A Day in the Life

I'm exhausted tonight from a variety of rather inane circumstances, but thought I would post a little slice of my life.

This week is finals week at the local high school. Normally, this would have no impact on my life, but this week it does. You see, the kids in the neighborhood have a band, a very loud band that plays a type of music that I can't identify. I think it is punk, but actually, I never hear songs, just noise. Loud noise. Today they started at 1:30pm--this is how I know it is finals week. Yesterday, they also started at 1:30pm. And guess what happened on the other days of this week, being that it is finals "week". Of course, on Tuesday I asked about school, praying they hadn't dropped out and decided to give this music thing a go, and they told me about the whole finals week thing. I also asked about studying and they told me they would...after practice! Now, the good news is they only play for about 2 hours (trust me, this is an improvement), because the drummer has a job, and the neighbors get ugly at the 2 hour mark. The bad news is they have amplifiers, drums and lead screamer, I mean singer, too. I am hopeful this all ends tomorrow. If you are going to have teen-age boys on the court, these kids aren't bad. In fact, they're really good kids, just loud. One of them even helps me with groceries when his friends aren't around. He is a nice guy, but why can't they fire up some James Taylor and forget about the Sex Pistols? And why do they have to use electric guitars? Do I sound old?

Also, tonight, I had one of those memorable parenting moments that simply must be recorded. I was getting the girls ready for a bath and the Magster had a little surprise in her diaper. The funny thing is that while these surprises are typically smelly, this one wasn't. So, as she started to whip off her diaper, I thought nothing of it, until I was felt something hit my leg and roll across the floor. Then, I shrieked. It was so loud, I think the boys in the band heard me, the Magster started crying and La Nina running to see if her sister was in trouble. After I calmed down the Magster and assessed the situation, we had "surprises" all over the bathroom. La Nina was acting like she was on and Easter Egg hunt, shouting, "I found one over here, Mom, get it". I was running around with tissues picking up, and the Magster was standing in the middle of the mayhem, swinging her arms, shouting, "Poo-poo there, Momma." Again, they just don't warn you about this in those parenting manuals.

One last little tidbit from my day: We had La Nina's Parent Teacher Conference yesterday. It is so odd to hear another adult talk about your child with intimate knowledge of her likes, dislikes and even a few little quirks. The teacher told us while La Nina is doing well, she doesn't know when her birthday is. Both her Dad and I were floored, we tried to be cool, but we weren't. La Nina regularly tells us her birthday is March 8, she is going to be 4, she wants this and that for a party, etc, etc. Yet, when her teacher asked, she responded only her birthday was in March...therefore, not passing the little test. So, today, I asked her under differenct conditions about her birthday. Finally, on time number 3, she looked at me and said, "Mom. I told you already it is March 8. Do you need to write it down?" I tell you, she is 3 going on 13. What a sassy little thing. But it was pretty funny to hear the line her Dad and I use on each other coming from her. Now, why won't she tell her teacher her birthday? The mysteries of childhood,!

So, I guess between the drum playing neighbor, the poo flinging two year old and the sassy almost 4 year old, I have good reason to be tired tonight. I'm going to read.