I had a last minute meeting this afternoon for a project I am working on that the children just could not attend. So I threw myself on the mercy of Lovely Friend who agreed to take my kids in exchange for my picking up her vegetable share from the CSA. Since I was scheduled to set up for the CSA today it worked out great for me, right up until the point that the CSA delivery was late and all of a sudden I found myself dressed in meeting appropriate clothing chucking potatoes fresh out of the ground into plastic bags while frantically asking the other workers for the time as my watch kicked the bucket last night.

I bolted out of the CSA garage with sixteen minutes to spare, dragging two very disgruntled children behind me. As I buckled then into the car seats, I plotted my path to Lovely Friend’s house and then to the meeting.

“OK, it is 2:59. The elementary school on the corner gets out at 3:05. If I can make it to the stop sign by 3:04, I can then cut through past the school safely. Once I get to Lovely Friend’s, I need to head to the park crossing because I know the crossing guard there and he will let me through if I beg so I can make it past the junior high school dismissal. Then if I cut through the park and make the traffic light on the corner, I should make the meeting with two minutes to spare.

I made the stop sign right on schedule. I careened into Lovely Friend’s driveway and pushed the children out of the car screaming “A needs a bandaid, and C has to use the bathroom! THANK YOU!” I made it to the park crossing and rolled down my window. “GENE! I have to get across! I’m late for a meeting!” Gene brought the traffic to a halt. “Go Chichimama! Go!” I made the light. I pulled into the parking lot with not two but THREE minutes to spare.

Too bad I left the meeting notes sitting atop the tomatoes…

You know you are really tired when you fall asleep in your dream, and when you wake up in your dream, you realize that you missed the whole damn dream. Which, according to the pink and blue polka dotted (friendly) monster who woke you up, was a rather nice one. Then you REALLY wake up, and spend the next two hours wondering what happened while you were sleeping in your dream. And why you were dreaming of pink and blue polka dotted monsters.

It is 8:15 in the morning and both children are already in time out. Now that everyone is (sort of) used to going their separate ways in the mornings, the togetherness of the next few days may do us all in…

Please send chocolate. And Doritos.

Every year around this time, I begin debating winter outerwear for the kids. In August I start haunting Ebay for deals. Generally I can find something for at least one of the kids, last year I lucked out and landed a coat for C for $12. This year I am not having much luck. And getting nervous because a few years ago I got really stuck for C as when I couldn’t find one on Ebay and finally decided to buy full price, everyplace was totally sold out. I can’t even remember what I ended up doing. I think I bought a size up and he swam for a year…

A generally gets hand-me-downs from Julia, but this is the year that Rebecca also bought a size up for Julia and that coat is now in London and not all that useful to me. And while C’s coat from last year still fits, it was a light yellow, and used, and stained a little when I bought it for $12, and now it is just so gross that I can’t in good conscience let him wear it, especially when I only spent $12 on it.

I’ve been haunting Ebay, and everything is going for so close to retail that there seems no point. But to pay retail for a winter coat and snow pants is just EXPENSIVE. I know that it is something they will wear every day and end up being inexpensive per wear, but STILL. And I just can’t bring myself to believe that the Old Navy coats as as warm as the LL Bean or Lands End ones. Additionally, the New Englander in me insists that the winter coat is a VERY IMPORTANT item, as one never knows when one might get snowed upon and be forced to play outdoors in snow banks for hours on end.

Where do you get your kids winter coats (for those of you who have to worry about such things!) Would you continue to haunt Ebay, or suck it up and order coats now to make sure you could get the right size (and, of course color combination as C MUST have a coat with orange on it…)? Inquiring minds want to know…

Six years ago at 8:46am I was lying on an exam table looking at the heartbeat of a child who I thought was miscarrying instead of having breakfast with a colleague at the World Trade Center. Today at 8:46am I was dragging that same child down the street, racing to make it on time to school.

May those who lost their lives rest in peace, and may their families and friends find peace as well.

• The Scholastic book flyers sent home by elementary schools are dangerous things. I’m just saying.
• I am really hoping there is a lot of repetition from month to month, or else M might have to put me on a book budget again.
• But how can one turn down The Best Book of Space Ships and The Best Book of Weather bundle pack? Or the Let’s Read and Find Out science pack. C did a little jig in the kitchen when I showed him what I had ordered. I may have even gotten a hug and a kiss too.
• I actually heard a woman in the drop off line last week complaining about the request that parents read with their children 15 minutes a day. She called it “Painful” and “mind-numbing.”
• I am mind boggled that there are people out there who don’t read at least 15 minutes a day with their kids.
• I mean, I know they exist, but I really didn’t think that I actually KNEW and LIKED someone who didn’t read with their kids.
• I start trying to find other activities around the one or two hour mark, and that’s only if we’ve been reading the same. two. books. over and over again.
• Although with all the reading I have been doing with the kids, I haven’t picked up a book of my own since we got back from Maine.
• It doesn’t help that the library is closed for the forseeable future for renovations.
• Storytime at the book store is almost as dangerous as the Scholastic flyers.
• Although at least I can’t justify my spending by the “your child’s classroom will earn free books!” line. I wonder just how many books I have to buy for the classroom to get one book…
• Have you read any good books lately? Nothing too heavy or long. A good read a chapter or two while waiting in the preschool parking lot type of book.
• Did I mention I was running the fall book fair at A’s school this year? M will be horrified, the last time I ran the book fair I spent a good part of the month’s budget on books.
• How can someone not love books?

Yesterday Lovely Friend’s daughter turned three, and they threw a joint birthday party/end of sumer bash in their backyard. C and A were beyond excited, and spent all afternoon hanging around the front door asking if it was time to go yet. We finally departed and were, of course, the first to arrive.

Lovely Friend, who is much more creative than I, had set up 12 “carnival” stations around the yard. There was fishing in the kiddie pool, bobbing for apples, a bean bag toss, and my personal favorite, pin the tail on the Nemo. If only she had told me that Nemo was the theme ahead of time, I still have a closet full of Nemo party supplies from C’s third birthday that I would have been happy to donate to the cause…

The kids raced through the games and I thought “Here we go, it is 4:45 and they are done with the entertainment. THIS will be a fun evening.” But the they happily played the games over and over again. And when the fishing pole finally broke, and the last of the bean bags ended up over the neighbors fence the kids began to play elaborate games on Lovely Friend’s new swing set.

As I stood there and watched C pushing A and his best friend M on the glider with everyone giggling, and then A chasing Lovely Friend’s older daughter down the slide, and then C organizing a game of pin the fish on the mommy, I was struck by how these are the things the kids will remember some day. C may have a hard time remembering his kindergarten teacher’s name (I know I don’t have a blessed clue who mine was) but I will bet that he will always remember the carnival in Lovely Friend’s backyard.