply for nursing schools...and check out kindergarten teacher options for Monkey...and of course, to take a nice relaxing break after busting my hump this semester.

Winding down the semester...

I don't have much time to make a big long post. I'm in preservation mode to get through the semester with straight A's. I'm may be a bit in denial about how much work I have ahead of me. I do have a ton to do, but am working on one task at a time while also making sure to keep a tally of all the things that need to be done by December 17th. I went to see the UMSL School of Nursing. It's competitive right now, but I'm hoping all the hard work I've put into school, this time around, will give me an edge. I really liked the campus. It made me excited to start the nursing school portion or this trek, but like I said...one task at a time. BUT I have registered for classes next semester and am in the process of applying to UMSL while also looking into other options because of the competitiveness.

The Scientist (until I can come up with a suitable nickname) broke his arm on Thanksgiving. The story is basically this...he was having trouble getting motivated to get his coat on to leave, I challenged him with "I bet you can't make it into the kitchen in two seconds," he did but ran full tilt into the door frame. I knew he was really hurt (not that hurt, but hurt) and after consulting Children's Hospital's website decided with The Scientist to "watch and wait." He went through Thanksgiving day flinching every now and then, but doing most things as normal. We called the nurses line the next day. She suggested not going to the emergency room, but go ahead and see the pediatrician. Once there he recommended x-rays and that led to a six hour wait for the orthopedic pediatrician to decide whether to cast or splint the fracture. He's good now but milking the "I can't write" angle for all it's worth. To an extent we're going along with it. That may change once we go see the orthopedic nurse practitioner tomorrow.

Otherwise, we've been busy with schools and gymnastics and family get-togethers for Thanksgiving/Christmas. The Scientist was asking me today what we do as a family to celebrate the holidays. He didn't realize that we start Christmas at Thanksgiving and that goes until New Years. Busy, busy, busy.

You will also notice that I've changed the background layout of my blog. Thanks Half! I snatched the website from you.