Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Quid Pro Quo

Okay, you all have been sharing such wonderful stories about what's going on in your lives, but I have been woefully absent from the blogfest. So now it's time for me to ante up my anecdotes.

First, a couple of random quotes from the weekend:
"Mommy, what did this used to be?" - Jamie, upon finding a mysterious green and fuzzy object in the back of the fridge. I must confess, I didn't know the answer to his question!

"Pick a [cloth] heart out of the basket. Rub it on your left elbow, rub it really good against your funny bone so your new bear will have a great sense of humor. Rub the heart against your forehead, so he'll always know what you're thinking. Now hold it up against your heart so he'll always know what you're feeling and that you love him." - Jami, a Build-A-Bear Workshop employee, instructing my Jamie on how to stuff his new bear. After this little ritual, Jamie got to pop the heart inside the bear, then watch as Jami (getting confusing, isn't it) put a tube in the hole in the back of said bear and filled him with stuffing.

"There's a hole in this underwear. Let's get another one." - Rachel, upon examining the underwear selections for the bears at Build-A-Bear Workshop.

"Um, Rachel, that's for their tails." - Me, pointing out to Rachel that there are supposed to be holes in the underwear.

Now for the update on Life in Hacker Haus:
This week is going to be kind of crazy. The first PTA meeting is tonight at 5:45. I won't have anything to report, but I'll be there, anyway. Then Jamie's soccer season starts tomorrow night with practice at 5:30. Thursday is the due date for many of my homework assignments (which, sadly, I haven't completed yet). Friday Jamie has soccer practice again at 5:30. Saturday morning I'll probably be watching R-'s daughter D- while R- has her first Saturday class. Then Saturday afternoon we'll be going to Dad's and I'll be taking more homework down with me.

I got a little upset with Jamie over the weekend. All last week, he talked about how he was running for student council. All I heard every day was "student council this and student council that." He even went to all the trouble to get his teacher recommendations and everything. Then when it came time for us to buy the poster board and stuff to make his campaign poster, he started crying and said he didn't want to do it, but wouldn't tell me why.

After 45 minutes of me badgering him, he finally admitted he was afraid to make the required two-minute speech on camera for the whole school to watch on the classroom TVs. I told him I would help him write it and practice it. He just cried harder and said he didn't want to. Sooooo.... he quit. Just like that, he gave up. I told him fine, he could give up, but once he made the decision he didn't want to do it, he had to stick to it. There would be no changing his mind at the last minute. And that's the last I have heard of student council.

It's very frustrating for me. I'm a very stubborn person. I try not to give up easily. I usually dig in and fight until all other options are exhausted. Only then do I give up. But he was sooooo excited, then just... gave it up. How can I teach him you can't just give up when things get hard? That you can't just quit when you're scared? I would have thought that what I'm doing day by day would show him that. Maybe not. Anyway, any suggestions on how to teach Jamie that you don't just quit when things get hard? It seems my talking to him about it just made things worse, not better.

And, lastly, Ziggy is still a sweet silly puppy who loves us all very much. He was very happy to have all the attention this weekend, and ecstatic over the extra day at home with him. He was very upset this morning and tried to keep me from leaving the house. He wanted Mommy to stay home and play with him some more!

4 comments:

Tooz said...

Here's a message for Jamie.

Jamie, your mama said you were going to run for student council, but that you decided not to do it. Student council is a really important job, isn't it? It's a little scary to think about making a speech in front of your whole school. Maybe next year, after you have seen the speeches the other kids give this year, you will be ready. I don't think I ever heard of a 3rd grader on student council anyway.

I'm sure you would be a good representative, because you are a very thoughtful person and very concerned about other people. You probably have a lot of good ideas about how things could be better at your school. I know that when you are ready, you will make a good representative for your friends.

Love,
Miss Susan

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

As soon as we get home from PTA, I'll log on and let him read this. Thanks a bunch!

Tooz said...

As to the foreign object in the refrigerator--George Carlin had a bit about that.
"Honey, what is this?"
"I don't know, what does it look like?"
"Well, it looks a little like meat, and it looks a little like cake. Could it be, hmmmm, meatcake?"

Becca said...

That's like when I smell milk--I don't drink milk, so milk always smells funny to me, so I'll yell to Tom, "Honey, come smell this!"

In my house, we refer to those fuzzy surprises as science experiments. One of the reasons I buy Gladware--I don't feel bad when I have to throw out an experiment run amok.