Cirocco Jones

There's this kid at TaeKwon-Do, Xane, who Chris has actually told the boys not to talk to. He's a horrible little shit, to be honest. Spends all his time either bragging or putting down other kids. I'm a higher belt than you; ballet is stupid, hip-hop is better; I can run faster than you; I can do more push-ups than you; I'm half-Lebanese and you're not; Runescape's so much better than [whatever the hell it was my kids were playing at the time], etc etc etc.

He gets to them. I've explained to them that instead of being angry at him, they probably should feel sorry for him, because being that obsessed with putting down other people has to mean he's not all that self-confident; if you like yourself and think you're pretty cool, you don't care if other people are better than you at some stuff, and you definitely don't need to put them down in order to feel good about yourself.

I know it's a tough lesson to internalize. I don't expect them to be able to do so; just sending it out there as food for thought.

Anyway, the other day we finish our class and Justin says, "I think maybe part of why Xane isn't very nice to other people is his dad isn't very nice to him."

"Why's that?" we ask.

"Oh, he just said something during class."

"What's that?"

"It was after I finished my turn doing the kicks, and you hugged me. He said 'You're so lucky you have such a nice dad.'"

Justin: Sss... eye... k, k, k... lll... oh... p, ss. S-eye-kl-oh-ps. Look Mama!
Me: (turn around, see "Sikolops" on the screen)
Justin: Cyclops!


First word Justin figured out and typed all by himself. Cyclops.

Chris does his fifth (and hopefully last) oral exam today.

Anne has stuff to do, and will be unable to pick up Garry and Eva at 1PM. More like 2:30 is the ETA I was given.

And it's a PD day. So Justin is home all. morning. long.

With Garry.





Edit: Make that 1:30. Thank god. Yelling, screaming, fights, time-outs, 15-minute separations, more yelling, and in between the angst and drama, lots and lots and lots of happy screaming and thump-running.

Subject line from a Simpsons episode where Bart has his first crush, on his babysitter (playing by Sara Gilbert, who played Darlene on Roseanne). At one point she tells him that she's fallen for another guy (her own age). He has a nightmare about it that night, where she tells him her happy news, then reaches into his chest and pulls out his still-beating heart, saying "You won't be needing THIS any more!" and laughing at him.

Yeah, so one of the things that's really... intense about being a parent is how easily your kids can do that to you, with very simple things. The other day it was something I read in Daniel's English book. He was reading Harry Potter #1 (we're all very happy about this, BTW) and answering questions from a novel study booklet I got from Scholastic. One of the questions talks about the Mirror of Erised, and asks what the student thinks they would see in it if they looked into it. In other words, what is the deepest desire of their heart?

So I'm thinking he'll write something like "I would see myself surrounded by all the Bionicles of the world" or "I would see the biggest gaming convention ever."

No. He wrote "Luli, and Daddy passing his exam."

Aw shit. Luli is my mom, who died last year. And Chris is studying night and day for that bloody exam. And... aw, shit.

This weekend it was a conversation with Chris. Chris was in London, doing a thrilling "four twelve-hour days of review" course for his bloody exam. Talking to Daniel on the phone before bedtime, they're having a lovely little chat, and at one point Chris says, "What would you like for your birthday, Daniel?"

"I don't really need anything," Daniel says. "I have a nice house, and food, and clothing, and lots and lots of toys and games..."

"That's true," Chris says. "But is there anything else that you would like, for your birthday?"

"I'd like to spend some time with you," Daniel says, and then bursts into tears.


Yeah, no, we weren't really using our hearts for anything vital, you can just cart them away, 'K?


Anyway. So today was Daniel's birthday, and Chris was back from London, and they did get to spend time together. Most of the day, actually. Justin was home too, because after yet another plus-zero day, the school buses were cancelled (again, that's the fourth or fifth time this year) and this time I was unable to drive Justin in because I literally could not open the door of my car because of the ice. So Chris and Daniel and Justin spent the day together, went to Pizza Hut, played Pokemon, and had some male bonding time. Which was sorely needed. And I had some Mama time. Which was also sorely needed.

And tomorrow Chris goes back to work, Justin goes back to school, and life goes back to normal.

Justin has a headache. There are few things as sad as a small child in pain, especially if that small child is trying to be brave about it.

On the plus side, he went to cooking camp today and asked if he could stay for the entire day (I had them signed up for mornings only) and said he had an awesome time in the afternoon. And then he got to play at Anne's house, where they have a trampoline and a slip'n'slide. And air conditioning.

I tweaked my Finding Elvis fic to make it agree with the new canon. Good thing it was only minor tweaks, and not rewrites of entire chapters :)