Here's What's Wrong With the World Today....

First, in order to fully understand my two cents, you must go and read this article about this preschool in Sweden.

What struck me the most was the part of the article that talks about how the building centre was intentionally placed next to the play kitchen area.

Really? This is considered ground breaking?? Go into any daycare centre or preschool in just about any part of Canada (and I suspect the US) and guess what you're going to find. You're going to find the block centre (or building centre or construction centre) right next to the kitchen centre (or daily living centre or dramatic play centre)  

This is not a new technique and it's not so that children don't develop mental barriers between cooking and building it's because pretend play in the kitchen/dramatic play centre is often times exactly the same as pretend play in the block/building centre. It's to encourage them to extend their play on their own without adult interference. It's Early Childhood Education 101.

Furthermore, to imply that it's so completely earth shattering that little boys are playing in the kitchen centre is absurd. Little boys love the kitchen centre.

I think we've reached a point in our society when people are just too serious all the time. There is too much focus on our children being political correct and inclusive when the simple fact of the matter is, it's not the children who have problems with this. It's the adults.

We spend so much time worrying about our kids not assuming gender roles (girls can be construction workers and police officers and men can stay home and raise the babies or be kindergarten teachers) but the simple fact of the matter is, if we, as adults stood back and shut our mouths for 5 minutes, kids would figure that out all on their own. Because they'd see their friends Dad is the one who takes him to school and picks him up and they'd see the female police officer giving a ticket.

These issues accepting others regardless of race (or to go even further and wonder why race is an issue at all), not viewing same sex families as out of the norm, not falling in the trap of gender roles....these are not the children's issues...they belong to us and we twist this in our minds thinking our kids somehow have these issues too. But they don't until we teach them to.

I can tell you, my son loves to play kitchen. He also loves to play cars. My daughter loves to draw and she loves to play in the mud. It's not because I actively said to either one of them - you can regardless of your gender...it was simply because I said "You can."

We need to stop over thinking things.  Stop stressing about why they should play with blocks and let them play with the blocks. Stop stressing about if Johnny wants to (or egads!! doesn't want to) wear the princess dress in the drama centre. Wearing it will not make him a cross dresser just as not wearing it will not make him a steel worker.

And that is my two cents for today. Now go out there and get your daughter to play with trucks and your sons to play with Barbie otherwise they may grow up not truly knowing who they really can be.
: insert eye roll here :

Aaaahhhh Choooooo

I've had about all I can take of these allergies.

I never used to have allergies but thanks to my pregnancy with Connor - not only did I get a gorgeous little boy but I got a whole bunch of skin tags and seasonal allergies. I would have been happy with just the kid.

So right around the beginning of June my allergies start, out of nowhere and I spend the next two months sneezing, snotting, rubbing my eyes and eating crackers for the sole purpose of having something hard and rough in my mouth to scratch my palate with. (I truly think that is the worst symptom)

I can't take decongestants so I have to live with the stuffed up sinuses and though I have a neti pot I'm finding it can't keep up with the constant supply of ick.
I have been taking an antihistamine, which for those who know me well, know that I must truly be suffering. I don't like to take medication for anything.

I used to think allergy sufferers were just exaggerating and being babies. Oh, how little I knew. Imagine having a horrible cold.....every day for 2 months. Yeah, it blows.

But I think I'll survive....because in 3 more days I'll be enjoying a long summer off work, relaxing, with my feet up and a drink in hand. heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee.

It's Like Christmas!!

I'm going to admit that even though we are finally debt free, we do still live pretty close to pay check to pay check. Mainly because I like to shop and when I have extra money, I don't save it, it spend it.  So while my bills are always paid on time any extra money I have usually goes to frivolous things or fun things or things I want to buy for the kids that they don't really need.  Frankly, I don't work for my money so I can put it in a bank and not spend it. I have retirement savings, the kids have college savings so the rest is gravy.

Having said that, we're coming quickly to the end of the school year and because it's questionable whether or not I'll get unemployment insurance right away or they'll refuse me at first and I'll have to appeal - I should be planning for the summer of living solely on Sean's paycheck. We can do it but it means either no fun extras or putting those fun extras on our nice, nearly empty Visa and racking up a summer's worth of debt. Neither is an appealing option.

So the other day I did my budget for July. I made sure the bills were all paid, we had grocery and gas money and were able to pay the remaining balance on the Visa. It left me with some money, albeit, not a whole bunch and it also meant that our trip to Niagara Falls in July was going to be a Visa trip.

This morning I had an epiphany. On the toilet no less. When I did my budget I neglected to include a full paycheck. Yes, ladies and gentleman, two weeks worth of hard earned cash.

Now, suddenly, the clouds have parted, the sun is shining and I see a rainbow. Yes, a rainbow of money! It's like Christmas has come in July (I know it's not July yet, but that's when I get paid)

It's silly, I know but I'm beyond excited to be able to rework this budget to include this money so that, in fact, our Niagara Falls trip is cash trip and it won't be such a crappy summer after all.

"It's the most wonderful time of the yeeeeeaaaaaaar........."

Multi talented?

I like to think I am. I am a pretty crafty girl. I can whip out a tote bag made with Kool Aid Jammer packages in less than an hour. I can make cookies that look like boobs and bums. I can make earrings that look like ice cream cones out of Sculpey Clay.

I tried my hand at Cake Pops last night. I decided to make them for my kindergarten class' graduation tomorrow.

They look good but I'll tell ya, I got nothing on my friend Ansley. Her cake pops rock and she's one talented lady.

I'll post pics of mine later.....but I promise you, they don't look nearly as awesome.

%#*@$ Google!!

See how I blame Google in my title when in actual fact this is entirely my fault? I chose not to accept responsibility for this.

I took today off work. I am feeling the stress on so many levels and am finding it hard to focus on anything.

So I spoke with my Dr's office last night. They told me that the hematologists office is closed for the week so they'd call back with an appointment for me next week.
I called back and used that as an opportunity to ask my Dr to find me a hematologist out here in my neck of the woods rather than out in his neck of the woods. He didn't know anyone so I'll stick with his guy. He then told me that he got my blood work back and everything looked good.

Everything looked Good.

I'm clinging to that. I figure if there was something terribly wrong that my blood work would show something out of whack.

But then there is Google.

So I googled would cancer show up in blood tests? and sure enough (not like I didn't actually know) but of course, that isn't the case.  It just means that so far everything looks okay.

And the high I was on after talking to my Dr is gone. And even worse, I can't tell Sean because he'll be incredibly pissed that I'm googling.

Googling really is a dirty word.

Anyone Seen My Gumption?

I'm thinking of making a 'missing' poster. I'll offer an award.

I am so freakin' tired, all the time. I've got no energy and my mind is constantly running in circles.

I know it's stress, worrying about what next September holds for me at work and more importantly what the blood tests results hold for me. I'm running all sorts of scenario's through my mind from 'I irritated a lymph node by dry shaving and then putting deodorant on right away (a no-no, I know) to something too terrible to even utter.

But all of this has caused me to lose interest in everything else. I made two kool aid bags yesterday for one of the teachers at work. She ordered 4! I've done 3 now so there's only one left to do but even that seems like a chore.

I am notorious for telling Sean that there isn't any point in worrying about something in which we have no control - and this is one of those times. I have no control over who I'll be working with in September so I just have to wait and see and deal with it then.
I have no control over what my blood tests say so I just have to wait until I see the Dr and move on from there.

No point in worrying right?

8 more work days. Only 8.  52 hours. And then I can scratch one thing off my list.

Happy Monday everyone!

On the Lighter Side of Things

My blog has taken a dark and depressing turn as of late and I don't like it so I'm going to lighten things up today. I don't know with what just yet so let me search the great wide web and I'll be right back.

Why don't you enjoy a song while you wait. This is one of my favorites.



Alright I'm back. Enjoy the song? I used it in a DVD I made of the kids and so everytime I hear the song now I well up. (but in a good way)

So I found a few happy things...

Who doesn't love a  cute dog?!

Who doesn't love a gorgeous sunset? (I took this one myself in Joe Batt's Arm, Newfoundland) 

I submitted the above picture in a contest for this commercial. I goes much to quickly for me to see if it's actually there so I choose to think it is.




I have been neglecting my camera as of late, I think I need to change that. I'm happy summer is almost here, I'll be able to get out there with it more often and snap away.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there.

And for the rest of you - give your Dad and extra hug today for those of us who can't hug ours.

Busses, Elevators and a medical update

I thought about making this two blog posts but frankly I'm too lazy. I've got some budgeting to do and some photo CD's to burn for my Kindergarten Graduation.

Connor has developed quite an imagination. This morning he told me the bus was coming to take him to the mall. I had to come to. So into the playroom we went (yeah, it's working out GREAT since I cleaned and organized it) to wait for the bus. He even gave me money to pay for the bus with. It's funny, since he's never been on public transit and even if he had been, it would have been a subway and we don't pay to ride the subway. So I don't know where he's getting his frame of reference from but I love it all the same.

So the bus came and we got on. I paid the man and we sat down (we had to squat).  And then we do nothing. We don't talk. We don't move, we just squat. Finally the bus stopped and we got off. But - then it was time to get on the elevator.

Connor seems to love elevators. I'm glad to see my overwhelming fear has not rubbed off on him (it's actually ironic as last night I had an elevator dream - the first in a long time - in which the elevator was not responding to the buttons and fell to the ground) 

Connor's bedroom is the elevator. We are to go in, close the door and push the number we want to go to. And then we stand there and look around, and don't talk, and don't do anything until he tells me we're there and we're allowed to open his bedroom door.

I love this his imagination is exploding like this. I love to see what he comes up with. I can't wait to watch it blossom even more.

On to the update.

I saw my Dr yesterday. He's still not sure why my lymph nodes are swollen. (I've also got a swollen gland by my ear) and he sent me down for a bunch of blood work. He's sending me to see a hematologist who will go over all the results of the blood work and give him his thoughts on what's happening.

I'll be honest, I'm not feeling very encouraged. He did say that all of my results thus far have been good but that we can't rule anything (and by anything - you know what I mean) yet.

So, I continue to wait....and worry.

Positive thoughts needed.

Here We Go Again...

Remember last September when I started my dream job that turned into the 'oh shit, what did I get myself into?" job because the teacher I worked with was...let's just say, less than prepared for Kindergarten?

And then remember in mid October when the Principal hired a new teacher and she was fantastic and my dream job became my dream job?

Well, the teacher is leaving.

I knew she would. I knew from day one she would. I knew her heart belonged to the school she's going back to (the one she came from) but it still sucks. I think what sucks the most is the timing. There is only a week and a half left of school and the Principal has also announced that he's leaving so I'm not sure who is hiring the new teacher and that means I could potentially have to wait until the beginning of September to meet the new teacher....again.

It also means that these past two days of planning for next year could potentially be a gigantic waste of time. A new teacher may not like these plans. A new teacher may be power trippy. A new teacher may make my dream job a nightmare.

Fuck.

Huh?

I love all things Canadian. I love back bacon and beer. I love Rick Mercer and hockey (okay, actually I have no use for hockey but shhhh, don't tell anyone or I could be lynched....especially with a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup playoffs....go Canucks!)

And I take pride in knowing a lot about my country and what I don't know, I will gladly look up.

So imagine my surprise when the final Jeopardy question last night was one in which, while I did get the right answer to, it was only because I could translate the French, and not because I actually knew the answer.

It was something along these lines (I'm paraphrasing here...)

"This country's flag, newly adopted in 1965 is popularly known as L'unifolié"

One leafed?   Really??

Note the word in the clue that I've bolded. Popularly known as? Really??

I suppose in French speaking Canada it's popularly known as that but I've never, ever even heard it called that until last night.

The things you learn on Jeopardy.

Thanks for Considering Me.

I promise, promise, promise that all of my posts will not be gloomy and about cancer but I really have to share this story.

About a year and a half ago I was was given an old (I mean OLD) Toshiba laptop for Connor. He was interested in the computer but our desktop was brand new and I didn't want him screwing it up - he was after all, only 2 years old. So I went on the local Freecycle network and asked for one and sure enough, some guy takes old laptops, refurbishes them and gives them away. His only requirement was that Connor come to the door with me to say thank you (since it was for him)  (Funny thing, Connor still remembers that, that he had to 'say thank you to the man'.)

Connor is now 3.5 and has outgrown his little laptop. He's a Starfall junkie and we didn't have his laptop hooked up to the internet. And it was a running an older operating system - it was old...plain and simple.

So I thought it was about time to pass it on to someone else who might be able to use it. I posted it on Freecycle and waited.

About an hour later I checked my email again and there were already about 6 requests for it. When it comes to my giving things away on freecycle I'm pretty particular. I usually chose the person whose response is the most polite. (Seriously some people's response is like "when can I come and get it?"  Um, how about never - don't assume just because I'm posting it that it's yours  to come and get)

I chose a woman named Shelley because of how she worded her response. She wrote at the end of it, "thanks for considering me"  which is something I always write at the end of mine when I'm asking for something on freecycle. So I emailed her back and told her it was hers for the taking and where to come for it.

When she came to the door I was met with an attractive woman, I'd say in her mid early to mid 40's. She was thin but not delicate looking.

She introduced herself and then said "Did you get my second email? Do you think I'm a crazy woman?"

Now we've all heard stories about robbers, rapists and murderers finding victims on Craigslist. Normally when I freecycle something I have it picked up from my porch, I don't answer the door but in light of it being a computer and my being on a main street I opted for her to pick it up from me. My mom was home.

So I said to her 'No, I didn't get the email, is there a problem?"

She said, "No, I just wanted to know if you'd show me how it works....and I'd like to talk to you about your Dad."

It made sense now. I have a link to the Papa's Pride blog in my email signature.

So I invited her in and showed her how the laptop worked.

She then said to me that she's read the Papa's Pride blog and what a lovely tribute it was to my Dad. She then shared with me that she too, had stage 4 endometrial cancer.  When someone you've just met shares that with you it really takes your breath away.

She continued on to tell me about how she'd initially been misdiagnosed as being premenopausal and by the time she did get a proper diagnosis it was stage 4. She'd gone through chemo and radiation and naturopathic treatments and nothing helped.

She'd heard about a cancer treatment centre in Mexico and had decided to go there. But since it is obviously not covered by our health care system she and her family and friends were doing some extreme fundraising to get the money she needed to go.

We spent the better part of an hour talking, exchanging fundraising ideas, talking about her family and mine, about her hopes for this treatment and the good stories she's heard.

It's not often you can say you've met someone who's truly made you feel inspired. A year ago this woman was told she had 4 months to live and not only is she still here but she's the personification of hope and strength. You would think that talking about how this treatment is truly her last shot would make her a puddle of emotional goo but she held her head high and proud and smiled and laughed and marveled at the beauty and spirit of the people in her life.

I was quite moved by meeting her. And yes, I think there was probably a reason I chose her email over all the others. A reason why she ended it with "Thanks for considering me."

On a grander scale - it's a great way to live life; considering one another.

Thank you for considering me.

A Year of Being Lazy

I worked from home for 8 years. My office was the playroom, a 13 x 15 room painted with green grass, blue skies and a sun wearing sunglasses. It was my brightly coloured plastic world.

By the end of my 8 years at home I longed to be out of that playroom, away from plastic, away from sitting on the floor and more importantly, away from being a prisoner in my own home. So when I got the job with the school board I was ecstatic. I stepped out of that playroom on my last 'official' day of work at the end of June and vowed I would not step foot into it again.

Wow - did I ever keep that promise. The extent of my interaction with that room has been to throw toys back in there that have migrated out during the day and to get Connor's purple 'time out' chair  when he misbehaves. I even stopped cleaning it. It became Mary's job in order to earn her allowance.

Unfortunately it's starting to show, in more way that one. The room is a disaster area - putting it mildly. It's dusty and there are toys everywhere (Mary's not the best tidier) But worse yet, Connor has lost the ability to play productively. He throws his toys, he kicks them around and then comes out and nags to play on Starfall or Wii. And when he gets bored or kicked off of them he goes back to throwing toys.

And yet, at daycare he plays productively, tidies his messes and behaves as he did when I had the daycare here.

And so, my year of being out of the playroom has come to an end. Connor will be officially withdrawn from daycare in two short weeks. And then he'll be home all day. As will I. Judging by how our weekends are going, I need to get him back onto track with being focused, having fun and being productive.  I need to rethink the playroom set up, the amount of toys and how it can meet his needs (and mine)  In short, it's back to work I go.

Wish me luck, it looks like it might be an uphill battle.

Hard to Please and Bit of Hodge Podge

So I heard from the Dr yesterday. He said there is no sign of cancer in the mammogram (WOOHOO!!)

But - he did say there are swollen lymph nodes. After talking we've determined that I've had no specific injury or illness on that particular side and so I go in to see him next week to get some blood drawn to try to pinpoint the cause. He's also calling the surgeon to try to bump up my appointment (currently on August 8th)

Part of me is terrified - I say, well, he said no sign of cancer in the mammogram....that doesn't eliminate other cancers (ie lymphoma) but when Dr Google and I chat I discover I don't have any of the prominent symptoms of that. Then I think about this constant fatigue and how that's related or how lately everytime I eat salad and some fruit I get horrible stomach pain ( I call it the banana pain as it's the pain I've always gotten after eating banana.)

The other part of me says that I've read that lymph nodes can swell over the smallest, most insignificant infections and that maybe it's something small, internal and unimportant.

So I guess the wait continues.

Moving on.

Our new Relay for Life team was finally created and put online. You can see it here (or pledge us there - heehee) Our goal the first year was $1500 and we surpassed it. Our goal this year was $3000 and we surpassed it so this year our goal is $5000. And we'll surpass it!

Connor has joined t-ball. We went to his first game on Tuesday. It was the cutest freakin' thing I've ever seen. After we got through the half hour tantrum over not wanting to wear the team shirt (he's weird about clothes)

Connor has his little glove. He throws the ball (he's got a hell of an arm) and then holds his glove out to wait for you to throw it back. But he doesn't actually make an effort to catch it. He expects it to be thrown into his glove and if not he'll happily watch it sail by and then run after it.

He made a little friend so he and his friend played catch together - the two of them over throwing the balls, watching them go by and then chasing after them.

Connor's first time up to bat - he was the last batter of his team which means when he hits it, it's an automatic home run. So he hit the ball and rather than run to first base he took his bat and ran after the ball to get it. The batting coach pointed him in the right direction and my little man cleared the bases.

Now it's his turn in the field. The first few times the ball was hit he'd stand there and stare at it. The rest of his team dogpiling the ball. So I encouraged him to run after it too. He was a gentleman though. He didn't dog pile the other kids and when he didn't catch it he'd shout "Oh MAN!! I missed it!!" 

All in all, a fun evening. I grinned from ear to ear all night like an idiot. I love that kid.

Care for a boobie pancake?

So I had my mammogram yesterday. I should get the results by Monday.

I saw the pictures, two lumps, in my armpit. The Dr told me they were lymph nodes ( I knew that ).  He also told me they weren't swollen,  that the other side just didn't have prominent ones. I'm not sure I'm buying that. But we'll see.

Then he sent me for the ultrasound. She spent a lot of time around my lymph node, went off to see the Dr and then came back and did an ultrasound on my spleen. That sent me into a panic since, to my knowledge there is nothing wrong with my spleen. Dr Google assured me that my spleen and lymph nodes are a related system and it would be routine to ultrasound both in this case.

Then they sent me for a chest x ray and then on my merry way.

So I'll know Monday.

Getting Crapped On By a Bird IS Good Luck. 2011 Relay for Life - The Uncensored Story

At 4 pm Sean and I went to set up our campsite. We had all our camp chairs, tents, air mattresses, spare clothes...honestly, for a 12 hour event you'd have thought we were going for a week. The perils of overnighting with children.

We unloaded our stuff and Sean went to move the van from the drop off zone to parking while I got the tent unpacked and ready to go. As I'm untying the bag I feel a big drip on my head and the back of my neck. My first thought is 'Huh? It's raining?!" One should note the sky was ridiculously clear. And then I see it, on my pants...a big nasty wad of bird poop.

Yep, I'd officially been at the Relay all of 14 seconds and I got shit on by a bird. Thankfully it didn't hit my shirt (let's not add insult to injury by my Dad's picture getting crapped on) but it did hit my hat. My brand new, WHITE, custom made Papa's Pride hat. If it would have been socially acceptable to cry I most certainly would have.  Instead, I whined, like a 5 year old and my hubby took one for the team and wore the shit hat and gave me his clean one.

The survivor lap was very moving. To hear everyone cheer as the survivors go by and the line seems to go forever. It's an odd feeling because on one hand, all those yellow shirts are a reminder of just how many people are affected by cancer but on the other hand, all those yellow shirts are proof that fundraisers like this are working and that people ARE beating cancer.

My bff and her partner came to support us. They got there before it officially started and were able to walk the first lap with the team. That meant a lot to me. My oldest brother was there too. I was glad to have him join us and impressed with his stamina - he walked most of the night, as did our family friend, Vicki.

Emily invited a friend to join her this year. T is her bff and a Relay veteran herself. Her family participated in it for several years. That was the best decision we made - allowing her to come. Emily was excited, happy AND didn't complain once to come home (the simple truth is, she's the reason we'd planned that Sean and the kids would be going home - she doesn't do well sleeping away from home and even worse when it's in a tent. If you need a reminder visit this post.  But with T there, I barely saw her all night. They walked the track, they did the activities, they had fun. It was great.

Connor and Mary conked out at about 11 in the tent.  Sean and my mom took shifts sleeping and staying close by.

The Luminary Ceremony was moving, as usual. I sent in pictures of my Dad for the big screen photo montage and the one with Connor as a baby kissing him got a few "awwws" in the crowd.

I spent a lot of time walking the track alone this year. It gave me time to think; about how much I miss my Dad, about how scared I am of this lump in  my armpit, about my family, my friends.....about a lot.

They say when you get crapped on by a bird it's good luck. I didn't have time to buy a lottery ticket so I figured my good luck would just be wasted. I was WRONG!!

We played Bingo at 1:30 am. I won a Relay for Life LED flashlight.   Yay me!!
But it gets better...

From 3-4 am they opened the registration for next year's event. You only had to register your team with one participant so I took my last $10 and registered myself. This got our team into the VIP draw.

At 5 am they drew 3 VIP teams and WE were one of them!!!

So at next year's event we get a VIP parking space (which means 1/4 of the walk!!) AND we get to pick our campsite first - which guarantee's that we'll get the same awesome spot we had for the past 2 years.

So I guess I did have good luck after all.

It was a fantastic event and I'm already looking forward to next year. We have 364 days of fundraising ahead of us. Emily and I have a great plan for the summer - a very special fundraising campaign. And my mom and I are already tossing around a few ideas for fundraising events for next year.

But for today - I'm going to rest.

It's Relay Day!!

Can you tell I'm excited?

Last year I had a foot injury and thought it was broken. I came home after the relay, slept for a bit and then went to urgent care for an x ray.  (it was fine)

This year it's my back. I sneezed yesterday (damned allergies) while I was bent down and twisted the almighty crap out of my back. And now I'm feeling several levels of pain. But I. Don't. Care.

My oldest brother is coming this year as well as a family friend. I'm glad they're coming. It's nice to have people to talk to, especially at 2 am when you're tired and grumpy.

My bff and her partner are coming too. They won't stay all night but I'm so happy they are coming out even for a while. The support means the world to me.

So, I'm going to get packed up, get set up and enjoy the night. I'll fill ya'll in sometime tomorrow or Sunday.

I've Become THAT Parent.

The kids school hosted the "Welcome to Kindergarten" evening last night. It's meant, primarily, for first time to school parents. I wouldn't have gone but I'm doing the Welcome to Kindergarten program in a couple of weeks and figured I could rip off a few good ideas for my school.

It's the same for all schools, a package with magnetic letters and numbers, some playdough, some construction paper, glue and scissors and a book. It's provided by the ministry of education. Then each school can throw in other things, notes from teachers, etc. Connor's had a foam cross with some stickers (a bible, a cross and a dove) and a magnet with a small laminated prayer. I thought it was nice and will suggest we add that to ours as well.

So during the 'talk' the Principal mentioned that there would be a straight JK class and a JK/SK split class. (for those of you out of Ontario - our schools have Jr Kindergarten which kids start when they are as young as 3 years 8 months and Sr. Kindergarten which they start as young as 4 years 8 months.) It is not mandatory but most children attend both Jr and Sr Kindergarten.

Now, I've been privileged enough to be teaching in a split class this year. I have primarily SK students but I do have 5 JK kids. And I've seen them flourish because they've been working at almost the same pace as the SK kids.

When we were getting up to leave I asked the Principal when the decision would be made as to which kids will be in the split class. She said "Oh, we're making that decision now." and then said nothing more. I wasn't going to leave it at that so I said "Well, my preference, if it can be accommodated is that he be in the split class. You see, he's already reading so I think it can only benefit him to be in a class with the SK's." I got a blank stare so I continued. "You see, I'm an ECE with a full day kindergarten and I've seen firsthand how kids who are ready for it can really benefit from the push"  She asked what my son's name was and said "We'll see what we can do"

I know what that means. That means she's thinking "Oh please lady, do you know how many parents I meet who think their kids is a genius and should be at the top of their class??" 
And I'm thinking "If a parent came to me and said what I just said I'd be thinking the same damn thing the principal is thinking" 

Only this time it's the real deal. I don't think my kid is a genius but the simple fact of the matter is that he is reading already which puts him ahead of probably a good portion of the kids he'll be starting school with. And yes, studies show he won't be any further ahead than them in a few years...but for now.....I only want the best for him.

So, I've become THAT parent.

On a different note, for those of you who are not PP friends....

I saw my own Dr on Monday. He seemed pretty optimistic that it was likely nothing too serious. He's still got me going for the tests but I know my Dr, if he has concerns, he'd say it.  So I'm a bit relieved. Still a little scared but not the terror I felt over the weekend.

I'll update when I know.