Young Public Speaker

The kids were given a taste of what it feels like to do a little public speaking tonite. Our homeschool group hosted a Spring Speech Nite for grades K-12. Apparently, as Jake gets older, this will be a requirement for our homeschool program. So, to start him out on the right foot and give him a non-stress environment to hone is speech skills, I entered all three of the kids in the event. Jake read an excerpt from the book Black Beauty, Olivia wrote her own story and read that. And Gabi, well, she read a little book called Cats Wear Hats. They all did very well and I was very proud of them. Here is a short clip of Olivia reading her story. BTW - the parents watching the speeches were required to positively evaluate the kids on their performance. Olivia's comments had lots to say - one even commented on how beautiful her outfit was. Should I be ashamed that Olivia looked at the girl sitting next to her and exclaimed, "You're wearing that!!" The girl must not have taken much offense to it because by the end of the evening, they were best friends. Olivia must have felt sorry for her!!

Beaming

Today, Jake got his braces. I never had braces so I had no clue what it felt like. My dh (darlng husband) had braces and both my sisters had braces. They tried to explain what he would be going through and the discomfort he might feel during the procedure but mostly afterward and the days following. But me, I had no clue.

It surprised me how nervous I was before I took him to the orthodontist. My son has an issue with dealing with pain. I know I've explained before how awful it was during the times he was losing teeth and how when it got the part for them to need just a little tug it was like, well, pulling teeth to get it to come out. I had debated for weeks and dialogued with my most trusted third party, my sis, about the best course of action to take knowing his affinity to not handle pain well. It was decided it would be best to take a very relaxed attitude about the whole thing in hopes that he too would adopt that same attitude. And that is just what I did. But yesterday, the morning of our appointment, it was very hard for me to hide my concern. And what made it worse was when he walked into the study with red, swollen eyes. He had been doing his best to hide his tears but just couldn't hold it anymore. He was visibly upset and I just wanted to cry right along with him. But I didn't. I just assured him that I could go into the office with him or he could go by himself - whatever made him more comfortable. He sucked it up and decided he wanted to try it alone. And when we got to the office, I asked him one more time and he stuck to his guns and wanted to do it alone.

And he did.

And I am so proud of him. I hope this new found courage will help him get over his fear of pain as he learns to deal with it on his own and in his own way.

Yes, his braces are black and orange. He chose it to match the colors of his football team. Whatever makes him happy.

And by the way, his teeth aren't that yellowed because of lack of brushing or poor dental care. It is because of the massive antibiotic use he had when he was a baby. Those permanent teeth came out that way. When all of his teeth are in, when he's 16, they will bleach them back to white.

I Don't Wanna

I'm to tired to blog.

I have lots to say but I'm to tired to say it.

I've posted tons of times in my head - does that count??

Like my new blog design?? Thanks to Steph for creating such a beautiful page!

The dh(darling husband) has been gone for a while - in the last nine days, he's been home two. No wonder I'm exhausted. Count in a major snow storm of which I had to shovel the driveway myself. No thanks to the arrogant, self-centered, uppity neighbors walking around with their snowblowers WATCHING ME struggle with my little shovel. Assholes.

I wanna say more but am afraid to fall asleep. So, off to finish watching Spiderman 2. I hope I've paused the DVR machine long enough to be able to fast forward through some of the commercials.

I leave you with a picture.

That would be Gabi and her new pet, Rody. You know, the plastic ride on llama (that's what we call it) she got for Christmas. And yes, he is wearing socks on his ears. I went to put Olivia to bed tonite and she was very proud because she had lifted the llama's socks and put them on her feet. No wonder the poor animal was yelping because his ears were cold. He sleeps with her every night and insists on having the covers. Oh yeah, the chicken too.