Sunday, May 31, 2009

If You Liked It Then

Yesterday was the anniversary of my due date with Mac. Let me just say, I'm SO HAPPY to be sitting here 60 pounds lighter and with no labor on the horizon. That fact makes everything, including the decision we made about me going back to teaching full-time in September, so much more palatable.

When I went to the choir concert at my high school last Thursday in my non-maternity clothing, I noticed several of my former students giving me a once over.

"It's so funny," Rachel said. "They all check to see that you're not still pregnant."

Several also seemed happy to see me, which was pleasant. I had just finished reading in the program that one of my favorites from 07-08 would be performing his own composition in the second act of that night's show and then attending an Ivy League school in the fall, when that same kid spotted me in my seat.

"MS. W!" he said.

I stood up to say hello, and he hugged me (!).

"How ARE you? How are the kids?"

"We're fine," I said. "This concert is my favorite thing," I told him. "I'm looking forward to your number, and I see you're successful and attending Columbia. Congratulations!"

He smiled, and we chatted a bit longer.

When he walked away, Rachel said, "Wow, Kace. That was GENUINE love, there."

I know it! And, although I also know it's delusional, I'm just going to pretend that when I go back to work, all the kids are going to be that nice. And all the interactions are going to be that positive. And I'm going to hang on to that fantasy until I'm forced to give it up.

Probably one minute into the first teacher workshop.

But still. I'm holding on.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Street Lights; People

A few YEARS ago, I tried to explain zone training to Dan. Like how you don't just go out and run as fast as you can every time you run. Instead, you mostly go at a comfortable pace for building endurance and burning fat, and then only sometimes run as hard as you can.

I explained it really well and patiently because I'm a teacher by trade.

Did he listen or internalize this information?

No, he did not.

But when some dude on his sports talk radio station brought up the same concept last week as part of a paid segment for Lifetime Fitness, Dan suddenly became a convert and is now running slowly in his fat-burning zone and using a heartrate monitor.

This same type of thing (where Dan totally disregards whatever I have to say) has just now happened. There's this awesome vocal concert that the kids at my high school do. It's a great show featuring all kinds of music, and, as a former singer in SEVERAL a cappella groups, I KNOW Dan would enjoy it.

But has he attended?

No, he has not. Instead, he's repeatedly made fun of me for liking it.

And then tonight, we watched the new Fox show Glee (awesome!). Dan was riveted during the closing number featuring a small group of high school kids singing a song by Journey while accompanied by other high school kids playing rock instruments. He was so riveted, in fact, that he yelled at me for pausing the show during that number, the number which was an exact example of the type of performance that makes up that stellar concert at my high school that he refuses to attend.

Friday, May 22, 2009

It's Called A Dance Floor, And Here's What It's For

Today I went to see my new internist about the migraines. It was a little off-putting when the receptionist asked me to sit in the smallish waiting room with a woman who was vomiting violently into a trash can.

"Have a seat!" the receptionist smiled, gesturing toward the woman bent over the plastic can.

Really? I felt like saying. And you couldn't get her a room?

But I did take a seat, and I started texting Jessie about the vomit.

"YUCK!" Jessie wrote.

Totally.

But then, the new doctor was lovely, thorough, and a little quirky. She didn't have too many answers about the migraines ("We need an office visit with the neurologist," she said), but she did have a groovy homemade necklace ("I like jewelry made from keychains.")

I liked that. It was good enough for me.

Friday, May 15, 2009

The Violins Sing

A couple of days ago, my mom offered to watch both the boys tonight so I could go out with a friend.

Dan is in Austin for work. I thought he was in Chicago, but finally I realized that he was in Austin because he was telling me this evening that it would take him most of a day to fly home. And that he had a layover in Atlanta.

"Aren't you in CHICAGO?" I said.

"No!" he said, incredulously. "I'm in AUSTIN!"

Huh! I was sort of confused when he told me it was 90 degrees when he got off the plane yesterday, so that explains that.

Anyway, I tried to find a friend to go out with tonight, but after a few rejections, I gave up.

So now I'm eating cheese and watching You've Got Mail on Bravo. The cheese is organic, so that's something.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

No Angel

The little guy is eleven months already. This month, he seems to have grown a bit, and I didn't realize until after I'd dressed him (in an 18-month-size t-shirt!) that orange isn't the greatest color on a red-head. Oh, well.



Big news this week: he can walk in a herky-jerky, feet-wide-out sort of way.

And also, he nods "yes" and shakes "no." He answers questions with "yes":

"Do you want a banana?" "Yes!"
"Should we go outside?" "Yes!"
"Do you want to swing?" "Indeed!"

The "no," on the other hand, signals that he's doing, or about to do, something he shouldn't. Like eating some non-food item off the floor or banging the entertainment center doors into the sides of the tv. This latter behavior is generally wild and violent with primal banging and shaking.


I'm sure it bodes well for future behaviors. Like when he's five and going into Kindergarten. I'm sure there won't be any disobedience then.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

It Took a Nip of Gin

We've had (surprise!) kind of a crappy weekend here, but we did manage to get Shef to the birthday party he was scheduled to attend yesterday.

First, I forgot what time the party was to start and consequently had a meltdown in the parking lot of the garden store. But, after we got that out of the way, I determined the time and we were able to shop for plants and get to the party.

Of course, neither Dan nor I took a shower before we left the house. I was wearing the same pants I'd worn for the last three days. Dan was wearing a fifteen-year-old Williams College t-shirt with a hole in the back.

"Geez," he said, after we walked out of the party place. "These parents really dress up for the birthday parties."

It's true that it doesn't take a lot to look okay, but it does seem to take more than we have.

Monday, May 4, 2009

To Pick the Very Best One

Shef's entered a new phase. He repeats all these little expressions. I remember them from when I was in elementary school, and in fact, I can't believe they're still cool.

"Guess what?" he asked me one day after school.

"What?" I said, totally unsuspecting.

"Chicken butt!" he exclaimed.

Oh, super.

He's also been asking Dan and me to turn around and then saying, "May-ga, May-ga, Now you're in the baby book!"

Dan finally figured out that he meant "Made-ya look, Made-ya look."

Of course.

Then this weekend, he yelled out "FEET IN!" as we were playing football at the park. Dan and I obliged, as we figured this would be the start of a cheer. Instead, Shef bent down and touched each of our shoes along with the syllables of, "Some-bo-dy far-ted, that's YOU!"

And then he cackled.

It turns out that was the second phrase of the one that goes, "Skunk's in the barnyard, p.u."

How many years does this last? And how many times will I be embarrassed in public?

Darling Can't You Hear Me, SOS

Yesterday, a student of mine mentioned that he and basically every other soph in my class reads my blog.

"Someone told me about it, and then I told everyone I know," he explained matter-of-factly.

I tried to keep my smile steady, but inside I was mentally flipping through the FIVE YEARS' WORTH of posts on The Savvy Mom, trying to remember exactly what I'd written all those times I was out of my mind with sleep deprivation.

After school today -- after another kid told me that while he's reading the archives in reverse order, OTHER kids are reading from the earliest posts forward -- I panicked and moved the blog to another URL. Then I closed it, so only I can see it.

The truth is this blog has always had a mixed audience of friends, strangers, family, and colleagues; so I've written almost nothing that's objectionable. ALMOST.

Almost because for instance, back before I got hired at the high school I've never named here, I used to use swear words in my posts; as a kid reminded me today.

"I guess you didn't really like writing about Foucouldian theory," he said.

"Yeah," I said, remembering the post I wrote as I desperately tried to finish that paper for my lit theory class on no hours of sleep per night and no hours of babysitting during the day. "I guess not."

So, now I'm starting fresh here until I have time to edit the archive and put Word Savvy back together again.

This is a good plan. Good audience accommodation. Hello, students. I do love you so much.