Proud Mamma
First, let me say that the first mitten is done. Or have I already said that and still have not posted a picture? Hmmmm.
Let me just say that the second mitten is going well. Better than the first, and the first went well. I think that's how it goes when you have to make two. The second sleeve is always easier, the second sock flows along more quickly with fewer glances to the pattern, and the second mitten is more relaxed (hopefully the tension doesn't have a noticeable difference - it seems ok) and I only have to glance at the chart once to know what needs to happen each row. Ok, twice. Well sometimes three times, but only when one of the girls interrupts me and asks where her red shirt is, or if I can sign her assignment notebook, or if I am planning to cook. Ever. And I am forced to leave my knitting for a moment to deal with them.
Speaking of the girls, we now have four instead of two! No, I wasn't pregnant without reporting (that would be the day that I wouldn't SHOUT OUT if I found out I was pregnant) - both girls are having friends sleep over. Am I nuts? Actually no! My plan worked. One daughter asked for a friend to sleep over, and normally this means that my other daughter becomes a pain in the butt, saying, "They won't let me.............," "I want to do ......................., but ................, " "So and so won't let me play.................," blah blah blah. Having both girls invite a friend to sleep over means? Peace! Really! I sat and knit last night and right now the 12 year olds are sleeping (probably until noon) and the 9 year olds are watching TV and playing. Peacefully. Happily. No one wants anything. I love it. Well, they do want to eat, but I still love it!
Last night was a school event. For the tsunami. Funny, about two weeks ago, my 12 year old asked if she could bake something and sell it outside on the corner to make money for the tsunami. Ok. We live on a street that has NO LIFE! Seriously! In summer, at 9:00 at night, my husband and I will be sitting on the deck and the entire neighborhood is IN BED! SLEEPING! We feel like such hipsters... drinking beer at night after 9:00. Rebels we are.
I was so proud of my daughter's idea, but it was hard to make her understand that she wouldn't really be happy with the sales from her corner bake sale. I told her to talk to her school about having a bake sale for the tsunami. That would definitely bring in some donations. She did. Others must have, too. The school had a winter carnival last night with all proceeds going to the tsunami. I hadn't donated anything to this point, but I had wanted to desperately. Don't ask me why I hadn't, I'm a very complicated, strange thinker. Something about "will the funds really go where we want them too?" "How about we adopt a little boy who has been orphaned?" "We don't even have money to replace a broken winter coat for our child, where will we find a donation?" Well, we did. They had a silent auction and we spent $21 on season tickets to a local baseball team. I can do a lot of knitting there, and be proud of the charity. We spent $5 on food. No cooking for me! They served chili, hot dogs, and nachos. Not to mention a bake sale. We spent at least $15 more on tickets for games. They had all kinds of great carnival games - pick a duck, cowboy candle game, avalanche game, snowman game, and a free throw competition.
My youngest daughter has ADD. Many times you don't notice that she has it, but put her in a large group of people where it is noisy and expect her to do something new for the first time - you can tell. She whines, she cries, she gets angry and defiant. This was her reaction to the free-throw competition after she had signed up. She walked into the gym and saw that she would be shooting in front of people. Scared. Really scared. Just like at swim meets. She clung to me and begged for me to let her drop out. I wouldn't. I try never to let her quit when she has signed up for something. DH and I helped her face her fears. She watched for a long time. She stood in line and we told her that we wouldn't force her to shoot when it was her turn, and we wouldn't have. But we knew that she would be more comfortable after watching others shoot, like her friend. Her friend missed all 15. When it was my daughter's turn, she was confident and wanted to take her free throws. She got 5 of 15! Pretty darn good. Good enough to be in a three way tie for 1st place! Now she had to shoot again - in a shoot out, but she wasn't nervous. She went up there and popped in 2 of 5. Some idiot told her she stunk and that she wouldn't win anything. That kid is lucky I didn't tar and feather her on the spot! She had NO IDEA how hard this had been for my daughter. So there my 9 year old stood. In the middle of the gym. In front of everyone. Crying. Sobbing. Gasping for air. Because that evil child had told her something mean. She wouldn't believe us when we told her that there were prizes for 1rst - 3rd place and that in a shootout for 1rst between 3 girls she had to win something. She finally got herself together and waited for the prize announcements with big, red, puffy eyes. As usually, other parents stared at her and at us. How come, when you are dying for the announcement it takes so much longer to happen? She really needed to know. She waited and waited and waited. Finally. 3rd grade girls - third place? To the cousin of the evil child who told my daughter she wouldn't get anything. 2nd place? MY DAUGHTER!! YEEHAAA! 1rst place? A nice little girl who beat my daughter by one shot. Good for her!
My oldest, who plays on the 6th grade BBall team also competed. HA! Her first try she got 1 of 15. She paid another dollar and tried again. 7 of 15. She was in a four way shoot out for second place. Against her teammates. One teammate, who will no doubt be offered a full scholarship to the college of her choice some day, seriously, was in first place. She is my daughter's sleepover friend. My daughter goes for her shoot out. 3 of 5. The other girls? Not so good, in fact the 3rd place girl got 1 in, and the other two didn't get any in.
So. Both of my daughters walked out with 2nd place medals for their grade level. Cool! They don't' get any athletic talent from me. It all comes from my DH. And I'm a proud Mamma!
Let me just say that the second mitten is going well. Better than the first, and the first went well. I think that's how it goes when you have to make two. The second sleeve is always easier, the second sock flows along more quickly with fewer glances to the pattern, and the second mitten is more relaxed (hopefully the tension doesn't have a noticeable difference - it seems ok) and I only have to glance at the chart once to know what needs to happen each row. Ok, twice. Well sometimes three times, but only when one of the girls interrupts me and asks where her red shirt is, or if I can sign her assignment notebook, or if I am planning to cook. Ever. And I am forced to leave my knitting for a moment to deal with them.
Speaking of the girls, we now have four instead of two! No, I wasn't pregnant without reporting (that would be the day that I wouldn't SHOUT OUT if I found out I was pregnant) - both girls are having friends sleep over. Am I nuts? Actually no! My plan worked. One daughter asked for a friend to sleep over, and normally this means that my other daughter becomes a pain in the butt, saying, "They won't let me.............," "I want to do ......................., but ................, " "So and so won't let me play.................," blah blah blah. Having both girls invite a friend to sleep over means? Peace! Really! I sat and knit last night and right now the 12 year olds are sleeping (probably until noon) and the 9 year olds are watching TV and playing. Peacefully. Happily. No one wants anything. I love it. Well, they do want to eat, but I still love it!
Last night was a school event. For the tsunami. Funny, about two weeks ago, my 12 year old asked if she could bake something and sell it outside on the corner to make money for the tsunami. Ok. We live on a street that has NO LIFE! Seriously! In summer, at 9:00 at night, my husband and I will be sitting on the deck and the entire neighborhood is IN BED! SLEEPING! We feel like such hipsters... drinking beer at night after 9:00. Rebels we are.
I was so proud of my daughter's idea, but it was hard to make her understand that she wouldn't really be happy with the sales from her corner bake sale. I told her to talk to her school about having a bake sale for the tsunami. That would definitely bring in some donations. She did. Others must have, too. The school had a winter carnival last night with all proceeds going to the tsunami. I hadn't donated anything to this point, but I had wanted to desperately. Don't ask me why I hadn't, I'm a very complicated, strange thinker. Something about "will the funds really go where we want them too?" "How about we adopt a little boy who has been orphaned?" "We don't even have money to replace a broken winter coat for our child, where will we find a donation?" Well, we did. They had a silent auction and we spent $21 on season tickets to a local baseball team. I can do a lot of knitting there, and be proud of the charity. We spent $5 on food. No cooking for me! They served chili, hot dogs, and nachos. Not to mention a bake sale. We spent at least $15 more on tickets for games. They had all kinds of great carnival games - pick a duck, cowboy candle game, avalanche game, snowman game, and a free throw competition.
My youngest daughter has ADD. Many times you don't notice that she has it, but put her in a large group of people where it is noisy and expect her to do something new for the first time - you can tell. She whines, she cries, she gets angry and defiant. This was her reaction to the free-throw competition after she had signed up. She walked into the gym and saw that she would be shooting in front of people. Scared. Really scared. Just like at swim meets. She clung to me and begged for me to let her drop out. I wouldn't. I try never to let her quit when she has signed up for something. DH and I helped her face her fears. She watched for a long time. She stood in line and we told her that we wouldn't force her to shoot when it was her turn, and we wouldn't have. But we knew that she would be more comfortable after watching others shoot, like her friend. Her friend missed all 15. When it was my daughter's turn, she was confident and wanted to take her free throws. She got 5 of 15! Pretty darn good. Good enough to be in a three way tie for 1st place! Now she had to shoot again - in a shoot out, but she wasn't nervous. She went up there and popped in 2 of 5. Some idiot told her she stunk and that she wouldn't win anything. That kid is lucky I didn't tar and feather her on the spot! She had NO IDEA how hard this had been for my daughter. So there my 9 year old stood. In the middle of the gym. In front of everyone. Crying. Sobbing. Gasping for air. Because that evil child had told her something mean. She wouldn't believe us when we told her that there were prizes for 1rst - 3rd place and that in a shootout for 1rst between 3 girls she had to win something. She finally got herself together and waited for the prize announcements with big, red, puffy eyes. As usually, other parents stared at her and at us. How come, when you are dying for the announcement it takes so much longer to happen? She really needed to know. She waited and waited and waited. Finally. 3rd grade girls - third place? To the cousin of the evil child who told my daughter she wouldn't get anything. 2nd place? MY DAUGHTER!! YEEHAAA! 1rst place? A nice little girl who beat my daughter by one shot. Good for her!
My oldest, who plays on the 6th grade BBall team also competed. HA! Her first try she got 1 of 15. She paid another dollar and tried again. 7 of 15. She was in a four way shoot out for second place. Against her teammates. One teammate, who will no doubt be offered a full scholarship to the college of her choice some day, seriously, was in first place. She is my daughter's sleepover friend. My daughter goes for her shoot out. 3 of 5. The other girls? Not so good, in fact the 3rd place girl got 1 in, and the other two didn't get any in.
So. Both of my daughters walked out with 2nd place medals for their grade level. Cool! They don't' get any athletic talent from me. It all comes from my DH. And I'm a proud Mamma!
1 Comments:
At 5:09 PM ,
Elaine said...
Good for your daughter! It was very brave of her to get up there and even more brave of you to watch her have to go through with it as well.
The mittens I made for my daughter went like that. The first one was a pain - but I was winging it and making up the pattern as I went along. The second one went easier, except for having to follow the winged pattern. Oh well - she loves them and that's all that matters.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home