Facie’s Ramblings

Last week, on the last day of school, Jordan got into the car with some certificates from awards day. She handed me the one she was "most proud of"--a certificate for athletics. I scanned it as I came to a stop sign, and I at first thought she had won an award for being the most athletic. This immediately caused flashbacks to childhood, during which I was pretty much the slowest and most non-athletic kid in the class. I was in slightly better shape as I entered high school, but mostly still just skinny and completely devoid of grace. And pretty much almost always picked last for gym class. (See an old blog pos t about that.) Because of these unpleasant memories, I decided right then and there a photo of Jordan's certificate would be going up on Facebook, so all my former classmates could see that my kid was nothing like I was. She had hope! As I came to a stoplight, I read the certificate more closely and realized that she had actually ran the mile in gym class in just ...

I subbed four days this week, my most this year. Mostly because of that exhaustion, I have been sitting on a post (in my head) since Monday or Tuesday, trying to decide if I should flesh it out and post it. Since I feel neglectful to this blog, I decided to do it. Earlier this week Jordan told me that when she tried to sit next to a certain girl, whom I will call Dee, at lunch, Dee told Jordan that her mother does not want her to sit by J. Yes, I said that . And as I write this, I am getting angry all over again. What kind of a mother, in a Catholic school no less, says something like that to her kid?! And my kid, although goofy, is honestly one of the kindest kids in the school. Believe me, I am there enough to see this and I certainly hear about it. Here is my take on why this happened. Last fall, I subbed a gym class that Dee was in. A few of Dee's classmates told me that Dee was cheating (that is, when the ball hit her, she would say it did not), and Dee ran off, pouting....

When I was a kid, and we played the Farmer in the Dell, the last person picked to join the inside of the circle was the cheese. Once that person was picked, every except the cheese left the inside of the circle and sang, "The cheese stands alone. The cheese stands alone. Hi-ho, the derry-o. The cheese stands alone" At Jordan's preschool, once the cheese is picked to join the circle, "We all hug the cheese." The cheese apparently no longer stands alone. I was taken aback by this when she told me, but yet not really surprised. God forbid we hurt anyone's feelings, but I guess I am a little guilty of trying to spare kids, especially mine, pain. Because Jordan has a rather strong personality, and she has, at times, left other kids out, I usually don't mind when other kids ignore her. I can turn that into a life's lesson and say something like, "Now you know how it feels for C when you don't play with her at school." But I am not sure she ...