Middle School

Today is Wm's first day of middle school! Steve dropped him off - and took NO PICTURES. I am very upset about this. But Steve claimed it was "chaos," and he couldn't get a picture. I'm not buying it. Wm wasn't nervous at all and just marched on in, happy as a clam. He's very excited!! Steve, however, is feeling a bit more nervous. I have no idea why. His friend's super intense mom is actually sitting at the school the whole time they are there to make sure they get on the bus and get back to elementary school OK. Which is actually a bit over the top since the G&T Coordinator for the district has already said she will be there to do that exact same thing. So Wm has 2 adults watching his every move. And a cell phone. And access to a school full of other adults who can help him. Soooo...I think he's good. Steve is mostly sad that Wm just walked in and wouldn't give him a hug. I told him Wm is Big Time now and he can't just be handing out embarrassing parent hugs all over the place. Steve is not pleased.

Wm has also gotten into Pokemon Go. He is late to the scene because he haaaaates Pokemon. But he said Pokemon Go is not like the cards and is a whole new world. I really like it because it gets him off his lazy butt. He has been running all around the neighborhood finding Pokemon. A really good way to get a bunch of exercise is to offer to take Wm on a far-reaching Pokemon hunt. He'd go for hours!!

I got a new dress (SUPER sale summer close out!) Wm saw it hanging on my door to wear today and said it was ugly. When I came down wearing it today he goes, "You know, I do like that dress. It looks really nice on. It suits you." It. Suits. Me. Where does he get that stuff?? I love that little, evil runt, I tell ya.

And, because Steve took NO PICTURES, here are some fun videos of the cat instead. One is of him sadly yowling to try and to get someone to play with him (this went on for 10 minutes until I cracked and played with him). The second one is him happily playing with his favorite toy.






UPDATE:
Guess who never sent the transportation request in? You guessed it! The Worst Principal Ever! So, it turned out to be a good thing Super Mom was there. She ended up transporting the kids back to elementary school because no bus was coming. Wm looks like he is having fun! AND, I got a picture! All's well that ends well!

Can Do

Wm has a cough. But he is otherwise fine. Full of energy, no fever, no other symptoms. However, he does sound like he has TB when he coughs. So, yesterday morning, Steve asked him if he was feeling well enough to go to school. Wm's response was so good, Steve wrote it down so he could remember to tell me verbatim. Without further ado:

"I certainly don't feel well enough to go. And they will not take kindly to my coughing. But I CAN go."

After an hour of observation post cough medicine, Steve decided he was fine and sent him with instructions to take it easy and not run around. After school, he came breezing home all sweaty and red-faced and full of stories. He had been playing zombie tag with his friends and they saw a weird looking dog and hilarity ensued. So I go, "I guess you were well enough to go to school after all?" And he goes, "Yeah, of course."

Last First Day!

This is Wm's first day of the last year of elementary school! So, it's probably also the last year he will allow first day of school pictures. And, even this year was much lighter than previous years. No parents were even in the classroom getting the kids settled. He's a big deal now.

Heading out!

First day of school selfie!

At his classroom

Yesterday, I picked Wm up from his very last day (ever!) of Clubhouse early. (I had to turn in the access key card that has been in my wallet for 5 years!) First, we drove to the middle school and snuck in. We found Wm's math classroom and poked around. We had been in there before for a Halloween party, but it looked very different yesterday! It looked very nice and Wm was happy and felt like the biggest kid ever. Though it is not air conditioned! Which Wm thought was crazy, but I told him none of my schools had AC! Then, we went to Meet the Teacher at his elementary school and dropped of his big bags of supplies. His teacher seemed AWESOME! And his classroom was very impressive. The 5th graders are in the new addition and have big, deluxe rooms. The tables were sort of even arranged in the beginnings of rows and there was no carpet for "floor time." Big.

We found out yesterday (YESTERDAY!) that Wm doesn't start middle school until Monday. The principal was supposed to call us over the summer to give us info, supply lists, dates, etc. She never did. So we emailed her days ago. Never replied. We had to get all our info from a mom who basically ran her to ground in person. I am pretty sure that the only reason they are waiting until next week is that the principal also didn't arrange transportation like she was supposed to. At Wm's current school we aren't used to this! I emailed his principal because he was in a different classroom from his friend going to middle school with him and I thought that would be hard on him. Within a half hour, she had replied, said she agreed, and moved him into the other classroom with his friend. THAT is service!! So, clearly, we will miss his current school. And are NOT impressed with the way things are run at the middle school!! We'll see how things roll once he starts there next week! HMPH.

But, on a brighter note, Wm is very excited for this school year! AND, he has to do a dance! The 5th graders have a new "special" called "Momentum." They practice dancing every week. Then, at the end of the school year, we get to go to see them perform! Wm is NOT PLEASED, but I am so excited I can barely contain myself!!! Also, Wm goes to overnight camp in 5th grade! This year is going to be YUGE.

Pinky

Me and Steve's iPad died. Well, is actively dying. It's still quasi-functional, which means we can sell it. But it was definitely time for a new one! And, because he is THE BEST, Steve let me get a rose gold one! I have named it Pinky and it is my new best friend!

Me and Pinky, BFF's

I used it a bunch this weekend, when I wasn't really feeling 100%. We laid around like giant slugs. Which was kind of a bummer, since it was gorgeous outside! Wm is, very sadly, at Clubhouse today and tomorrow. None of his friends are there, apparently. So he's being tortured. But they are his last 2 days there ever ever ever! This does not seem to appease him and he's very grumpy.

School starts on Wednesday, though! Tomorrow he gets to leave Clubhouse extra early because it is Meet the Teacher. We don't really care since Wm won't really see his homeroom teacher much at all, HOWEVER, we can drop off his 2 giant bags of school supplies. Which means he will not have to lug them to middle school on the first day! So we will likely sneak in, drop off supplies, say a quick "howdy do," and head out. But it's so worth it!

I do not enjoy the start of school. For us, it just means corralling homework, school activities, and set calendars of start/stop times into our day. Summer is so nice! We can drop him off when we want, pick him up when we want, and we can do whatever we want when we want! But school means the start of The Routine again. :( Wm, however, loves school. So that's good! But I remain quietly displeased.

I Saw the Sign

I was taking a walk yesterday and saw this sign a street over:

Best Use of Summer Break Ever

I told Wm that he has wasted his entire summer NOT making amazing Hillary signs. Wm goes back to school Wednesday. So far, I am NOT impressed with the middle school. They pretty much are the worst. I am trying to remain positive in front of Wm, so I don't taint his feelings about the school. But I am also planning our move in a year to avoid this terrible school. First impression: poor. The good news is that this gives us a chance to sort of test drive it before he's officially there next year to see if it's as bad as it seems at first glance! And, at any time, we can just pull him back to his regular school. Then flee before he starts middle school there!

Wm has had a great week - except for his day with Steve. I took Monday off with him, then he came to work with me on Tuesday (and had a delightful time), Mimi came and hung out with him on Wednesday (and took him to a movie and for ice cream!), Thursday, he went to work with Steve, and he's at Mimi's house today. He texted me from Steve's office and said it was awful. Specifically, "the internet doesn't work, there are flies everywhere, and Pop's office is filthy." He said my office "has great internet and is well-kept." I love that he said my office is well-kept!! HAHA! Wm is the Martha Stewart of offices.

I told Steve that Wm said his office was terrible. Steve was offended, so I told him Wm said it had crappy internet, flies, and was dirty. Steve shrugged and goes, "all true." HA! When Wm comes with me, he is a minor celebrity and has unlimited screens on OSU's killer wifi service and his own office. It's hard to compete! Plus, my office is pretty well-kept. (And Steve's office smells like sweat and feet.)

Rainy Days!

I decided to wake up and try to take my power walk first thing in the morning to avoid the heat. It didn't go well. It was already in the 80's and 95% humidity. Steve worked yesterday morning for a couple hours, so I got to text him my own sweaty pic! I had literal drips of sweat rolling down my chest!

Me, kinda sweaty. And smelly.

It's no surprise that we FINALLY got some rain later in the day! It has been steadily pouring rain all day today. It's actually been a delight! Wm got a cookbook called The Young Chef and wanted to make pancakes this morning. So, he and Steve made some (and then Wm sneezed on them). Besides the snot, they were super good! Tomorrow, Wm and I are going to make another recipe in there: cereal balls. Surprisingly, he didn't mark any recipes at all in the vegetable section! (Wm agrees with Jim Gaffigan, who said the only good thing about fruit is that it's not vegetables!)

We ran through the drops to go grocery shopping, then snuggled up and watched Stranger Things on Netflix. Wm loves it, but it also terrifies him. So he mostly watches it through his fingers or dancing around from room to room. Wm and Steve are now playing Uno and I'm getting ready to head over to Suzanne's for a rainy day Netflixapalooza. We were supposed to have a cook out tonight...so we may have a cook in! 

Natalie Maines, who is awesome, has super cool hair. I told Steve that I wanted to get mine cut like hers:

Steve was fine with it. But Wm was like, "NO!!! That would be so embarrassing!" I go get my hair cut the day before school starts. I told him I was going to take that picture in and ask for the exact same thing. Then show up to drop him off at school and be like, "HAVE A GREAT DAY, WILLIAM! I AM WILLIAM'S MOM AND JUST WOULD LIKE EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT I HOPE HE HAS A GREAT DAY!" Wm was like, "I would die!" So we have reached official tween-hood.

HOT

I am getting mighty sick of this heat wave. I can't even take my walks because it's unbearable! Steve still played soccer yesterday...because he's demented. He sent me a picture when he was done. Ew.

Kinda sweaty.

It's supposed to storm and cool off this weekend. Thank god! Hopefully it holds off today, though, because it is Wm's last day of Clubhouse - EVER. They are having a farewell picnic at the park. I can't believe Wm is done with Clubhouse. We are done paying for childcare for Wm. Forever. A decade later. I never thought I'd see the day. I watched him eating breakfast this morning and he looked giant (even though he is tiny). He is getting a tween-y look about him (and a bit of a tween-y 'tude at times as well!) Where did the time go? It makes me happy to see him grow into a strapping lad. Last night, we played Cranium, and as we got it out, I saw his tiny baby journal. We called him Liam until he was 10 months old! That's weird. Wm loved reading about himself when he was a young buck. His favorite story was the one where he pointed between his legs and yelled, "my penis!" And when I asked what it was doing (hopefully being aware it was peeing, leading to potty training), he yelled, "HAVING FUN!" Wm laughed so hard he gave himself the hiccups! Ah, memories!

As we were leaving Clubhouse yesterday, Wm's best friend there goes, "I won't be here tomorrow, so this is good-bye." Wm glanced and him and goes, "bye." And walked away. When we got in the car, I was like, "DUDE! What the what! You were super mean to Rhett!" He goes, "Why?" I told him that he'd probably never hang out with him again and that Rhett was trying to say goodbye to him and he was like, "whatevs, bye." Wm goes, "I'm not good with good-byes!"

Clickity Clicking

I forgot a fun fair story. Steve was all disgruntled because Wm made them leave the fair earlier than he wanted to because he was hungry. Steve ate a bunch of fair food, as one does. But, Wm said he wanted "food that is healthy for my body." So they came home and I fixed Wm a nice lunch, which he ate, and all was well. However, then Steve had a bellyache ALL day. The last thing he said as I was drifting off to sleep was, "my stomach hurts." The next day, I asked him if he had learned a lesson about fair food and he goes, "I can never go to the fair again." I suggested he just go and use The William Method to fair food. But Steve moaned, "I CAN'T RESIST IT!" Ha! Poor Steve. The tribulations of low willpower and a delicate constitution.

I am losing my mind. Losing. My. Mind. Here is a video of my life. Turn up the volume all the way and you will hear: click click clickity click CLICK CLICK....and I can't take it anymore! It went on for AN HOUR.



Also, in case anyone cares, I'm off Facebook. I disabled my account. I feel so free!

Weekend Stuff

Here is Wm in the cockpit of an airplane at the OSU airport! Luckily, he didn't manage to take off. :)

 

On Saturday, Steve took Wm to the fair. They had a blast:

Sky ride!

Pig races!

Silliness!

Cuteness!

This is Wm's last week of Summer Clubhouse. He's not sad at all. Even though they are going to play laser tag today! He's getting a bit nervous, though, as 5/6th grade looms. We haven't really had a ton of info about middle school, so we're all just sort of flying by the seat of our pants! I'm sure it will all work out. But it feels sort of uncertain and weird! 

Giggles

Wm and Steve both cracked me up this morning!

Me: WHAT IS THAT ON THE FLOOR?
Wm: It's a jalapeno from the garden.
Me: Oh, thank god. The cat must have knocked it down.
Wm: What did you think it was?
Me: A turd.
Wm: You think everything is a turd.
(I'm on high alert ever since the cat barfed into my shoe.)

Then, while we were eating breakfast, I saw The Evil Cat was literally standing IN my big, luxurious houseplant - just standing there, hanging out. I yelled, "THAT CAT IS STANDING IN MY PLANT!" Steve goes, "Leave him alone...he is probably playing jungle. He's like, 'I'm a mighty tiger...stalking my prey through the leaves..." I laughed super hard - and decided not to murder the cat...yet.

Wm and Steve were watching funny cat videos together and laughing and laughing. It was fun to watch them!