National Book Festival

On Saturday the boys and I hit the Mall for this year's National Book Festival. I took a big chance on taking the boys by myself, but it was awesome! My expectations were very, very low, so that may have had something to do with it. But the boys really enjoyed it and they were very well behaved.

It didn't start off too well, though. I hit traffic driving into DC, and then I couldn't park where I was expecting to park. I found a spot close to my office, but then we had to make the long walk to the festival. I was trying to get there by 1:40 p.m. because I wanted to hear the book talk by Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the Magic Tree House books. I thought the boys would enjoy it. We hustled and got to festival and found the tent. It was packed, but I managed to shove urge the boys to get in closer. We got a spot where we could actually see the author and then waited for her to come on stage. The boys were tired. And cranky. They didn't like waiting.Then she finally came out and started talking. The boys were still tired. And even more cranky. They whined, "This is boring!"



Mary Pope Osborne in the black and white tunic

T. C. Boyle, author of Tortilla Curtain and many more!

So we bailed. My next goal was to get T. C. Boyle to sign a book for a friend of mine, so we headed toward the complete opposite side of the festival (I don't even know how many blocks, but it seemed like a LOT) where the authors were signing books. William wanted to go to the activities tent. Seth wanted to go to PBS Kids tent. I wanted to at least make an effort to get the autograph, so we stopped for ice cream and got in line for the book signing. It was a beautiful day, but we were in the blazing sun, and it got pretty hot. The kids sprawled in the grass in my shadow and ate their ice cream. I started talking to the woman in front of us. People around us commented on how well behaved the boys were. They started getting antsy. But then the line started moving. Oh my goodness! It looked like I might actually get the signature! The boys held it together, they handed T. C. Boyle the book when it was our turn, and he signed it! Mission accomplished!

After that, I told the boys we could do whatever they wanted for however long they wanted.

We went to the states tent and got a stamp for every.single.state on William's map. We went to the tent with Scholastic books and did crafts and watched an eStoria book.

We rode the Carousel on the Mall and waited in a RIDICULOUSLY slow line for what we thought would be Gatorade, which they were out of, and then maybe Sprite, which they had but they were out of ice so it was luke warm, but in the end, turned out to be water. I added more ice cream for good measure. Then we visited the PBS kids tent and then the Target tent and then we finally headed back to our car at around 5:30 p.m. The crazy part was that the boys  walked the entire way back to our car WITHOUT WHINING. Epic, people. Simply epic. Seth even commented on the fact that he wasn't even asking me to hold him.

Here's proof of their good moods on the walk to the car:

 

 

Seth enjoyed a cherry italian ice that stained his face for the rest of the day!

So, it turned out to be a great day. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the rest of our weekend, though. On Friday night, it was elementary school night at our high school's football game. The kids got in for $1, and they LOVED it. I don't think they watched the game for more than one minute, but William found a bunch of buddies and they all threw a football around in the grass. Seth stalked followed the school mascots, throwing them high-fives and hugs every chance he got. (The high school's mascot is a mustang, the middle school's is a huskie, the upper elementary's is a tiger, and Williams's school is a hippo.) Ed and I played man-to-man coverage and had to drag them home just after half time. We had fun and if the weather stays nice, we'll be heading back.

On Sunday, William had his 3rd tee-ball practice. He's enjoying it and already getting better. Here are two photos I snapped.

I'm so glad I enrolled him in this fall clinic. It's been a really good experience so far.

So that was our weekend. Lots of fun, but I'm still exhausted!

Public Parenting

We had a great weekend, highlighted by fantastic, early fall weather. We did the usual taekwondo, grocery shopping, t-ball practice (which William loves, btw). I got laundry done. Ed painted the railing of our 2nd-floor deck. We took the boys to our city's "Taste of" festival. The boys played outside with neighbors.

Which brings me to the subject of today's post: public parenting. Who doesn't hate having to parent in public? (And by parenting, I really mean disciplining, I guess.) We spent lots of time with our neighbors this weekend, and Seth (and William, too, to a lesser degree) provided me with plenty of opportunities to show off my stellar parenting skills. We did things like "swim" in our neighbor's jacuzzi, dig a big hole in another neighbor's yard, and "share" (or rather, not share) construction toys with neighborhood kids, during which I have to admit I uttered more than my fair share of "Stop it!," "Quit . . .!" "One . . . two . . . ," "Share," "Take turns," and other such weak parenting commands. It seems my children have perfected the art of tuning me out and challenging me in front of other parents.

Of course, I should be saying that my parenting in public is just the same as it is in private. Because, you know, I'm so consistent, *ahem,* and firm, and I know *ahem . . . ahem* how to set firm boundaries. But as you know, I keep it real in Working it Out, and the truth is, while I make every attempt to be firm and calm when disciplining my kids in front of other people (because, of course, I want other people to think that I'm awesome at this whole Mommy gig), on the inside I am DYING of shame and I'm second-guessing myself and I am looking for the least confrontational way to get out of the whole mess. All in all, I didn't do too badly this weekend, but in the end, it comes down to feeling judged--judged that you have a kid who would act this way--and feeling like a bad parent--because you have a kid who would act this way. Even though I KNOW that sometimes, it has NOTHING to do with parenting. Still.

Last week, I went to pick Seth up at school and I was waiting for him to clean up his mess, which he was attempting to refuse to do. His teacher laughed and said, "Seth, please don't make me go into teacher mode in front of your mom." And I laughed and said, "Seth, please don't make me parent in front of your teacher." I love, love, love my kids. LOVE them. But here's my dirty little secret: I HATE parenting.

Story Time

Lately, on our commute to and from work, Seth has been asking me to make up stories. Sometimes I tell a story, and then he tells a story. Sometimes we go back and forth, adding to the same story. I remember doing this exact same thing with William when he was Seth's age. And while it's lovely and gives us some great QT and no doubt further's Seth cognitive and creative and whatever-else development, HOLY MOLY IT'S EXHAUSTING.

Seriously people, I'm tired in the morning and I'm trying to clear my brain from the a.m. scramble and getting to work exhausted is just not a great way to start the day. And of course, by the end of the day I'm fried and I just want a few quiet moments to regroup before I start the evening scramble. But instead, I'm telling stories about talking animals who have to work together to solve problems and little boys who build really cool vehicles that can take them wherever they want to go and kids who find an abandoned construction site and work together to finish the building and mommies who want to stab themselves in the eyeball because they CAN'T GET A MOMENT'S PEACE . . . no wait, not that last one. Just got a bit carried away.

Anyway. really in truly, it's awesome that I have this alone time with Seth. Next year, he'll be going to kindergarten, and I'll be away from him for at least 10 hours a day. So for now, no matter how much peace in the car I crave, no matter how much my throat aches and my brain coils from 35 minutes of sustained talking and forced creativity, no matter how much I cringe when Seth says, "Let's tell stories!" I will not wish these days away. Because I know, with every fiber of my being, that when they're gone, I will want them back. It's the worst paradox of parenthood--wanting time to pass, and then wishing you had it all back.

Power Outages and Crazy $#@ Malls and Ear Infections

The title pretty much sums up our weekend. Saturday afternoon, a huge storm blew threw our neighborhood. We lost power around 4 p.m. We knew it was bad because an entire utility pole had been knocked down. So we packed up and headed to the mall.

Now, the mall closest to our house is crazy town. It is Christmas-crowded ALL THE TIME. Seriously. And if you enjoy people watching, it's the place to go. Every manner of person goes there. Every ethnicity you can imgaine, every age, every color, every style. It's madness. And the biggest madness of all is the kiddie play area. It is truly Hell on Earth. And my kids LOVE it. It is not for the faint of heart. It is pure, complete, unadulterated chaos. Kids of all sizes run around like banshees, jumping off of climby things, climbing onto climby things, knocking each other down, tripping, crashing, screeching.

Before we let the kids play there, we made them walk the length of the mall, and we didn't give them anything to eat (even though they were whining about how hungry they were) because we needed some leverage to get them the hell out of there when we couldn't take it any more. Even so, it still took a good bit of threatening chasing cajoling to get them to leave so we could go eat. We ate at the TGIFridays (we're so cheap!) and then went to Barnes & Noble, where I read multiple stories to the boys. We finally got home around 9:30, to a still-dark house. The boys were excited to use the flashlights and camping lanterns (battery-powered). We got their teeth brushed and pajamas on and they both slept in William's room with a lantern on. What a day!

Meanwhile, Seth has been complaining off and on about his ear hurting--at least for the last several days. I've also noticed he's been sneezing a lot and sniffling quite a bit. So today (Sunday) we went to the Minute Clinic to get his ears checked out. And sure enough, the poor guy has a raging double ear-infection. It hasn't slowed him down one bit, though. I forced him to take a nap in the afternoon while Ed took William to t-ball practice (William is taking a t-ball clinic this fall), and in the meantime, our power came back on (yay!). But then went out again two hours later. (Boo.) But then came on again about an hour and a half after that.

So the upshot is, we ordered pizza for dinner, and at 9:35 on Sunday night, I'm trying to finish up the laundry, and I sent Ed to the grocery store (which I NEVER do because he NEVER gets the right stuff). Oh well. I guess things could be much, much worse. In June, while we were in Florida, a Derecho came through our town and our house lost power for 5 days. We managed to miss that whole debacle (and I even paid our cleaning woman extra to clean out our fridge and freezer before we came back in town), so this was practically a cake-walk. And now, I have to admit, I'm actually not too sad to see Monday morning fast approaching. :-)

Five Things

William picked out five things to share with his classmates to help them get to know him better. Here's what he chose:

1. A poster of a great white shark, because he really likes sharks.
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (the book we're reading right now) because he really loves Harry Potter.
3. A trophy from his Taekwondo tournament, because he's been taking taekwondo for 2 years and he really likes it.
4. A rubber snake, because he really likes snakes and reptiles.
5. A picture of his family--and not just our immediate family, but his whole, extended family on his dad's side: grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, and cousins. (He wanted a picture that also included my side of the family, but I only have one picture, from our wedding day, which didn't include him or Seth, and he didn't want to give up another item, so we decided to just go with the one picture. LOL)

I think those were all pretty good choices. I might have Seth do this same exercise, because it's a great way to capture who the boys are, right now. As for me, I've been racking my brain trying to figure otu what five things I would choose for my bag. A picture of Ed and the boys, for sure. A picture of the Capitol, to represent my job and my interest in political history. A bookmark, to represent my love of reading. Maybe a copy of Cooks Illustrated magazine, because I enjoy cooking. (And I also love magazines.) And my blog book, to represent my blog--and my life!

So what five things would you pick?

First Day of First Grade

Today was William's first day of first grade! He took the bus to school and then went to after care. He was pretty excited when he woke up this morning. He had crawled into our bed last night and when he woke up, he got out of bed pretty quickly, and I wasn't sure where he had gone. I thought he might have gone downstairs to watch TV, so I got up to remind him that we don't watch TV on school mornings. Instead, I found him sitting quietly on the love seat in his bedroom, just thinking. So cute!

I also remembered to take a few pictures:

Here he is holding last year's first-day picture:

I like how Seth is smiling so serenely in these pictures. Not his usual MO, I assure you.

Anyway, when I picked William up, he seemed happy and said his first day of school was awesome. Hopefully, that's true! On Thursday, he gets to bring five items to school (that will fit inside a paper bag) to help his friends get to know him. We started talking about what he's going to bring tonight. Should be interesting!

Oh, Right--I Have a Blog!

Well, hello there. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm Beth, my husband is Ed, and we have two boys--William, age 6, about to start first grade, and Seth, age 4, in pre-k this year. I don't really know why I decided to take pretty much the entire month of August off from blogging. But I guess the mind does what the mind needs. And now I'm back! (Well, that's yet to be seen, I guess. Seeing as how I didn't exactly plan this last hiatus!) Anyway, on this Back-to-School Eve, I guess I should reflect on our summer, and give a brief update about what we've been doing.

Ed's sister and two of her three boys came to visit in late July, and the boys loved seeing their cousins. They spent an awesome day at Ed's uncle's farm, swimming, riding horses, and the ATV and Gator.

Later in August, we made our road trip to Charlotte, NC, to see my mom, brother, and Ed's sister and her family again. The boys loved it and both drives (there and back) were uneventful. Road trips are definitely getting easier as the boys get older! While we were in Charlotte, we visited their kids' museum (Discovery Place).

This last week of summer, Ed stayed home with William and the two of them went camping overnight in Maryland. They went hiking and fishing, and William almost caught a fish. William had a blast, and I can't wait for the four of us to go camping together.

Overall, it's been a really good summer. I didn't have any big plans or summer to-do list to knock out, but we still managed to do most of the things I wanted to do. We went to the beach. We visited family. William learned to swim. We went to the pool a lot. We went kayaking. We went to concerts in the park. And Friday night movies in the park. The boys rode bikes and played outside, a lot. And inside a lot. We went to museums. William read books, counted money, reviewed sight words, and even dabbled in a few of the workbooks I ordered at the beginning of the summer.

As for my year-to-date goals . . . wait a minute, goals? What goals? Ha ha ha. Actually, a friend of mine (Jen of the Funny Noses) always sees the beginning of the school year as the time to regroup, set new goals, renew commitments. I totally get that now. I'm feeling that same familiar urge to get organized, to focus on myself, to be a better me. I'm not going to bite off more than I can chew, but in the past few months, age 40 has hit me pretty hard and I haven't really been happy with myself. So it's time to dig deep, shed my baggage, and pick up the pace. I've never been good at changing. Inertia feels so much more comfortable. But that's no excuse for not trying. So, here I go again. Here's hoping that first grade is awesome, that pre-k continues to rock, and that the year I was 40 turns out to be the beginning of the best years of my life!