Being a Kid Again

I will preface this blog entry by telling you a few things. First of all, my son is eleven years old and in the fifth grade. Second of all, he has a hot young teacher (her second full year) with an interesting resume...including a hairdresser for a funeral home. Since we all know that 1 + 2 = 3, the third thing is that my son has a crush on his teacher.

On the way to school this morning, he asked me if I ever wish I could be a kid again. I thought that was an interesting question, but I answered that I really didn't. He asked why and I responded, "been there, done that." He wanted to know what I meant and I let him know that while there are certain things about being a kid that are great, I didn't really want to be one again.

He went on to tell me how his teacher still acts like a kid. She has a young son and does everything with him. One night she apparently woke him up at 11:00 to take him sledding on a newly fallen snow. Many times she will join my son's class in games during gym or at recess. She used to play competitive soccer and also coaches a gymnastic team.

So I wondered to myself, what was my son really asking me? Why I'm not as cool as his teacher? I know that's not it, because no matter how cool I was, I'm his mom so he still wouldn't think I am. But I am considering that I may need to loosen up a bit and have more fun. Play with him more or at least be a little more playful. Afterall, we just got the letter about middle school orientation next month, so playtime with my son may be running out.

School's In Session

My kids are a bit unusual. My son never liked trains, cars, or legos. He has always been about sports. He plays them, watches them, reads about them, and is obsessed with video games about them.

My daughter never liked Barbies or baby dolls. She has always loved stuffed animals and I do believe that she thinks they are real. She also likes to play school and reminds me of my sister in that way.

When my sister and I were younger and we played school, the other students in our pretend class had names like Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew. The funny thing is that my daughter uses my sister's Nancy Drew books as some of her "student's" desks when she plays school.

This is the full class at their desks

Here are close ups of each row. Notice their names on their
desks along with their desk number.

Are they not the smartest bunch of stuffed characters you have ever seen?

New Year Nugget

A happy new year to you all. I know it's been a while, and I don't really have any insights or words of wisdom for the new year...yet.

What I do have to share is a little nugget I discovered after ringing in the new year. While lying wide awake in bed at about 2 a.m., I was scanning the dial and found a program I had never seen before. I'm still investigating what it's all about, but I'll let you know what I know thus far because it's definitely worth checking out for yourself.

If you are a fan of Hall and Oates, and quite frankly how can you not be, Daryl Hall (the blonde half of the duo) has a show that I believe is a free webcast. It's called Live from Daryl's House and basically each episode features him jamming with a different artist at his home studio outside of New York City. He's got a full band, backup singers, and a camera crew. In-between songs, they feature some local cook who comes and prepares food for everyone.

So far I've watched parts of the episodes with Todd Rundgren, Sharon Jones, and Train. They sing some of Hall and Oates songs, some of the featured guests songs, or a couple of others. I guess I always thought of Daryl Hall as a good song writer with some great pop songs, but he's really more than that. His songs can be sung by a variety of artists and they all sound good. Really good. And he can belt out tunes in a variety of genres and he always sounds good. Really good.