Why a Daughter needs a Mom

I bought this book to give to my daughter, (12 years old), and I thought I would share a few of the reasons. I didn’t realize until I was in my twenties, so maybe I can pass it to you.

A daughter needs a mom to provide her with memories that will last forever. (That’s why we always have a camera in front of our faces, and stay up really late making creative scrapbook pages!)

A daughter needs a mom who is never more than a phone call away. (The reason she had a cell phone at age 10!)

A daughter needs a mom to assure her that she always has a place to come home to. Because no one understands girls like a mom. To remind her that in faith there is fellowship.

A daughter needs a mom to soothe the pain of a broken heart, to teach her that sometimes choosing to wait is a good idea, and to teach her that you cannot make someone love you, but you ca be someone who can be loved.

A daughter needs a mom to tell her that beauty never fades if you look in the right places.

The Book, Why a daughter needs a mom was written by Gregory E. Lang. Go out and buy it, make your mom or daughter feel loved. I’ll post more later.

 

Parent Teacher conferences

Every year it goes like this.
Teacher-  She/He’s such a good student, but so very quiet.
Me- Are you sure you have the right kid?  My kid is quiet?  Would you like to come home with me?  Please…?

What do you get when two introverts have kids?  Introverted kids!  Brooke is 12 and she’s just now becoming the social butterfly, much to my dismay. 

So yesterday it was Zach’s teacher.  She had only two concerns.  The first was that Zach’s best friend L is out of town this week, and she wasn’t sure how Zach would do.  Surprisingly, she said he’s made the effort to choose other partners and has done well!  Secondly, she wanted to know if he was scared or intimidated of her.  I told her that he’s never mentioned anything like that.  Again, she just talked about how quiet and shy he was, and gave the example of him coming up to her desk to ask a question.  She said he would stand there quietly, not interrupting if she was doing something, and wait for her to look up.  Then he would ask the question very quietly and walk away quickly.  Now I think he’s just being respectful with that one, and am proud of him for not just jumping in with his question.  Miss D. went on to say that he’s very bright, and a couple of times she’s seen his sense of humor.  (He is a very funny kid!) 

I always get a kick out of these things, and then I come home and relay to the kids what I heard.  Zach just gets a big grin on his face, he’s so cute!  What can I say about being shy?

 

Pre-teen angst

So my daughter is 12, and in the 7th grade.  She has a May birthday, so she’s one of the youngest in her class.  This can sometimes lead to drama, because she’s not really old enough to make mature and responsible decisions.  Lately, she’s exercised her ability to showcase that deficit to me.  She’s made some really poor decisions when it concerns a couple of her friends.  I try to understand that peer pressure has a lot to do with it, but on the other hand, had hoped that I had raised her with enough backbone to stand up for what she thinks is right. 

Luckily she did come to me and divulge some of the incidents that happened.  Now, I want us to be able to talk about anything, so I was glad that she decided to share the info with me, but I was trying not to freak out!  I didn’t want to scare her off from ever confiding in me again, but I also wanted to let her know that I disapproved of her behavior.  It was a tough situation to be in!

The next conundrum, if you will, was whether I should tell my friend, and Brooke’s friends mom.  I felt like if it were the other way around, I would want to know.  I really struggled with that, and in the end waited too long and something else happened.  Now, nobody got hurt, but someone could have.  I shared with my friend, and she had a discussion with her daughter.  We both learned a few things that had been lied about, and then we talked to the girls again.  It’s an ongoing process where I am learning, and praying.  Praying for good, Godly friends, and the courage to stand up for what is right.

 

Randomness

Brooke went back to school today and I’m scared to see the amount of makeup work she’ll have for missing 2 days.  I kept her isolated from the rest of the family and I think it worked.  So far no complaints from anyone else.  She auditions tonight for the Circle of Lights, so keep your fingers crossed. 

Matthew has enjoyed the past two days that we’ve stayed in.  In fact, he hasn’t even put clothes on! 

Tuesday when Zach came home from school and I asked him how his day was.  He said “nice”.  I was in shock.  He always says “good”.  When I tried to press further to see what the difference was, he retreated outside to ride his bike.  He’s a man of few words, just like his daddy. 

He did come out of his 10 year old shell a couple of weeks ago.  My son asked a girl to go out with him, and he told me about it!  She said no, but it’s OK because all of his friends think he’s so cool for asking her.

I guess that’s about it, except for trying to house break a thirty pound puppy.  Any suggestions there would be great.  Oh, and if you’re gonna say just rip the carpet out, I already did that last week.  I put hardwood flooring down in the hallway all by myself!

 

Sickness

My poor baby girl woke up in the night throwing up, and she hasn’t stopped.  Now she’s burning up with a fever and trying to sleep.  Keep her in your prayers.

 

Single again…

Matthew wants to break up with me because I got mad at him for throwing the dog.  He said I can marry daddy again.  That was as short lived as some celebrity weddings!

 

Will you marry me?

Matthew, my 5 year old, snuggled up with me last night and asked me if I would marry him.  I told him I was already married to daddy, and that one day he would grow up and meet a nice girl to marry.  He asked where he would meet her, and I said church!  We talked about him bringing her home to meet our family and he asked where she would sit at the table since we don’t have enough chairs.  (Where does he come up with this stuff?) 

He ended the conversation by asking me to marry him and break up with daddy.  What can ya say?

 

Conversation

Matthew has been watching a new video in the van called WordWorld, by PBS.  We had just picked Brooke up from dance last night, and I heard the movie spell P-I-E.  So I asked Matthew how do you spell Pie? 

Matthew- I dunno
Zach-well they just told you how to spell it.  Were you listening? 
Matthew- I don’t wanna disguss about it!!!!
Zach- what’s he going to do in Kindergarten when the teacher asks him a question?  Say I don’t want to discuss about it? 
Me- Thankfully we have another year.

 

my today

Nothing much going on here.  We went to the carwash, and then to United Arts and Education.  Matthew is getting bored with the school stuff that we have, so I thought we’d look for something fun.  We came out of there with a few games, and the most exciting thing…… a Grow a Frog kit.  You send away for a tadpole or froglet, and raise it.  The one they had in the store was huge!  It was a very cute water frog, and Matthew and I both loved it.  I thought it would be a great thing to do for Science. 

After that we both went and got haircuts.  I had about 4 inches taken off of mine, and he just had a trim and a spike job.  We’ll see if daddy notices!

 

School and Germs

The two go hand in hand.  It never fails that when school starts, so do all the infections.  They run rampant through the halls of education, seeking a warm body to inhabit.  This time they’ve found my Boo Bear!  Brooke is sick, and the doctor said it’s just viral, but did give us a prescription for eardrops.  Thank you God for our health insurance, because the tiny little bottle of ear drops only cost us $15.  The paper on the outside of the bag says our insurance saved us $184!  What!?  That just seems like highway robbery, or price gouging, or just completely ridiculous!!!!!  Is it liquid gold? 

It had better make her feel like dancin’ soon!

 

School Supplies

The majority of our afternoon was spent between Office Depot and Wal-Mart for back to school shopping.  We went with lists in hand that were supplied by each school, and were checking things off as we went along.  Office Depot had folders for $0.05 each, so we scored big with those.  Paper Mate 10 packs of pens were $0.25, so we bought 4 packs.  Of course the pencils that were on sale were not pretty enough for Brooke, so we had to get the decorative mechanical ones that were, like, $6.00.  All in all, and don’t tell Brian, we spent over $300 today on backpacks and stuff to go in them.  I honestly don’t understand why the school system cannot supply some paper, pencils, erasers, and folders.  I’m not saying the teachers should.  I’m saying the school system.  Don’t we pay enough taxes for a little school supplies?  And what’s with the 3 large boxes of Kleenex?  What’s next, a family size pack of toilet paper? 

The whole thing stresses me out.  As we were walking through one store, Brooke asked me why my neck was red.  I told her because stress makes me break out in hives! 

Tomorrow we have the nightmare of registration, where there will be 10 different stations to write separate checks, wait in long lines, and have school pictures taken.  Then we’ll go do it all over again at Brooke’s school.  AAaahh, school is bliss.

Matthew was so cute today.  He wants to/doesn’t want to/isn’t old enough to go to Kindergarten.  He misses the birthday cut off, which doesn’t upset me at all.  I will love to have him home with me for another year!  But he wanted to get some things too, so I told him he’s in Pre-K homeschool, and we picked out a couple of workbooks and colored pencils for them.  He also wanted his very own art box and back pack to keep it all in.  I did manage to talk him out of the lunch box, but I’m toast if they don’t have that particular one next year! 

Lord, please grant me with patience and knowledge when it comes to our Pre-K homeschool experience.  I have a feeling my limits are gonna be tested!

 

What’s up?

Brooke had cheer camp over the weekend, 2 1/2 hours away from home.  The daytime schedule was grueling, but they did manage to sneak in a couple of hours of social time in the evening.  At one point I was trying to talk to her on the phone and it was crazy loud.  I said, “are you guys having a party or what!”?  She just laughed and said “Yeah”.  There were only 2 mishaps.  One, she forgot her spending money, so she couldn’t buy the overpriced $40 t-shirt that said cheer on it.  The other was, she fell and the coach called me.  Apparently she is a flyer, not something I’m excited about, and one of the bases grabbed her leg in the wrong spot, causing Brooke to bend her leg and fall forward.  She hurt her arm, but the trainer looked at it and said there was no fracture.  She took some Motrin and iced it, and all is fine. 

We went up on Sunday to pick her up and see the competition part of it.  I have learned that I’ll need to purchase some earplugs for the games, because I came out of there with a headache.  It was good though.  I can’t believe the stunts they’re doing already.  I’m used to seeing her gracefully dancing on stage, not flying through the air. 

Last night we went to our dance meeting.  It was good, and Brooke is excited at all the opportunities she was offered.  I can’t believe that school is starting in 2 weeks.  Where has the summer gone?  I was looking forward to a more laid back school year, but now I’m not sure that’s going to happen. 

Our garden is doing so well.  I picked our first cucumber the other day, and bell pepper too.  We’ve had several tomatoes, and we have two of the cutest little watermelons growing.  I get so excited when I go out and spot something new growing.

 

Funny Story

Brooke is at a sleepover tonight, so the boys and I went to pick up some Playstation 2 games.  We left Gamestop and ran over to Target.  As soon as we got in the store, Zach had to use the restroom.  He turned to go, and Matthew decided he needed to go too.  They walked hand in hand for a few steps, and then Zach started to drag Matthew by the arm.  Matthew proceeded to fall down, and the struggle continued until they went into the restroom. 

As we were walking away, Zach told me that Matthew got in there and said he didn’t have to go.  After Zach had gone, Matthew decided he would go.  Now Zach was talking in hushed tones because there were people around, but Matthew started telling the story a little bit louder.  We were laughing at him when Zach says that Matthew pulled his shorts down and was standing with his fanny fully exposed.  Zach was appalled, and I was confused.  I said, isn’t there a door?  At which point Zach says, “no he was using the urinator.”  I cracked up!  The Urinator… is that something like a urinal? 

 

Cheer Speak

Cheerleaders wear uniforms, not costumes.

It is a squad of girls, not a team. 

( This is for any mom out there who doesn’t know the cheer lingo.  Hopefully I can help you before you embarrass your daughter.  It’s too late for me!)

 

Matthew-ism

As I looked out the living room window at the bird feeders, I saw the male cardinal.  The male and female are normally together, but this time he was alone.  I called Matthew over to the window, and he whispered,         ” Yeah, that’s the carnival with the short hair and sunglasses”. 

The female has a mohawk, and very little black on her face around her eyes.  The male has a lot of black around his eyes, thus the sunglasses.  And no matter how clearly I enunciate c-a-r-d-i-n-a-l, he still says carnival. 

That youngest boy of mine!  He makes me smile