He's forgetful and today I am grateful

Last night at church, the boys went their separate ways (to their designated classes or groups). J is in the youth group (middle school & high school kids) and I'm not totally sure he pays attention to what is being said by the pastor. When he came downstairs after his service was done, he handed me a sheet of paper. All he said was, "Here," and handed it to me. I glanced at it and it was a permission slip. I said, "What's this for?" He said it was for next week's gathering and after I really looked at it, it was for the holiday party. I asked how much it cost as there is usually a fee involved when I'm handed a permission slip. He said it didn't cost anything. I looked down at where it said "Cost:" and saw that it said "Offering for a Wii." I asked who the Wii was for, like if it was for the youth group, and he said it was for old people. I said, "Old people? What old people?" He said the youth group was going to some place that had old people. I was thinking maybe a nursing home or something but not totally sure. I said, "How old are these old people?" He said, "I don't know. They're just old." I then asked how much he was going to give to the offering. He said, "Well, I have two quarters." WHAT???? TWO quarters? That's it????? I got mad and let him know it.

Have I not raised him to be sacrificial? I thought I had. Of course, he came to live with us when he was eight, and before that he had been given everything he wanted without having to work for it. Spoiled little kid to some extent, but living in squalor and filth didn't make up for it. I know that my birthday came and went and he never would have lifted a finger or done anything for me, being that he's 12 and self-centered, but my husband made him go shopping for a present for me. Apparently J, at the cash register, remembered he hadn't brought his money and/or debit card. So, after the fact, I learned that J still owed my husband the money for the present. I told hubby to just transfer the money from J's bank account to his (hubby's) and be done with it. The fact that J doesn't want to part with his money is one thing, but to only offer 50 cents out of his stash of at least $100 is pathetic. Fifty cents for the Wii offering - not my present. I know that ended up being $25. Hubby made J spend a good amount because I am mom and I have done so much for him.

When we got home from church last night, I was still on J's case and hubby said "Are you going to lay off him now?" I said, "No, because for some reason he is being very selfish and unwilling to part with his money. He won't even pay you back for my birthday present!" And at that, hubby agreed with my point of view about the offering. J had gone to put on jammies and went into the bathroom. I was walking down the hall when he came out of the bathroom, and he just walked right past me without saying a word, went into his room, closed the door and turned off the light. I said, "Goodnight to you, too."

This morning I was ready for the worst from him and was ready to discuss the issue rationally and without getting angry. Well, he was in a great mood and either forgot about the whole topic entirely or just didn't care. He gave me a hug and started talking about the weather. Fine. I am actually relieved. However, I know it'll come up again and we'll have to talk about why he only wanted to offer 50 cents towards a Wii. I actually want to e-mail the youth pastor to find out exactly what the holiday party activities will be and who these "old people" are. Maybe he can enlighten me.

The hiding place

Keeping stuff off K's floor didn't last long. That little guy thought he had all the answers. He was putting things on the floor between his bed and the wall where he thought no one would look. This morning, my husband went into that bedroom to check out how clean (or messy) it was, and he noticed a bunch of stuff between the bed and the wall. There is about a 12" x 5' area between the bed and the wall. Here is what hubby found:

last week's homework, not turned in
several pieces of Knex
Bakugon
green marker
knit hat
2 posters rolled up
Ben-10 watch
spy scope
book
pair of dirty socks
dirty underwear
baseball
3 juggling balls
hair clip - actually, K said he "found" it in the classroom. Why he didn't hand it in, I'll never know
a few miscellaneous plastic toys

What I am most pleased about is the Ben-10 watch and the spy scope. These were sources of light for K and he played in his room when he was supposed to be sleeping.

The pup dog

No, we don't have puppies but we do have dogs. One has gone off to the vet today as she has a lump on her side. She's also quite the fatty. I look at this picture of her (she's 7) and it looks like she's laughing. Anyway, she's had a lump on her side for a while now and it has grown in size. It started out the size of a dime and now it is like a small potato. Time to do something about it! It doesn't seem to bother the doggy, but it bothers us to look at it. I hope she's ok!

This is Shelby. Shelby Girl, the Mustang Mama. She follows me wherever I go. She's my shadow. If one of the kids is looking for her I'll hear, "Where is Shelby?" The other child will say, "She's with mom." (smile)

I'm on to him

He can't get away with his old tricks anymore. I'm talking about my 12-year-old son, J. He can't pull the same stunts with schoolwork that he pulled in 6th grade. He's in middle school this year - a big 7th grader - and he is already flunking one subject. I believe it's due to his lack of organizational skills and the fact that he has ADHD. He's on meds for his disorder, but 7th grade is a totally different ball game than 6th grade. He has six different classes which means six different teachers. He has to come up with some way to keep from being scatterbrained. I guess that's my job as a mom. I've got to figure out something that works for him and me. I'm the one that helps the kids with their schoolwork.

I am grateful that J's school is techologically advanced. Grades, assignments, attendance, agendas and the like are posted online. YIPPEE! It's every parent's dream! I check J's records a few times a day. Yesterday, for example, I knew (before he got off the bus) that he's running an F in History. When I asked him why his teacher gave him an F, he had all sorts of excuses. My first instinct was to blow up at him but I held back and kept my anger inside me. Instead, I told him that if he was unsure about anything regarding schoolwork, he could just come to me or his dad. We are here to help him. Apparently he had to make a bookcover for his textbook. Seeing as how he had no clue what to do, he just decided not to do it at all. When I talked to him about it, I told him that he could have asked us. I remember making bookcovers out of brown paper bags when I was a kid! When I was done with work, I went upstairs and gave him a bag. I asked for his book and he said he left it at school. Of course. Gee, I should have known! Also, J left his binder for all classes at home. On top of it was an assignment due today (I believe) for... you guessed it - History! UGH!

This morning I am on top of it and already have e-mailed J's Shop teacher to ask about the Shop fee that is due next week. J says he has no idea how much it is and what it's for. Hmm... me thinks he isn't paying attention in class. He got a B- on Bandsaw Safety and he needs a perfect score.

In my not-so-spare time I need to brainstorm and think of a way to get him to stay organized. I am not sure how to go about this. My life is busy enough as it is and now I have to help him with his school issues. Well, hey, I'm a mom! I should be used to this by now, right? I think I got so used to summer that I'm having problems adjusting to the school year. It's only the third week of school, so I figure by October I should have a game plan in place. Pray for me! :)

Back to the topic of messy rooms & toys being taken away

I thought of something yesterday and was thrilled at my bright idea! I just had to find hubby and tell him. First off, you know how I mentioned in an earlier post that things found on the floor in the kids' rooms would be removed permanently? Well, in the middle of the night I thought of this: What if we wrapped up those toys and re-gave them to the kids at Christmas? Brilliant! Or so I thought. Hubby didn't like that idea. He figured they would never ever learn to keep things picked up. They might think, "Gee, mom took this away but I'll get it back at Christmas." My thought process was this: "Gee, I took this away but I'll give it back at Christmas all wrapped up like a new present, and then I won't buy anything new." That didn't go over real well with hubby.

On the topic of cleaning up the rooms: When I was working in J's room, he found some books that he didn't know where they came from and said he could give them to K. They were a bit over K's head, but I figured we could save them for him. I had put them on K's dresser and this morning when I was looking for a book to read to K (who was not feeling well at the time), I looked closer at these two books from J's room. One was from J's classroom LAST year in 6th grade! The fact that J couldn't even REMEMBER where it was from ... I do recall that J didn't enjoy reading that book last year and he never even finished the first chapter. Hubby returned the book to the elementary school today while he was out running errands. I truly hope we don't find more things that belong to that school.

I've got a sick little boy

My deep slumber was rudely interrupted this morning at 4:15 a.m. My husband woke me up to say that K was sick and throwing up. When I got out of bed, my husband said, "He threw up in the living room and I'm cleaning that up."

I found my son in the bathroom by the toilet. I took his temperature and there was no fever. I asked him questions such as "how do you feel?" and "what hurts?" and he said his tummy was hurting and then he started crying. He then mentioned that he had puked in his room. I left him in the bathroom and went across the hall to his room and yes, indeedy, there was a pile of last night's dinner on the carpet. Yummo! NOT! I went and got the spray cleaner and paper towels from my husband and told him that K had vomited in his room as well. Hubby was not happy at all with that news. We used Oreck spot cleaner - the stuff works! Anyway, after I got that spot all cleaned up, I went back into the bathroom to talk with K and he told me that he also threw up in the dining room. WHAT??? UGH! I told him to stay in the bathroom and I went into the dining room and also mentioned to my husband (who was in the living room) that K told me he puked in the dining room. Ok... I will not repeat what husband said. Just some colorful words. I told hubby, "This is just like one of the dogs," as we have a dog who likes to puke after eating grass. Hubby said, "No, this is worse!" I asked K why he didn't throw up in the toilet and he said, "I didn't think of that."

After all the puke piles were cleaned up, and child was still complaining of a tummy ache, I gave him some Children's Pepto and he asked if he could go lie down. I told him that he could. I then went to hubby's laptop and went online to look for symptoms of Swine flu. Everything I read said it comes with a high fever and that wasn't what K was experiencing.

I went back to bed and woke up at 6 a.m. for work. I called the school to tell them that K would be absent today. K did finally wake up around 8:00 or so and told me that he had been puking all night, even after I had put him back to sleep. Great. Unfortunately, we had insulation blowers (people who install insulation) here and they had a hose running down the hall which sort of would be a distraction to a little boy needing to go puke in the toilet. I put a box of Kleenex and the bathroom wastebasket in K's room and told him that if he needed to throw up, he could do it in the wastebasket. I told him I would check on him every once in a while. I went back downstairs to work.

At 9 a.m. I went up to check on K and he said that he threw up in the wastebasket. I took his temp again and it was low. No fever. I am blaming last night's dinner which also gave me a stomach ache. Hubby threw out ALL leftovers from everything and we will start over for dinner tonight. K told me his legs were hurting so we gave him Children's Motrin and put him back in bed.

At 10, hubby told me the insulation was done and the guys were gone. I checked on K and he was awake and feeling a bit better. I decided to read some library books to him and he seemed to perk up. One was "Monsieur Saguette and His Baguette." If you haven't read that, please go check it out. It's hilarious! My son, who is 7, LOVED it!

Now it is is a bit past 12:30 and K is watching t.v. in the living room. I think he is feeling a lot better and I truly do think his stomach issues were due to something he ate. He even got dressed in his favorite Ichiro t-shirt.

Let's hope my other son doesn't feel ill! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Soccer season again

Yesterday was J's first soccer game of the season. He's been practicing for a few weeks now and yesterday's first game was a success. His team didn't lose! They didn't win, either. It was a tie. Score: 1-1. That's the way it is with soccer; the game is timed and when the time is up, you are stuck with whatever the score is.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon for a game. Last year, his team played in the mornings, rain or shine. We (as onlookers) were always cold and/or wet when the weather was bad and bundled up in coats and blankets. Mornings are chilly here even now, so I'm glad the games are in the afternoon this year.

We received the game schedule a couple weeks ago and noticed the time change for the games, but what we also noticed was that there will be no game over on the islands. Last year we had to take a ferry over to Whidbey Island for a game. Apparently the ferry system is used to having soccer players on board as there was a sign from the car deck to the stairs going to the passenger area (food area, tables, etc.) that said, "NO CLEATS!"

On the schedule we also noticed that J's team will play a team that they have never been able to beat. One player on the opposing team was very tall with blond curly/bushy hair. He was #12, according to his jersey. Oh, how we secretly wished he'd fall. That kid was never pulled out of the game to rest or be replaced. Why, no, why would his coach ever pull him out? He was their star player.

J had a couple head butts with the ball that moved the ball far across the field. Too bad he had a headache afterwards! He wasn't using his head properly, no pun intended. He didn't hit it with the right part of his head. His coach had said, "Use your forehead next time." J said, "If I'd have done that, I probably would have gotten hit in the nose." That's the thing with soccer - injuries. We had to sign a concussion waiver this year because of some new law. That made me realize that yes, my child could get hurt playing soccer. I guess I was in fantasy land last year or something and didn't bother to think that way. I'm more optimistic about things and don't really think of what could happen that is bad.

Anyway, we are looking forward to the next game and also the next practice. Practices are an hour long and the second half of practice is spent scrimmaging with another team. It's like a mini game and the kids have a lot of fun. They have fun during regular games, but their comments during practice are funny. A bunch of 12- and 13-year-old boys running amok on a field.