Mommathon

I got some new wheels this weekend. When we started the search, I knew I wanted a Nissan Pathfinder. We went and looked and test drove one, but they didn’t have the kind we wanted. So we went down the way to the Saturn dealership. They have the Outlook which is comparable and had some standard safety features that the Pathfinder doesn’t come with. We test drove one…it was a little noisy and seemed to rattle a little. So we made our way over to Toyota. We looked at their Highlanders and took one for a test drive. We got a bargain. It had more features than either of the other two cars and we got a 2008 AND it was on sale. Woohoo!!! Then again, the car I was driving before was almost nine years old and didn’t have automatic anything, so it doesn’t take a lot to make me happy. (A big thank you to the grandparents who entertained the munchkins so we could get all of that done, too. )

This is a book of short stories which took me FOREVER to read, but was well worth it. (I think I checked it out from the library three different times.) It is also the first book I have read cover to cover in a very long time. (Selling a house and moving are not conducive to reading.) They are mostly true stories written about sons and the relationships they had/have with their mothers. Surprisingly, not too many tearjerkers. There was one towards the end that got me though. For those of you who do not have a son, there is also a daughter version.

Note to all people who might work with my children…if you have a rule or a guideline that you have established that pertains to the admittance of children into your program-stick to it! We had this problem with Montessori and potty training. Every time I spoke with them about potty training they seemed very willing to work with him. No problem. Send him. But when it came right down to it (and when I read the parent handbook) their policy is they have to be potty trained and when I spoke with the teacher at the back to school parent teacher night she said that he didn’t have to be potty trained, but that if he wasn’t potty trained soon after school started then they would have to dismiss him. Why would I set him up to be kicked out of school? If you have a policy…stick to it! You have that rule for a reason and it is probably a good one. This week Colm’s violin teacher and I had a couple of long talks about Colm’s readiness (or lack thereof) to play the violin. She also let me know that she doesn’t normally take students who haven’t had at least one year of preschool under their belts. Why didn’t she tell me this from the beginning? I would have been totally fine with waiting. We had already started with the other teacher and that is why she went ahead and took him, so I guess she had a good reason, but now I am left to make sure he understands that we aren’t quitting, we are just taking a “vacation” and I also had to explain to him why he doesn’t get to perform in the concert this weekend. He seemed okay with it. We’ll see.