A List of 9 for 09-09-09

1. Harrison can ride his new "tippy bike" without training wheels! On Monday morning (Labor Day) Tyce took the boys out for a driveway ride. Tyce decided to teach Harrison to balance and go, and after a 30-second lesson Harrison cruised down the driveway and into the street, looking like a pro. Stopping was a different matter--he crashed into the neighbors' trashcans and Grandpa Al's truck! But he just kept getting up and going. It's now two days later and he can stop quite well.

(I forgot to mention that the same thing was true of swimming--Tyce gave Harrison a mini-lesson and suddenly Harrison could swim. For real. In the deep end and everything.)

2. Cameron doesn't seem to feel the need to compete with Harrison on his accomplishments. He's happy for him but doesn't care to try those things for himself just yet.

3. I put in my track change request during the summer, after getting the letter that Mary would be assigned to Track 3 again this year. It was a great track for us last year because of the twins' preschool schedule, but the summer break was awful . . . as in non-existent.

To make a long story short, Mary has been moved to Track 4 with Mrs. Cropp. Finally! Mrs. Cropp was Tyce's teacher one year and we love her.

4. Miss Mary got her hair done again this weekend and it is adorable. But it still took 3 hours to get it washed and styled. On the upside, I went to the Mexican market and got a delicious plum. And read an entire issue of Good Housekeeping. And listened to all the beauty shop gossip.

5. Tyce is trying out for the basketball team at Brown. Today is school picture day and he looks sharp. He's worn a suit and tie every year for school pictures since 5th grade. I think it is so unsual and awesome. He's an enigma to me because last week I wore myself out trying to make him pull up his ghetto-slacker shorts.

6. I spend too much time trying to control things. And people.

7. It is really hard for me not to roll my eyes when the big kids make outrageous statements such as, "School is so boring," or "All the other kids have cell phones," or "I'm different than you! I don't like to clean." (What?) One day I got scolded by Mary for rolling my eyes at her. And I thought, Holy Cow, it really IS hard.

I try to model the behavior I want my kids to exhibit but apparently I have failed on this count.

8. Someone has made off with my cheese grater. I attempted to make zucchini bread out of the 2-foot long vegetables Grandpa Al gave me from his garden, but it's pretty hard to grate the zucchini without a grater. I can only imagine it is outside somewhere, being used as a hotel for slugs. But no one will admit to knowing where it is. Really? Hmm.

Must. stop. self. from . . . rollingmyeyes!!!! Ugh! Sorry, I couldn't help it.

9. Sometimes I would really like to get a job, as in go back to work. Do you ever feel that way?