Kids are Kids, No Matter How Small

When I walked in from work the other night, Jack says, "Guess what?" I knew immediately: Baby Brigid was standing. That's right. Standing, as in on her own two chubby feet, holding onto the crib rail and smiling a self-satisfied smile as if to say, "Look at me. Aren't I something special? I'm upright, just like the rest of you." She managed to stand for several seconds before she started slanting sideways and down, but she remained undeterred and climbed back up for another stand. Now there's not keeping her down if you put her anywhere she can get a foot- or hand-hold. Cruising the furniture can't be far behind. Everyone says her early readiness is because she has two big sisters to keep up with; I think this kid was raring to go before many people even knew I was pregnant. I felt her pummeling me as soon as I could feel her, well, pummeling me. She came out ready and willing to be moving.

It also doesn't hurt that she was a tummy sleeper. Now, before I get bombarded by the "Back to Sleep" folks, let me say that Brigid slept 10 inches from my face every night in her co-sleeper; we do not come from an at-risk family; and she was soon strong enough to not only turn her head side to side as she slept but to also lift herself up off her chest very, very early. Tummy sleeping for her was more comfortable and she got a better night's rest because she wasn't startling herself awake all the time. and now, at 6 months, she's so strong in her neck and back that she's standing, crawling, sitting and generally moving like a 9-month-old. And now that she's older, she's also sleeping much more comfortably on her back and rolls herself around when she needs to change positions.

We had Patricia's open house at Oak Street School last night. Hot dogs in the cafeteria and visits to classrooms after. Her teacher, Mr. Fortin, seems very pleased to have Patricia in his class. Sitting on the kids' desks were a few pieces of work, one of which was a feelings wheel they made with an outer circle and an inner circle you can move. It lines up with different feelings and likes, one of which says "My proudest moment." You match that up with a corresponding spot across the wheel, and on Patricia's it says, "When my sister, Brigid was born." How proud I was at that. It is going in the scrapbook that's for sure.

We have Margaret's open house tonight, and I think we're supposed to walk their schedule with each class taking 10 minutes. She has nine. You do the math. But both girls seem to be enjoying their new schools and teachers. Margaret is a little intimidated by her shop, oops, they call it Tech class now, teacher, Mr. Tisdale. She says he keeps hitting the desk, the blackboard, the walls with a stick, really loudly, to make the students know he means business. Yeah, that's the way to teach. By intimidation. What decade is he living in? If he continues to scare the living daylights out of my kid, I'm going to slap a stick of my own on his wall. We'll see how high he jumps.

Patricia is being referred to the Odyssey Program, which used to be called Gifted and Talented. I guess some took exception to that, as if to say the other students were Mediocre and Inept. She is also interested in chorus, which meets after school on Mondays. That means that on Mondays, she'll go to chorus and then to jazz class after school; on Wednesdays, Margaret has karate and then they have tap class. We'll see if they want to do anything else. It's a lot to heap on kids, and I think sometimes kids are over-scheduled. Sometimes, kids just need to be allowed to be kids.