The daily grind and a rant or two

It sure has felt like a Monday today. Bleh.

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Went to bed around midnight thirty last night. Alone. I curled up with Paul's pillow and fell asleep . He wandered in to bed around 3am. He tried to rub my butt, which is his way of saying "Hey baby, wanna get nekkid?" I think I broke three of his fingers.

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Poor Cute Big Baby cut a tooth over the long weekend. He's workin' on another because he's still not his usually happy self. Not cranky, just not giggly and stuff.

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Paul is on vacation until next Monday. God help me. Hillbilly Mom, I may be calling SBC to help me dig a shallow grave.

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Monday I start watching Cute Little Baby. I'm really excited about it!! I'm really hoping that taking care of all of these babies helps quench the continual ache in my uterus these days. That biological clock of mine isn't taking to me hitting the snooze button.

I was telling Mom that Monday would be his first day. She kind of did a mental roll-taking and then said, "So you'll have a nearly 4-year-old, a 3 1/2-year old, a not quite 1-year old and a 7-month old?" I laughed and jokingly said, "Yeah. And likely I will not have a shred of sanity left by Christmas either." She patted my arm and said, "I think you will do just fine. If anyone can handle all that, you can."

That really made my day.

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Speaking of Mom and how great she is . . . Remember last week when I ranted and raved and cussed? And how I had broken an underwire in my bra? Well, my Suzy Homemaker mother took the good underwire out of another bra that I'd broken a long time ago and replaced the broken one. Now I can wear white shirts again. I've gone a week wearing nothing but dark shirts because I only had a black bra and a gray bra.

Mom rocks.

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Tonight Paul went to the garage where the derby car is parked. I stopped by there when Sam was done at karate. He looked really frustrated when I pulled in. The car is wedged in the back corner of the lot, buried in weeds up to the axles. We knew it needed a starter, a gas tank and a support bar behind the seat. But upon looking at it we discovered that the front end needs to be pulled out as well. Plus, the car was used in a Tough Truck competition in the spring (Yes, I know it's a car. They're rednecks, what can I say.) and I guess there's a pretty good chance that the block is cracked. The starter is already going to cost us $50. If the block is cracked I am out of luck because we just flat don't have the money.

I'm thinking my mom has been talking to God and trashing my beloved derbies. Because it sure seems that He's really against me driving this year.

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I really don't want to go to Tulsa tomorrow. We haven't been running the AC in the van. Not like we've really gone too many places lately - I still had the half tank I griped about last Tuesday night. But on short jaunts we've just rolled the windows down. I'm thinking that cruising down the interstate at 80 mph isn't going to work with the windows down. Oh, we've done it before, but it's not pretty. Abby and I are both very hair obsessed. I'm thinking we're just going to run the AC, gas prices be danged. Put in $20 tonight. Gas was $2.94 a gallon. Yeesh. I got roughly a quarter tank.

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Sis is taking both babysitting kids tomorrow for the whole day. She's my substitute. I figured it'd be easier than me loading everyone up and getting them to her by 11, THEN taking off to the school to get Ab THEN going to Tulsa. Besides, she gets a full day's pay this way. So Kady was extremely thrilled that we were going to have a Momma Kady Day tomorrow. BUT now it seems that I am going to have to pay a visit to a first grade teacher during her planning period tomorrow morning.

Sam was a stellar reader last year in Kindergarten. Got his reading books way ahead of everyone else. He's not a genius, but he was a really strong reader last year. So imagine my absolute shock to find that he's been placed in the lowest reading group in the class - the remedial readers. Nuh uh. No way did my boy go from one of the top readers to remedial over the summer. I am SO not buying it. The day I found out she'd placed him in that group I hid my frustration as well as I could and then asked Sam to get his reading book for me. I had him read the first two stories in the book which he did FLAWLESSLY. Then I flipped to the back of the book and had him read that story - he missed two words. He is not a remedial reader. I'm not a teacher, but I have dealt with children the better part of my adult life. I know a thing or two.

Tonight in his folder was a note about AR - accelerated reader. They have to take an AR test each week and they pick out their AR book at the library. So this being the first I heard about it, I told him to show me his AR book. Number one, he totally didn't know it was an AR book, he thought he'd just picked out a regular ol ' library book. So I said, "No big. Just read it to me." He burst into tears. "But Mom, I've tried to read it all week and it's just. too. hard!" I said, "Oh come on now, you're a great reader! It can't be THAT hard!" He handed it to me - it's a third grade AR book. No wonder he was having trouble. I realize it's accelerated reader, but I think throwing a third grade book at a first grader who's been already labeled remedial is a bit much. Someone's not paying too much attention on library day.

He has cried many tears every week that school has been in over reading. He loved it last year, but this year it is eating his lunch. Obviously there's a problem. His attention span is wacked out and I know it's due to frustration. There are other concerns I've had for over a week now and was going to try and ride it all out till Parent/Teacher Conferences week after next, but this is ridiculous. I will be asking her for a conference tomorrow.

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