I Can't Complain

And Wait 'Til He Finds Out About the Tooth Fairy...

Last week the Bomber had his (quite overdue) 6 year visit with the pediatrician.  Since he'd already confirmed he wasn't getting any shots (though he did get a Surprise! Flu Mist dose), he was actually pretty excited. He LOVES being picked up in car line, which is a fairly infrequent occurrence. (He likes aftercare, too, but there's apparently some elementary school cache attached to car line.)

Anyway, the appointment was great - he had a little trouble with the vision screening but has the ears of a bat, and he's still long and lean and way too smart for his own good. He's also super-ticklish. 

While I was checking out, a family with a slightly older boy came in and the two boys had that silent, small boy communication they sometimes have in which they psychically share information about something important (which Ninjago guy has the best spinner? The relative merits of Spiderman and Captain America? The future of the free world?) and then each went about their business.

On the way out, the Bomber said "Mommy, why didn't that boy have school today?"  "Why do you think he didn't have school, kiddo?" I answered. "Well, he was wearing his regular clothes," he explained. "Ah, well" I said, "he probably goes to public school. Kids who go to public school don't wear uniforms, they just wear their regular clothes."  

This news literally stopped the Bomber in his tracks.  He stood in the middle of the pediatrician's office parking lot, paralyzed by the injustice of it. "But...but... that's not FAIR!!!"  And being the kind, patient and understanding mother that I am, I responded thusly: "Life's not fair. Here, let's get in the car." 

Okay, okay, it's possible that when he got in the car, I explained all the great things he gets from going to his school and how nice it is that no one there ever has to worry about what they're wearing, or if they look cool enough. And I even left out the part about how they don't have to worry about looking cool because it's IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to look like anything other than a 1950s door-to-door vacuum salesman in that outfit.

So that's it, the first of his childhood illusions, cruelly shattered. Hopefully he's got some time before he finds out who's really leaving him money in exchange for his used teeth.

First Friday 1st Grade Fashion Report

(Try saying THAT ten times fast!)

So it isn't my first 1st grade Friday - this is actually the third week I've gone over to the Bomber's school to read to his class. The first week was so great - they actually cheered when I came in, one little boy noticed that I'd gotten my hair more "goldened" and I was so excited to see them and see how much they all grew and changed over the summer.   Last week was fun, too - I made a joke to the teacher about being 29 and those dear sweet children actually believed me. They also told me how old each of their mothers is, though I'm pretty sure the kid with the 16 year old sister isn't right about his mother being 24. And after I was finished reading, there was a big hug pile-on. 

This week, I got there a little early and got to see the end of their Spanish lesson, which was interesting.  I also got a bunch of compliments about my dress before I even made it into the classroom, and a bunch more from my usual fashionistas. They even had a little competition - "Bomber's mom, I like your dress!"  "Oh, Bomber's mom, I like your dress EVEN more!"

Anyway, here's what I wore:

The dress is the Marble Collection dress from ModCloth.  When I got it, I wasn't entirely sure I was going to keep it, because it's a little short and waistband it hits me in strange-ish place on my ribcage, but when I put it with leggings (which are just basic brown leggings from Boden that I wore pulled up about 3" above the ankle) and ballet flats, I decided it looked just right.  It must look okay, because the kids loved it, especially the flower detail at the neckline, and I got compliments from multiple grown-ups, too.  The necklace is one of those ancient Greek glass pendants which Larry brought me back from Chicago a few years ago.  The shoes are Pierre Dumas ballet flats. I love the little flat-toed suede detail on them - it really adds to the ballet shoe styling.

Here's how I looked.  This is another pervy bathroom picture, so I look all washed out in the fluorescent lights, but at least I didn't get busted by a co-worker this time.

Naturally, you can't see my shoes - I swear I actually do have feet. Honest.

Anyway, I had a great time reading to the Bomber's class - they've been really engaged in the books this year, which is super-fun, and they're so happy that I'm there.  Today they actually formed a line to hug me when I was leaving, and then they all yelled "Bye Mommy!" when I left.  It truly is one of the highlights of every week.

 

It's All a Matter of Perspective

The Bomber has had this bento-style lunch set made a company called Laptop Lunches since before he was even in school.  He picked the color of the set - a purple outer box with blue, green and pink inner boxes, and a purple insulated carrier - when he was about 4, and at the time he loved it, down to the cute purple name tag on the carrier. 

Apparently, though, once one has grown up to the geriatric age of six, one realizes that a plain purple carrier is no good, unless you want to be mocked at lunchtime by those with better (read licensed character-branded) lunchboxes.  Since I wasn't about to buy him an entire new lunchbox set, we compromised on getting a new carrier for his bento boxes.  He chose this one:

Nice, huh?  Look at how happy those aliens look, hangin' out in space, doin' their alien thing, chillin' with the planets, swingin' on the stars... well, you get the picture.

Since the cute purple name tag from the old carrier has long since been lost, and the new carrier didn't come with a name tag, Sunday afternoon I pulled out the Cricut and the laminator and whipped this little guy up:

He's a cutie-pie isn't he?  He's all smiley and friendly and just happy to be in space. He's even got his arms open for a big alien hug! Right? 

Wrong. At least if you're a six year old boy.  Last night the Bomber was talking to my sister on the phone, and the subject of the new lunchbox came up. "Mom got me a new lunchbox!  It's awesome - it has aliens on it! And she made me an astronaut with my name on it! He's attacking the aliens!"

ATTACKING? That sweet little astronaut! Attacking those cute little aliens!?!?  I see interstellar peace and love, he sees intergalactic war.

I guess it truly is all in your perspective.

What I'm Wearing Wednesday: Back to School!

Okay, today's WIW isn't actually about me, but "What the Bomber is Wearing" doesn't have that same alliterative ring to it.  Anyway, the Bomber was stylishly turned out today for his first day of 1st grade:

The shorts are boys' uniform shorts in navy, by Cherokee via Target. The shoes and socks are both from Lands' End - boys' Trekker shoes in Antique Olive, and boys' ankle socks in white. The belt is by Levi's, via Amazon Prime (because I realized the day before he was supposed to wear his uniform to the new parents' orientation that he had no belt) and his pack is an Original Backpack in red, from LL Bean.  He's also wearing his St. Peter's School embroidered logo polo shirt, but since that is an exclusive item available only at your local fine uniform store, I don't have a picture. 

Here's how he looks in all that:

What's he looking at? I don't know. It was virtually impossible to get a regular picture of him this morning, although I did manage The Many Faces of Bomber...

Sad:

Dismissive:

Crazy:

It's hard to believe he's already in 1st grade.  It seems like yesterday he was off to kindergarten:

(Imagine my horror when I realized he was wearing THE SAME OUTFIT as last year!!  Good heavens...)

Heck, forget kindergarten - it seems like only yesterday he was going off to his first day of "school" ever:

Where'd that tiny baby go? And more importantly, what's he wearing under that blanket?!?

And in case anyone is interested in what I was wearing, here's a rare picture showing my feet:

He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

And since you can't see the rest of me in that picture, here's a more familiar setting, complete with potted plant and a glimpse of my red Fake Spade bag:

Well, that's it for now - I've already got the okay from the new 1st grade teacher to come over and read once a week, so watch this space for 1st grade fashion reports, coming soon!

What I'm Wearing: Missing the Kindergartners Edition

It feels a litle strange to do a fashion report with reading to kindergartners first, and it felt especially strange to put on a new outfit, including especially cool shoes, without looking forward to my little shoe fetishists' reactions.  That said, I do have a fun new dress, and shoes that I've been dying to wear, so I guess I'll just have to soldier on without them.

The dress is from Synergy, by way of ModCloth, which may be my new favorite shopping site.  The shoes are Pin Up Couture, also via ModCloth.  And seriously - how cool are those shoes?  I knew when I bought them that my kindergarten buddies would love them, but I just couldn't wait until August to wear them.  The sweater is just a little cropped cotton cardigan from Old Navy, and the jewelry is all old favorites - Tiffany graduated silver bead necklace knock-off from Macy's, silver hoops from somewhere along the line, and my "Well Behaved Women" cuff bracelet, which was a gift from my friend Tara.

Here's how I look, minus the sweater:

The slightly awkward pose is due to me trying to show that the dress has an impossibly cute sash that ties in the back.   Also, I'd been meaning to blog about this for weeks, but in case any of you are worried that I am lonely without my junior fashionistas, don't be - I have this to keep me company:

(My version is not all blurred like that, obv....)  The kindergarten teachers presented this to me at the Bomber's graduation ceremony - I think they were deliberately trying to make me cry. (If so, it totally worked.) It's one of the last few days I went over there to read, and I think it's funny that she chose a day I was wearing navy and white - I coordinate nicely with their uniforms.  Anyway, I love it and keep it in pride of place in my office.  Whenever I feel blue, I take a look at that photo, and my day is turned around.

 

Kindergarten Fashion Report: The Final Chapter

That sounds ominously like a fourth or fifth sequel in a started-out-great-but-never-should-have-made-more-than-two slasher movie series, doesn't it?  :cue creepy music:  <scary sounding voice-over announcer> Just when you thought it was safe.... THEY'RE BACK! And more talkative than EVER BEFORE! :screams: It's... KINDERGARTEN READING TIME...IME...IME....

So today was my last Thursday reading time for the year.  Anyone who knows me knows that I don't adjust well to change, so I'm really feeling sad, but I'm trying to hold it together until next Thursday, when they have their graduation. Which seems a little silly to cry over, since he's literally just going next door (unlike last year's), but no one's ever accused me of being rational about this stuff. 

Anyway, I wouldn't normally have blogged this outfit - it's a little uninspired and badly needs some better accessories, but in honor of my last day of kindergarten reading, here it is:

The dress is brand-spanking-new, from Mod Cloth, one of my favorite sources for fun clothes.  This was out of stock forEVER, but it finally came back in last week and I pounced on it.  The shoes are oldies but goodies from Zappos, and the jewelry is just your basic floating pearl necklace and pearl earrings.  I love the retro vibe of this dress but it really needs something like a bright yellow belt, yellow shoes and some snazzy jewelry.

Here's how I look in it:

Once again, no legs, no feet and no cat box.  But the potted plant made another guest appearance.  (Which means it'll be the first to go when the slashing gets started...) Also, the junior fashionistas apparently did not share my opinion of this outfit as a little ho-hum.  I got a BUNCH of compliments, including a little competition between two of them: "Mrs. Bomber's Mom, I like your dress!" "Well, I like your dress AND your shoes!"  I love those kids...  I also got a big group hug at the end, which pretty much made my entire week. Possibly my month.

So that's it for the kindergarten fashion report.  This time next week, I won't have a kindergartner anymore - he and his classmates will be rising first graders!  Look out Mrs. S, here they come!

Kindergarten Fashion Report

I guess it's not technically a kindergarten fashion report, since the actual kindergartners were all wearing pretty much the same thing  - plaid jumpers or blue shorts with white shirts.  They did all look awfully cute, though. 

Anyway, today was my weekly reading day in K5, so I naturally wore a new outfit in hopes of impressing a roomful of five- and six-year-olds.  I realize this is bordering on pathetic, but a girl's gotta take whatever compliments she can get, you know?  And hey, it worked - when I came in I got a BIG chorus of "Mrs. Bomber's Mommy, I LOVE your shoes!" And "Mrs. Husband's Last Name, you look pretty!" 

(Almost no one there calls me by my actual last name, which I find slightly hilarious - yesterday when I was there helping out with Mother's Day cake decorating one of the Bomber's teachers announced to her class that they needed to all pay attention and go up when Mrs....um... when H-bomb's mother calls them.  It's not that she (and everyone else) doesn't know my last name, but it's such a mouthful, especially in comparison to the Bomber's last name, that no one wants to attempt it. I'm not complaining, it just makes me laugh.)

So, today's outfit was a big hit:

The tunic sweeater is from Boden. It is so super-comfortable, I want to wear it every day. I'd buy it in every color if it came in anything else besides tan and grey. The leggings are just leggings - from Delia's or Target or some other source of generic leggings. 

The shoes are Annie, and I found them when I decided I needed lime green shoes and Googled "lime green flats".   I knew that some day all those skills I've been honing doing legal research for the last 8 years would come in handy.  "Lime green flats" to find lime green flats - that's why they pay me the big money, folks.  I got them from Amazon for an absolute song, too.

Scarf and belt are both old pieces in my wardrobe.  The scarf is from a Bass outlet and the belt is so old, I can't even remember where I got it.  It's surprising how much use I've gotten out of a lime green chain link belt. The bracelet I bought last summer at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach for like a dollar. I love it way more than a dollar's worth, though. It's really cheerful and summery. And I got a serious compliment on it from one of the little fashionistas today - she told me she wanted one like that for her mommy. :)

Here's how I look in all of this:

You can't see my shoes, and there's no cat box today, but you do get a bonus picture of the potted plant in my office lobby. Come to think of it, the potted plant coordinates nicely with my outfit, doesn't it? Or.... I coordinate nicely with the potted plant. Which doesn't sound nearly as fashionable.

Just a few more weeks of school, which means just a few more weeks of ego-stroking...er, I mean reading to the kindergartners.  That's probably a good thing, though - the stress of finding something exciting to wear every Thursday is really starting to get to me.

Oh, and happy Confederate Memorial Day to all you crazy kids who celebrate it.  I have to work, but I hope you'll print some money or secede from the union or something, for me.

Blatant Pandering

Last week there was very little action on the shoe fetishist front.  I switched days from Thursday to Friday, and when I got there they were all abuzz about their visit from some short, trap-busting, candy-pushing Irish guy.  The only way they'd have noticed my shoes if they were green satin boots with turned-up toes.  And I totally forgot to wear mine. What? YOU don't have leprechaun shoes in your closet?

Anyway, today, in what I like to think of as "playing to your audience"  (but is really most accurately described as an act of blatant pandering,) I made a point of wearing shoes I thought would appeal to your average five-to-six year old.  Specifically, these:

If you think those shoes are all kinds of awesome, you are in good company with a small gaggle of five year old girls, and one of their teachers.  (I can only assume the other teacher just didn't get a good look at them.)

The best part about these shoes is that while they're not new, I haven't worn them much, so it's like having a new pair of shoes. (In fact, I discovered them in a shoe box I was emptying out to use as a kindergartner's Valentine's Day card mailbox.  It's kind of appropriate that they used shoe boxes, don't you think? But I digress...)  Anyway, it's a good thing I dug these up because I gave up shopping for Lent  (I know, right?! I hope someone reading this is already working on my application for beatification....) so I can't just go out and buy something. 

Easter is only a few weeks away, though, and I've already started scoping out shoes to add to my kindergarten-approved collection. I wonder if these:

are too much for daytime wear?

 

 

 

 

Kindergartners Are Closet Shoe Fetishists

Since right after winter break, I've been going over to the Bomber's school once a week to read stories to his class.  It's absolutely one of my favorite parts of every week - I'm really enjoying getting to know his classmates and there's nothing like the rock star treatment a visiting parent gets from a group of five-year-olds to buoy your spirits.  But after going over there every week for the last two months, I've learned something else about small children that I never knew before: they dig shoes.

And really, this kind of makes sense.  They're all still pretty low to the ground, and for most of them, a grown-up's feet are a LOT closer than their heads.  And not only that, but no one's feet ever scolded them or told them to stop doing something they wanted to be doing. Heads? They do that stuff all the time. 

I have to admit, I didn't quite put it all together at first. The first day I went over to read, I thought all the scuffling to be in the front row, and touching me was just because of that whole five-year-old-rock-star treatment.  The next week, though, I went over there wearing these:

They're made from a sort of fuzzy microfiber.  Not quite faux suede, but fuzzy enough to have a little texture.  The kids sitting closest to my feet were FASCINATED by them. One of them rubbed them absent-mindedly the entire time I read, while another had to be restrained from putting his face on them.

The next week I wore these:

Not even remotely fuzzy, so I figured I was safe.  Instead, one little girl actually wrapped her arm around my leg and stroked the boot from ring to ring, stopping every few strokes to hook her finger in one of the rings and try to pull it off. The little boy from the previous week preferred the toes.

The following week was the booties again, and more fuzzy admiration. A pair of brown leather booties garnered virtually NO interest, but I suspect that had to do more with the fact that they were out of sorts from being stuck inside on a rainy day, than a critique of my footware.  At least, I hope so. I'd hate to think my favorite brown shoes didn't pass kindergarten muster.

Last week, I wore these:

The buckles were a HUGE hit. There was a discussion of whether they did, in fact, unbuckle, and then a plea to be allowed to unbuckle them. Then there was an examination of how one would go about unbuckling them, if one were ever given permission to do so. (Sadly, permission to unbuckle was never granted.)  There was also some admiration for the pleasing smoothness of the leather.  I must say, they ARE pretty nice boots.

Today it's supposed to hit 81F here, and I've had to admit to myself that boot season is probably over.  Instead I wore these:

As I walked through the door, the VERY first words I heard from the VERY first kindergartner that approached me were "I like your SHOES!"  The small thrill of happiness I got from that comment has actually started to worry me a little. I mean, what if, on some dark day, I wear a pair of shoes they DON'T LIKE?!?! WHAT will I do then? How will I handle the disappointment and embarrassment? 

Here I was worrying about whether they were enjoying the books I was reading, when it turns out the real concern was they approved of my footwear. I think I need to go home and take a serious look at my shoe collection before next week...

The More Things Change

Not quite five years ago, in October 2006, I sat at this computer with tears in my eyes, a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart, and wrote about the Bomber's first day at daycare. As I hoped, it eventually did become easier and less painful.  And somewhere along the way, it became something else - those people who held my baby when I couldn't, who helped him walk and talk, who taught him songs and numbers and colors and how to write his name and read a book - those people became our family.  The other kids he spent his day with became his brothers and sisters, and their parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles became our community.

And so today I find myself back at this computer, with tears in my eyes, a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart, writing about the Bomber's last day with this family, this community of people who have helped raised him and cared for him and loved him. Oh, he'll be back there on Monday for summer camp, but it won't be the same.  Just like on that day in October 2006, after today, nothing will ever be the same again. And just like that day in October, I know this is good - for him and for me - but it is so incredibly hard to say goodbye to the people who have shared our lives for the last five years.

So I'm not going to say goodbye. I'm just going to say thank you - thank you to all the caregivers and teachers and members of our community who helped shape his life and mine into what it is today.  We'll miss you all, and we'll carry you in our hearts always.