briefly...

Hi.

Brief recap...

Just set up 5 interviews for summertime babysitter for my merry crew.  Hope one of these college kids works out for us.  So far, the process has been fairly painless.

Had a great dinner out with some friends at a new fancy-pancy restaurant nearby last Friday night.  It was quite pretentious but was able to live up it, so I'll give it a favorable review.

Had a great talk with my favorite Palestinians over the weekend.  Also, connected via facebook with some friends in China.  It's so nice to have round-the-world conversation while sitting in my comfy house.

One had an overnight field trip with his class.  He did fabulous but another 4th grader didn't fare so well.  I heard he got off the bus crying.  The night before when he was lonely and missing his family, he asked a couple of kids if he could sleep with them.  He ended up going into where the chaperones were.  Poor kid. I hope the other kids (mine included) are kind to him and don't pick on him for having a hard time.

One is also about to have THE TALK at school.  I realized we should have THE TALK here at home beforehand.  I'm not quite sure what he knows and what he doesn't.  I think we had a pretty frank discussion (brief, but to the point) a couple of years back in a in-a-moment discussion, but I don't know how much he remembers or understood.  He knows enough to be freaked out by it, and he's freaked out.  I got him a couple of books, and he is refusing to read them.  He would be mortified if he knew I was even mentioning this to anyone.  He is an intensely private boy, that One.  I'm letting him decide if he'd rather have his father or me talk with him.  I think he's leaning toward Bob, which I am quite happy with (as is Bob, which does not surprise me).

I predict that one day after having this discussion with One, we'll be having it with Two.  "Wait a minute.  What's this?  Details, please!" will be his attitude.

Which reminds me again of how much I love having more than one child to get that sense that each one is different and their very own people, regardless of who they have as parents.  I mean, I'm basically the same parent to each of my kiddos but they are such different little people.  I would be very judgmental if I just had one - thinking that anyone who didn't act like my one was odd.  Now, however, I'm much more humble.  They are who they are, really, with little input on who is parenting them.

And, since I'm on a little roll here, Three announced excitedly to Bob tonight that his library teacher had a baby TODAY!  I overheard the conversation while I was upstairs folding 145930 baskets of clothes.  "But Dad.  How does the baby just POP out of the tummy?  I mean, how does the tummy get put back together?  how does that WORK?"  I heard Bob give some mild explanation about how the body just goes back together.  I decided, in preparation of HIS talk in a few years, that I would explain a little more fully, so I did.  "Babies don't pop out of mama's bellies, honey," I said, and I went on to give a very nice, very 5 year old version of what happens.  I did it right (I hope) because he didn't seem upset or weirded out, more like, "wow.  your body did that?!" Like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube, we concluded.

Off to my warm bed.