Charming.

Bear and I were sitting on the front porch, when one of the roofers working across the road shouted an impressively creative string of profanities. She looked at me with wide eyes, obviously wanting to laugh but checking my reaction first. Before I could comment, the same guy launched into a charming impromptu song containing the lyric "Then I licked her -", which was blesedly drowned out by his buddy's roars of appreciative laughter.

After moving our lunch inside, I explained calmly to Bear that when you don't go to college & find yourself nailing shingles to a roof for minimum wage, you have to make your own entertainment.

"Boy, they must be really bored," she commented.

Jr. High Girl

Here are the clubs Bear wants to join in jr. high:

Student Council
Drama Club
Newspaper
Rocket Club (in which the kids spend the school year putting together model rockets and then launch them at the end of the year)

No big surprises there, except maybe the Rocket Club, which I do think she would really enjoy. I've heard the science teacher is wonderful, and I'm assuming he sponsors that one.

Notice the complete and total lack of any sports. Shocker, huh?

She is totally WIRED for junior high. Can’t wait to get there. Totally jazzed by the thought of:

-lockers
-vending machines
-changing classes
-after-school clubs
-dances (damn it)
-did I mention the lockers? She really, reeeeeally wants a locker. A lot. (Anyone care to lay odds on how long it takes her to forget/misplace the combination?)
-using pens instead of pencils in class

Miraculously, the things that terrified me about jr. high don't seem to faze her:
-changing clothes for PE (what if I sweat??)
-showering IN FRONT of people after PE (no explanation necessary)
-detention (no, I never had to go, but the thought of it horrified me)

I can't believe she's almost done with elementary school. What just happened??

Flat-Out Bragging

Bug qualified for both sections of Stretch (gifted & talented)! Starting next year, both her math and reading classes will be taken with the gifted teacher.

We're so proud of her, and it will help alleviate some of the boredom she complains about in class. The Stretch teacher definitely puts them through their paces, and she does some really neat enrichment activities and field trips with them.

Bug's Concert

Doodle-Bug's second grade concert was this week, so we had a little photo shoot in the front yard before we left. Even though I know that she's eight, she'll always be my youngest and therefore the baby of the family. So it came as a total shock to me when I uploaded the photos into the computer and saw this:

I can't get over how grown-up and self-possessed she looks in these photos. There were also a bunch of shots of her slapping away mosquitoes and making annoyed faces where she looked like the little girl she is. But these shots here slayed me.

Until I got to this one. Well, it just wouldn't be a photo shoot of Bug without a few of these, would it?

The concert was cute and blessedly short (because the chorus teacher makes them sing the LAMEST made-up songs I've ever heard. Even the kids hate them). Bug had to say one line into the microphone and spoke up nicely. The best part, though, was how irked she kept getting with the little boy standing next to her on the risers. He was swaying back and forth erratically to the music, bumping into her, turning to talk to her while other kids were saying their lines, pretty much your average goof-off eight-year-old boy who didn't want to be there. A couple of times I saw her turn and say something to him, with a set expression and clenched jaw. Later, she seemed to be speaking to him rather sharply, especially when he over-swayed and grabbed her for support. I was torn between being amused, sympathetic (I always wound up standing by some loser), and wondering what on earth his parents were making of this little girl crabbing at their kid.

Making Special Memories...

Scene: Shaw's supermarket, this morning.

Skeevy-looking 60-ish cashier: (scanning my bag of jumbo marshmallows) Oh, I love these! I use my cigarette lighter to toast them for my granddaughter.

Me: (picturing burnt fingers) Yeah, they're yummy. Did you know you can do them in the microwave?

Skeevy cashier: Huh. We tried doing them over the stove once, but it's electric and it just melted onto the burner and caught fire.

Me: (at a loss for words)

Here's Hoping...

The latest in the saga of Bear's allergies is that she's been put on Allegra. A pill. That you swallow.

As the person that has to accompany Bear to the doctor when she needs a throat culture, I am here to attest that the phrase "hair trigger" does not begin to describe this child's gag reflex.

However, when presented with the option of swallowing a pill (it's about the size of a baby aspirin) or having weekly allergy shots, damned if the kid didn't gulp it down. We practiced with little candies first. It took three before she tried the pill. The look on her face was priceless when she realized the pill had gone down. Wonder. Shock. Relief.

Now let's hope the little buggers work.