May 25 Kindergarten graduation day

Kindergarten graduation has arrived at last!!! It has been 2 long years for my youngest son, JW, to achieve this goal. He begged for 2 years to be able to ride the school bus that went by the house each day. Finally he was old enough in years but not in maturation. He spent the first year of kindergarten in a classroom of 10 kids that were almost a full year older than he was. This did not help with his maturing.
Over the summer things began to fall into place for him and the first placement test of the year he 'benchmarked'. I guess means he could test at the level expected for entering kindergarten. It seems that this whole year with the same teacher as last year has been a growing experience. All of the adults have been impressed with his progress over the last two years. He even 'benchmarked' the last week of school! Yeah!
Well I ramble. Graduation day arrived. Appropriate clothes were found and the school bus caught. Then all the last minute chores done. The Jigglers covered and put in the car. Mom her usual 10 minutes late. We get to the auditorium in time to hear the kids sing their ABC's and say their nursery rhymes. Only 5 boys and 1 girl in his class this year. Then the principle is asked to make a speech. She talks to the kids about the story 'Snow White and the seven Dwarfs'. She takes the position that she is Snow White and the Kids are the seven dwarfs. Then she renames each child for the quality they have exemplified all year. She gets to JW-- Her response is "I name you Doc! Because every time I talk to you, I feel better." Wow!!! That thing he does that drives me absolutely insane-- talking to everyone, always giving them a hug, even when I think he needs to hurry and do something else. His infectious grin and happy outlook. All this makes the adults in his world feel better. WOW!!! Guess I will have to rethink this. !?

circus preformers

The new puppies are getting very active and driving momma to drink! You can hear them fussing with one another and when it is feeding time get out of the way. We have some extra goat milk that has gone sour and a little dog food and these guys cannot get enough. Their poor tummies are full and stretched to the limit. Then like all babies a nap in the sun is called for. JW is begging dad to let him keep one with little success. I guess we will have to say good-bye to these guys this weekend. Oh well new performers arrive weekly.
Next new baby chicks.

Mom's Day!?!?

Have you ever listened to yourself and heard your Mother coming out of your mouth? And the more you listen the more of her you hear. Then you look in the mirror and who is staring back at you is your Mother!Usually when this happens I say 'Ok, Ok, I'll call".  Now when you call my mother she answers the phone "May God Bless you! How can I help you?" At first, I had many reactions to this greeting, but now I have come to appreciate it and have been known to call just to hear it!

Well I digress some from this post! For the first 25 years of my life I heard: You must be JM daughter, you look just like him." So I got used to hearing it and thought I would hear it all of my life. To my amazement I started hearing mixed statement about my parents. It probably helped that we were living in the town where my folks had grown up even though it had become quite large. The first time I heard the statement about Mother I was caught totally off guard. I think my mouth dropped open and I just stared and asked don't  you mean my father? No Mom!

Then comes the shocker when I remarry! That husband told me that one of the clinching factors in asking me to share his life was the fact that my mother was such a good looking woman for her age. Not only that she still looked and acted young. DAH!

So this month of May I think I will reflect on how Mom and I communicate and sometimes, frequently, come to think of it, react alike. 

Thanks Mom for being you!!!

Mom's Day!?!?

What Mother's day means to many women is probably as different as the women asked about it. I woke up this morning realizing it was today and that a phone call was needed to my Mom and I needed to remind my spouse to make the effort to contact his mother. Then the idea was which of my children will contact me? It is probable that my oldest son will do his 'duty' call sometime in the morning between church services. It will be short but he will say 'Happy Mother's Day. I love you.' and 'I have to go to the next meeting'. His new wife nor his step son will not say anything unless cohersed. Why? I am not quite sure. Maybe because this is a new family and I live a long way away. When we do get together we do not seem to have any problem talking, but neither of us make a special effort. Maybe that is what needs to happen! Mother's Day is about making that special effort to tell Mom "Hey thanks for being my Mom!" I am beginning to wonder if our expectations as mothers are to high?!
On my way in to the house this evening my youngest son calls me and says he has a surprise for me. He is hiding something behind his back. Well he is only 7 years old and when he gets close he pulls out the reddest, biggest strawberry I had seen in a long time. He says that he wanted to get me a rose but this is the rose. I grin and huge him and tell him that I could enjoy the strawberry longer than I would a cut rose, but thank you for the thought. Then we proceeded to enjoy the sweetness of the strawberry. He took a bite and had juice all over his chin. I sneaked a quick kiss so that I could like all of the juice before he got a hint of what I was doing. He liked the idea so we spent a few more bites exchanging hugs and having fun eating the strawberries.
Why is this day such a problem for me? I am not sure! Maybe because I thought I was through having children and miscarried this week! quite a shock!!!! Maybe because I started being 2nd Mom at the age of 5 to my younger siblings and cousins. Maybe because I have been Mom to many and understand the giving without expectations. Maybe because I have worked so many times in the hospital that I have forgotten, the day has many implications for many women. I am not sure quite what to think or expect. I guess like most days I will go to work and be glad I have a job, a husband who loves me, a young son that is growing (I am not sure how) and that I am alive!!!

The Circus Preformers

I have not told you about the latest incident with the cat and her plaything. We have been having warm days mixed with cold nights and snow storms. Our front porch has been turned into a passive solar heater for the master bath and bedroom. It is not yet air tight and has a few 'small' cracks. Well somehow a new baby king snake decided that the front porch would be a good place to stay warm. Well I guess Jerry Girl, the cat, found him and played with him. Any way he was left next to the bed. Well I do not like snakes of any kind. NO WAY NO HOW!!! But I stepped back on him with my bare heel. I am not sure if I killed him by squishing him and the cold or if he was already dead, But it didn't take long for me to be on the bed screaming for my husband. He and JW thought it was funny that I was standing in the middle of the bed(which is 4 foot off the ground) fussing about a dead snake. He was only about 18 inches long and about as big as a long pencil. I don't care! I didn't want him in the house. Thanks Jerry Girl, I do not like your friends.

Research on Gluten Intolerance

Boy have I had an education this week!!! I started research on 'The English Paper' and found out how much I did not know. First, there are several types of gluten intolerance and quite a vocabulary. After getting up to speed on vocabulary I learned that most people do a self diagnosis. It is impossible to find a Doctor who is willing to talk to you or pay attention to the lab results that are done as a matter of course. BUT all of this is for naught if you have eaten a gluten free diet for any length of time. As I have been gluten free for about 10 years now I am not going to get a lab test to prove that I have a gluten intolerance. The other problem is that my 7 year old son has been gluten free most of his life. The school nurse wants me to prove why he needs  to take his lunch and remain gluten free. Also that the cafeteria must have documentation in order to follow his dietary restrictions. I can understand not wanting to follow every whim of every parent or child, but when the ramification are as big as those with gluten intolerance it seems kind of problematic to insist that each child eat so much grain.
I was amazed at how much this intolerance affects in the body. In some ways it affects all of the body systems. As I read the 3 page list, I could identify at least 1 problem if not the whole list in each body system that I had problems with when I was eating gluten. I was trying to decide which problem was the worst. The painful menses, the constant problem with flatulence no matter what you eat, or the psych problems of emotional swings that you do not seem to have control over. One thing I learned this week, is that the problems do not go away, but they can change as a child grows. I have been able to think back to my own youth and that  of my oldest son and see how the autoimmune responses have changed over the years. I am still trying to digest and put into good form all of the information from reading several book that all agree on key point.