Relaxing Day

All the girls are off from school today for parent-teacher conferences, so I brought them to the Y with me for my step class. E and L were the oldest kids in the kids area and were sad when I picked them up because they were in charge of groups of little kids for a letter building contest (I didn't understand either, but whatever). I waited for the contests to be done and then let them lift weights for a little while. 

We picked up this book at the library. I heard the author on NPR and I want to read it, but I'm also afraid of reading it because I think I won't be able to eat any food EVER AGAIN when I'm finished. 

I didn't feel like making an official lunch, so we ate fruit and yogurt parfaits for lunch and later made no-bake cookies to round out the meal. Never mind the two cups of sugar in those - oatmeal is a healthy food! Seriously, I like to have fun meals like this - L reminded me the other day about when I let them eat ice cream and fruit for dinner one hot summer night. File this under "Making Memories."

It was shower day (these older kids! They are getting so stinky so fast lately!), so everyone rotated through a bath. We usually do showers, but all three kids prefer a bath when we have time. I moved the coffee table and they spent a while alternating between playing Just Dance 4 and lounging on the floor in sleeping bags and reading. E and L's class earned a reading/pj day at school, so yesterday they wore pjs to school, brought their sleeping bags, and got to spend the whole afternoon reading. They wanted to recreate this at home.

It was all moving along happily until I came downstairs and found E almost asleep. Do you know what an unexpected nap will do to an 8yo? It's ugly. In my desperation, I turned on Netflix and introduced them to Power Rangers. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING EITHER. Anyway, they were transfixed. I'm not sure if this is better or worse than H2O. Who can tell me about iCarley? Is that an acceptable show? Maybe I can refocus them before it's too late.

I made roasted red pepper risotto and garlicky chicken thighs for dinner and we discussed cannibalism and the Donner party. (L offered the idea that cannibalism is tiered - eating a raw human being is grosser than eating a cooked human. Should I be worried?) Then we piled in the car and went to parent-teacher conferences. They were lovely and boring. Everyone is working hard. 

C knows all her kindergarten sight words. Her teacher was going through the first grade ones with her, but she apparently got tired, turned to Mrs. B, and suggested, "I think we should stop now." She also got marked down for not knowing her phone number. When I heard that, I turned to her and said, "C, what's my phone number?" and she rattled it off. Her only areas to work on are 1. don't talk when she's not supposed to be talking and 2. follow through to the end of a project. Those sort of seem like normal things for a kindergartener.

E and L are both at or above grade level and rocked the state standardized test. Their issue is THIRD GRADE GIRL DRAMA. Their teacher says it's all developmentally normal and nothing has been serious enough to call us about. This particular class isn't as bad as others, she says, but she sees cliques forming and drama happening. Ugh. 

Comments

[Michelle]

I am not a fan of iCarly. The first season was ok, but on the second season I was pretty unhappy with how the characters related to each other. They get pretty mean and nasty. Then the sexual innuendo stuff started in season 3 I think, and I really didn't want my kids watching that at all. And my kids know all about where babies come from, but I didn't think they needed to see teenagers talking about making out.

[karen]

Nope, i totally agree with L on this one. Raw ANY meat is grosser than cooked meat, so it stands to reason that raw human would be grosser. I mean, both are equally repugnant, but if you didn't know what you were eating? Raw would totally be more disgusting.

[Swistle]

Oh, girl drama! I am not looking forward to it. I had a talk with Elizabeth about it the other day; she's in 2nd grade, and 2nd/3rd grades were my own two worst years, bully-wise. I told her I wasn't even sure those girls MEANT to be so awful---and really, looking at Elizabeth, it's hard to imagine girls of that age were capable of that. But they were, so I was trying to explain what NOT to do, to someone who may or may not even realize she's doing it, and arg.

If they like fighty shows, we've kind of half-liked Teen Titans. That is, the kids love it, and we've so far been willing to have it sometimes on. Another show popular at our house recently is Gravity Falls; that's one Paul and I like too, and it has fraternal twins in it.

[Swistle]

Paul just reminded me of Kim Possible and Avatar the Last Airbender. Those are good, too, in the "we're willing to watch them too" way. And have they tried My Little Pony (the new version)? Apparently that is all the rage even with teenagers now.

[Snoopymom]

ICarly was pretty terrible, IMHO. I prefer Power Rangers to that, actually. I am no help because my 9.5 yr old watches what her little brother watches (Power Rangers (ugh), Pokemon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).

[Katie]

E & L are getting so tall!
I LOVE iCarley! Much better than SpongeBob when it comes to innudendo humor.

[el-e-e]

What a lovely day!

I would take Power Rangers over iCarly ANY day of the week. iCarly made my kids sarcastic and cheeky and so we blocked it. Power Rangers just makes them goofballs.

[liz]

iCarly is verboten in our house. Mostly because the grownups portrayed in it are either stupider than your average paving stone, or completely irresponsible, or both. The level of disrespect my son started giving me after watching a season of that show was phenomenal. Suite Life is similarly banned, and Lab Rats.

[liz]

I second the recommendation of Avatar (the cartoon, not the movie) and Kim Possible. And I add The Tick (the cartoon), Pinky and The Brain, and Samurai Jack.

[shari]

As a fellow mom of 3rd grade twin girls, I feel ya with the girl drama starting... I didn't think this would happen for another year (or two) but it has definitely started up this year. Who sits with who at lunch, who plays with who at recess....

We also had a first in the Twin Issue department this week: a classmate told one of my girls that she was just 'back up' to play with since the other twin wasn't available that day after school. And to be honest, I don't think it was truly meant in a 'mean girl' kind of way... I think my girls are still seen (by some) as a Unit, even though they haven't been in the same class since Kindergarten. Let the fun begin!

ps) my girls loved iCarly and while I wasn't wild about it, it beats most of the other shows that are on those channels now! (iCarly has been cancelled - only showing in reruns). Wizards of Waverly place is/was another favorite (also cancelled, also in heavy rotation in reruns I think!)

[Cathy]

Since I believe you mostly watch on netflix and our households seem to have similar tastes (Avatar the last airbender and Phineas and Ferb being wildly popular in our house) I would suggest "Drake and Josh" and "Ned's declassified SChool survival guide". There aren't many iCarly episodes available on netflix (maybe only one season?). And I definitley liked the messages in both of these shows better than iCarly. Also both are watchable by adult standards. My girls watched them when they were younger and still stream them now at ages 9 and 11.