In case you were wondering...

Here are a few updates:

My first grader and his classroom: My usually sweet Joe is still acting up a lot at home. He cries easily, and fights everything. My mother's intuition tells me that he's not happy in his daily classroom experience. He is getting all his work done, but he's way too tense for a 6 year old. I try to find out about his day from him. He really doesn't give me much information. At his age, he should be happier in his day. I expect mood swings from my 12 year old!

I'm still hearing reports about the teacher being very rule-oriented. I hear that many parents complained about her lack of nurturing last year. I also heard that she is great at helping the kids with their reading and writing skills, but I don't think the kids should feel pressure and stress as they try to reach those goals. As class mom this year, I'm hoping to get a better sense of the classroom environment when I visit the class for parties and special activities. I think I'm also going to try and take Joe on a special one on one day with me. Maybe he'll relax and open up more with me about what is upsetting him.

Block tension: Gratefully, we have not had any confrontations or altercations with that older boy lately. It is still tense for me with his mother when we run into each other. You should see how fast she zooms by me in her truck. When she's coming, I tell the kids to stay close to me. I try to wave hello when she goes by. I don't think she'll ever turn her head in my direction :) She drives by me a little too aggressively. After a year of bullying, I'm glad that my son at least has some peace on the block. Hopefully, things will cool down someday. I'm really not a fan of confrontation and tension.

Kelly's romper room: Well, we're almost done with month two of babysitting my 3 year old nephew as my sister goes to school. You would laugh to see Jillian acting like a little wife all day. She'll say these kind of things to her cousin: "Clean up your stuff in my room." or "Why do you always put your shoes in my way?" or "You want to watch too much TV." Overall, it's a day filled with activity, little tantrums, giggles and singing. One of these days, I'm going to take a picture of myself after surviving an especially hectic day with the two of them. I must be a sight for sure!

Why does gray hair love me?: Sorry to say that gray is still trying to overtake my head. I want to get it colored at a salon, but money is tight so I'm holding off for now. Maybe I'll start wearing fashionable hats? I think a Yankee hat would be a great idea!! Yankee fever is here in my house:)

By the time I get an Ipod... I can remember to buy socks, underwear, hockey pucks, (I live with boys who love hockey), but I seem to forget to get my longed for Ipod. When the Santa of my house gets home, I think I'll have to tattoo "Wife needs Ipod" to his forehead :)

Well, that's all I have to report for now. This week, I'm up to my ears in school Halloween craft projects. We painted a pumpkin green to look like Franklin, the turtle. When I think about it, I did get some hair color this weekend. Jillian accidentally hit my crazy curls with green paint. Maybe it's time for me to go punk :) Back to the romper room!

Enjoy your Monday!