Or not... I had my day sorta upended when Rei decided he wasn't going to bowling this morning, and Brie didn't go to class, so, with the morning to myself, I went off to spend some time at the Strange Folk Festival, a yearly arts and crafts event in O'Fallon IL. Last year I went in the rain with my father-in-law, Brie, and the baby; this year the temps were cool, the sun was shining, and it was a perfect day for browsing and drooling. I (finally) invested in a hand made drop spindle for spinning with, and got a free lesson to go with it from a member of the So. IL Artisan's guild, a talented wood carver who makes many drool-worthy objects (last year I bought a carving of Merlin and Archimedes from him for Eric, carved out of an old gnarled piece of wood). I then bought a small baggie of hand-dyed, spin-ready fiber to practice with in a brilliant red called "Sookie" (ala the True Blood books). I also bought some sassy metal tins ($5 a piece!) to store small notions in (after dumping the open container of hooks and eyes for the umpteenth time in the sewing room), and I found a ceramicist who does lovely work that I plan to order from on-line for a wedding gift I would like to get and another item for us. I collected lots of business cards from shops that intrigued me, as most venders are local people who also have etsy shops online, and I am a happy girl. Hot coffee, sunshine, and lots of arts and crafts to inspire me!
I got home looking forward to some quiet time to get some chores done in, but have now been asked to watch a fussy baby while her mother bakes cupcakes for the birthday party this afternoon. I really wanted to get this blog post made, so she is, at the moment, complaining in her crib... She apparently needs a nap that she refused to take earlier.
I haven't blogged much since my last post because I was too discouraged about a situation that had come up last week, and I wasn't sure how I wanted to present it (or if I even wanted to present it). Rei got a 5.5 day suspension from school a week ago wednesday, for "threatening behavior," even though the Vice Principal admitted to me there was no threats issued physically, verbally, or otherwise. Rei was verbally defiant and rude to the VP, and he was belligerantly defiant to the principal over a situation that was so stupid (in my opinion). Rei's reaction to everythings was over-the-top, out-of-line, and very inappropriate, and I agreed there needed to be a consequence for it, but I felt that 5 days was a significant overreaction, considering how poorly they handled things from their end (does no one at the school, including the police officer, have training in basic de-escalation techniques????) I took it to the superintendent to protest the length of the consequence, but he "elected to support his staff in their determination" and by the time he mailed me the packet to further challenge it, the suspension had been served. The thing that bothered me the most is the stance of giving only 70% (a D) of the grade earned for all homework done over the suspension, which means anything less than A work is an automatic F. How does this encourage a student to learn from their behaviors and try their best??? I was just sick over the whole situation and was upset with both my son and the school... Just as he could have turned his behavior around at any time, so too could they have given him a couple of minutes to cool down before attempting to process the situation. Regardless, it's done.
We also had some nasty 48 hour upper respiratory infection blow through the house last weekend on top of everything else. Eric was totally laid out on Friday night and all day Saturday from it; I started feeling it on Sunday night and it took me til Tuesday to feel better (including being in my nightgown by 6:30 pm and asleep by 8 on Monday night).
This week has also been Eric's long week for work, along with some intensive coaching sessions/meetings for Aurora's college team. They are at their first tournament this weekend, and Eric was sad he couldn't be there, because there were a few monkey wrenches in the works getting the kids to the tournament. It worked out though, and Aurora will be home sometime Sunday. The boys bowled this morning, and the girls started bowling this afternoon, so I am waiting to hear how things go. The boys were in 2nd place at the break. Eric is very proud!
Baby Skye is quiet! My guess is she fell asleep. Lately she has been fighting sleep something fierce, despite being really weary. She is in the process of working her way to one nap a day I think, but depending on when she gets up in the morning, holding her off for an afternoon nap only is a challenge sometimes. She generally starts showing signs of weariness about 2-3 hours after she gets up for the day, naps for 1-2 hours, gets up, eats lunch, plays, then wants to catch another nap going on 3ish (which Brie likes because then she can nap too after work). The problem with that is then bedtime gets late. I would really like to see her on a schedule where she gets up by 8, has an early lunch, then goes down for a nap around 11:30/12ish, sleeping til 2-2:30 or so, then playing in the afternoon, having a snack, eating dinner, then going to bed around 7 or so. The problem with that scenario though is that she often wakes up with Brie at 5 am, goes back to sleep til 9:30 or later, gets up, eats breakfast, plays, naps around noon for a couple of hours, then gets up, eats, plays, and wants a nap again around 4. It becomes a vicious cycle.
I am thinking I need to take advantage of this naptime to get a couple of things done, so I will sign off for now. Skye's birthday party is this afternoon at 4, down at the local park. It should be a nice afternoon for it!
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