There are no words...

...to describe this picture of me Erin drew while at school today:



I mean...come ON. Not only does Erin's whole class get to see the wonderful picture of me on the toilet, but apparently I have really bad aim. (I asked her about that--"Erin, is that the RUG?!"--and was told, with a big sigh, "Mommy, I'm really not so good at drawing where it goes. So I showed it on the ground.") And then the giant monster power cord attacking everything is a nice added touch. I guess we have an electric toilet?

It's ok, though. I'll just file this one away with my pile of things to show potential boyfriends of hers someday.

Wow.

Brian told me tonight he asked MIL for an iphone...and when she told him that was not possible, asked for an ipod. He said he told Santa he wanted an iphone, too. He is really at a weird age: young enough for Santa, but old enough to want cell phones and other electronics instead of toys.

I asked what on earth he'd do with an ipod, feeling very much like my mother (who'd asked me when I was about 9 what on earth I'd do with a radio), and he mentioned a few Linkin Park and Offspring songs he wanted to put on it. Well--at least he has my taste in music. ;)

I was also a bit disappointed to find out that he immediately recognized, by voice alone, the singers of half the songs on the Radio Disney Christmas CD I bought to play in my classroom over winter break. I'm not sure if I was saddened that he's apparently reached "that age," when suddenly you become in tune with pop culture and your friends/school life take over, or if it was the fact that he recognized Miley Cyrus in the first three notes of her singing, lol.

But seriously...wow. He's going to be 9 in less than 2 weeks. I think back to when I was nine and...well, wow. It was a different world from first and second grade. He's really hitting a new stage here--I hope I'm ready.

Payback time

I absolutely LOVE that Brian is old enough to be embarrassed now. (Before you write me off as an evil parent, let me assure you that his antics when he was younger, meaning anytime from birth to oh, about yesterday, made him PLENTY embarrassing to have on hand. We were applauded for leaving a post office once.)

So it's 10 pm, and I realize that I'm out of tape, which is a problem because I still have 4 shoeboxes to wrap. (Because now that I'm done with my credential program, I apparently have nothing better to do with my time than wrap a class set of empty shoeboxes to use as goody bag holders for our class party on Friday.) So we head to the local grocery store, I pick out a 3-pack of tape, and we get in line. Erin realizes that directly behind us is a man with a few facial piercings, and proceeds to shout out, "HEY, MOMMY, LOOK! THAT MAN HAS STUFF POKING THROUGH HIM, AND HE'S NOT EVEN DEAD!" Apparently she's worried that I'm suddenly deaf in both ears, so she proceeds to keep shouting this at me until she gets a response.

At this point, Brian has a look of sheer horror on his face--not at the cheek and eyebrow piercings, of course, but at his sister's embarrassing comments. He's too cool to point and yell, now, so he's horrified that his little sister is pointing out the obvious like that. He throws his arm around her shoulder, turns her to face the other direction, and starts whispering for her to shut the heck up. A lot of good that does him--she keeps turning around, craning her neck to get a good view of Facial Piercing Guy and make sure that he hasn't died of his wounds while we've been standing there. So Brian gives up and gives her a nice shove into Christopher...with the classic "I don't know you" look on his face.

I couldn't stop laughing. I could barely pay for the tape. Facial Piercing Guy seemed to get a chuckle out of it, too. Brian is still not talking to Erin.

Blogging with Erin

Erin wanted a turn on the computer tonight. After listening to her beg me to let her "go like this with her fingers and see that line and make words" (lol), this is what she typed:

mom i am not a baby momy



So, I typed back a note for her to read:

Erin, I know you are not a baby. You are a big girl. I love you.



At that point, she noticed the capital E, and asked how I made the big letter. I showed her the shift key and she thought it was MAGIC. Hence her next bit of typing:

ERIN


and after giggling with delight, and informing me she was shouting "Erin" at me (??? where did she learn netiquette? lol) she added:

come hereplez i nedYu


Speaking, I guess, to herself, but completely proud of her dual-personality self. :) This has become one of her favorite things to do lately; I think she's seen so much of me typing at the computer that she thinks it's this totally awesome thing to do, lol, and doesn't realize how ecstatic I am that as of yesterday, I don't have to live at my computer desk anymore. :) Or else she somehow realizes that now I'll have time to share the computer. One of these nights, I'm going to go to bed early, and find in the morning that she's emailed everyone on my contact list or something...