The Queen's Rambles

What a day! I was so worn out that I refused to go to Erik’s karate graduation. Elsa is just a menace and won’t sit still, so one of us would be outside chasing her. They have these graduations every two months so it is not like I’m missing a big accomplishment. I’m sure they must really test them at the higher levels, but at this point the belts are completely meaningless. There are good things about karate, but I would have to think really hard to come up with a list at this particular moment. I am pretty sick of the graduation racket our school has going on. It costs $55/graduation and if you don’t do it your kid feels like a big loser because everyone else gets a new belt and they don’t.

My friend needed a sitter for her son this morning because her school had their kindergarten open house at a really weird time and they were told not to bring any siblings. I don’t know what people are supposed to do. We had our open house last night and were told not to bring any children at all, but several families didn’t comply. I can totally understand some families not complying, because what are you going to do? I was less than understanding with the families that brought two or more adults (yes, some brought both parents and at least one grandparent) and multiple children who yelled and screamed the whole time. I’m not talking babies either. I suppose parents who can’t follow rules don’t expect their kids to follow rules. It was almost impossible to hear anything, thanks to the screams of the unruly children. There were some perfectly well behaved children in attendance as well. I’m not talking about them.

Anyway. Focus, Carrie, focus. Rough day. I babysat, then I went out and checked everything off my hurricane preparedness list. We still have to bring in all the yard items and figure out what to do with the trampoline (maybe tie it to the deck pillars?), but we have everything else ready to go. I hope to god I never have to eat the canned chicken or canned soup, but you never know. I bought plenty of fresh food that doesn’t need to be refrigerated (potatoes, bananas, oranges, etc) but I figured if I was going to make an emergency kit I might as well do it right. We might not have notice if there is a terrorist attack or something like that, so canned chicken it is. I might not be too picky when I’m hungry and the kids are starving.

The store was busier than usual, but not nearly the madhouse I had feared. I stupidly picked up one of the scanners* so I could do it myself, but I didn’t think about Elsa being totally obsessed with the fun beeping toy. She was screaming and climbing out of her seat (yes, she was strapped in, but those straps don’t do much for a very determined toddler) and insisting on getting down so she could chase Erik and get the scanner. Your basic hurricane grocery shopping nightmare, coupled with a five year old who has the incredible talent of standing exactly where you need to be. Fun times!

When I got home I was pretty cranky and decided I didn’t need to deal with all the neighborhood children, so I put a sign on the door telling them not to knock. I suppose I got a little snarky when I added “no bikes, no water, no bathrooms, no food, no Erik.” I couldn’t quite leave it like that, so I did add “Maybe Later” with a smiley.

After Elsa’s nap, it was off to kindergarten so Erik could meet his teacher and get used to the school. He really enjoyed the whole thing. I really enjoyed the picture of the school mascot attacking a space shuttle. Shouldn’t a school named Sally Ride have a mustang mascot?

They had a cute little scavenger hunt for the kindergartners. They had to find several important places in the classroom, then they had to go out into the school and find places like the library, gym, music room and so forth. Erik loved it. We were on a hunt!

He has one neighborhood boy in his class, but that’s it as far as people we know. I didn’t have an immediate connection with any of the other parents, but who knows. We’ll see what happens this year, I guess. One guy was super annoying. He was telling the teacher how his kid knows all the states and continents and oceans blah blah braggy pants. Then he was quizzing the kid and the kid was just standing there staring into space. I hate braggy pants parents. You don’t need to brag to your kid’s teacher. The teacher will figure out your child’s capabilities as soon as the school year gets rolling. Big time bragging only makes the teacher think that you’re going to be “that parent.” How do people not know this?

How about a picture of Elsa’s haircut before I go to bed? She’s started saying cheese whenever she sees the camera so I can’t get a decent picture. Heather posted a link to a lady who had ideas for making kids laugh naturally in pictures and they all sounded great, but so far not a single one of them has worked with my kids. Maybe I’m just not fun enough.

*Our local Giant stores have the best system ever. You can pick up a scan gun when you go into the store. As you shop, you scan each item and place it in your bag. Then when you get all done you go to any line (there are a few special ones just for this process, but you can also go to a regular line) and scan the little “finished” bar code. It pulls up your order and you pay. They have random checks where it will say “please wait for a cashier” and someone will come and do a spot check on your bag to make sure you really scanned everything. I love this system, but it is not worth it now that Elsa is a grabby toddler who can’t be tamed.