My labor

I wore myself out over Labor Day weekend, so I figure I deserve that title. I'll explain.

Things are pretty much resolved with the school discipline scene. S has apologized to his friend, a kid in his class who lives down the street from us -- S and A have been going over there in the mornings before school, and I really like the family. The mom has been great, really encouraging the kids to talk it out and apologize and forgive. And by the way ... she's a licensed foster parent. Getting to know her has been a tender mercy already and I have a feeling it will seem even more so in the future.

G and I think the school overreacted to what happened. It is tough ... I know they can't allow any kind of hitting or violence, but sometimes kids do hit, they just do, and then they get these severe punishments, and I don't think it helps them. It just casts them in a bad role and places them in danger of playing that role over and over again. Anyway I think G is going to talk to the principal. I probably need to get off my rear and get an IEP for S, honestly. Because if this happens again (and it probably will) we need to be prepared with a consequence that will actually make a difference for him. I don't think a suspension is going to do it. Also I need to get him in for neurofeedback. I intended to do that at the beginning of the summer.

These kinds of things make me feel like I could be a much better mom if I was not obliged to spend eight hours a day at work. Not that I was such a great mom when I was at home full time, but it is very, very hard to get all these things done. There is just not enough time. One night of my life, I would love to go to bed feeling like I got everything accomplished. Just once.

We had a great, productive weekend, all the same. I did mega cleaning and moving things around in preparation for my IKEA expedition which will be Thursday, which is in preparation for foster kids. I reorganized my closet, decluttered my bedroom, vacuumed, decluttered the computer room, moved the queen bed out to the garage, moved the twin bed in, assembled bookshelves for the kids' rooms, packed up all the stuff from the entertainment center and moved the empty hulk out to the garage, painted the drawers on the dresser I got from Sally, and bought and stained new knobs for said dresser. One more coat of paint and I can reassemble the dresser and move it in. (I am leaving most of the dresser its lovely maple stain and staining wood knobs to match. The drawers are glossy white, to cover up some lovely Sharpie art.)

The kids helped some and the rest of the time they played so well together. They also watched Narnia about a zillion times. They have been arguing over who gets to be Peter. I have campaigned in vain for someone to take the role of Aslan or even the centaur (the name escapes me at the moment). Oh well. We went swimming twice, just so I could get the token final sunburn of the year. If you see a pink glow coming from my direction ... well, that's me.

G is working his tail off on his dissertation. I'm so proud of him for barreling through -- this is the hardest part for him (probably for most Ph.D. candidates, actually) but he is doing great and for the first time I think we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. He is back to TAing Environment in Crisis, which really energizes him and helps a lot. He is such a people person. Next semester he might even get to teach the course by himself.