A few of my favorite things

* Skinny Cow icecream sandwiches * Coldplay's new album * Dan in Real Life. Just watched it again with my sister. It's still a fantastic movie. * Sneaking out of work ten minutes early. * Pink anything * Plain M and M's. * The Limerick Outlets * Flip-flops * A really good book you can't put down (Life of Pi was my most recent like that) * Catnaps

FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT!

I guess this district has no Sikh's either... http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6239670 Kindergartener's fight for long hair Wednesday, July 02, 2008 9:59 AM By Gene Apodaca FORT BEND COUNTY (KTRK) -- The parents of a kindergartener in Fort Bend County are fighting for his right to have long hair in school. They say it's about freedom of religion. The Needville Independent School District says it needs proof. When Adriel Arocha, 5, was born, his father, Kenney, vowed to teach him his heritage. "We feel that it's important to raise him as Native American until he's able to make a choice," said Kenny. And part of that heritage meant he would not to cut his son's hair, believing hair holds spiritual meaning. "It tells us how long I've been here, by your hair, so it's your history," Adriel said. "It's our tradition it's what we do," Kenney said. All that was fine until Adriel's parents planned to enroll the five-year-old at Needville Elementary School. Despite promising to keep his hair neatly braided, the district refused to accept him. "I knew they would probably be a little difficult but I didn't expect it to be this bad," said his mother Michelle Betenbaugh. District policy clearly states student's hair needs to be kept out of the eyes. No hair can cover any part of the ear, a standard collar and no tufts or tails are allowed. The superintendent says exceptions are made for religion, but Adriel's parents have yet to provide proof of their beliefs. "I was trying to find out what recognized religion they are that discusses they cannot cut their hair and the information I received then was basically it's their choice," said Needville ISD Superintendent Curtis Rhodes. Near the school some residents felt the district was going too far. "I don't think longer hair than their ears is going to hurt their education," said Needville resident Jana Hausler. "If it has to do with his religion, I don't think anyone should infringe on their religious rights," resident Jamie Hausler said. Adriel's parents say they plan to appeal the decision, even if it means going to court. "You can't deny a person their rights," Kenney said. As for Adriel himself, he's pretty clear what he wants.

Monday, Monday

Wow, so my past two blogs were really whiny. Sorry.

Things have been much better. First-- my sister is home! Hurray!

Second, Isaac has been a lot better. I plan to accidentlyonpurpose forget his binky when we go to the shore for a week on August 9th. That's how we got him off of his night time bottle. So typically on Sundays my mom takes Isaac to church at the ward she and my dad attend (spanish speaking) and I go to the city to the singles ward. I am so blessed. It works out so well. If my parents are out of town, I generally take Isaac to my English speaking family ward. It is very rare that there is a situation when I must take him with me to a family ward. However, this past Sunday was one of those times. My parents dropped him off on their way to the airport and he attended our combined RS/Priesthood meeting where we were learning about the ward mission plan. He was pretty good throughout (especially since singles wards are so silent you can hear a pin drop). However, he was bothered by one of the pictures on the handouts. It was a picture of a statue of the Savior. He points to it.

"Mom, who is that?"

"Isaac, it's Jesus"

"No it's not..... Mom, who is that man?"

"Shh, Isaac it's Jesus."

"NO IT'S NOT! JESUS IS NOT ALL WHITE... Mom, who is that man?" This repeats about five more times until he is being so disruptive I have to take him out to the hallway.

When we are out in the hallway he points to a color painting of the Savior and says "See, there's Jesus! JESUS IS NOT ALL WHITE! JESUS IS BROWN LIKE ME!" I had a good laugh about that for, like, an hour. I've really got to replace my camera so I can get some recent shots of him up here. The one above is older but still very Isaac. He loves dancing, Spiderman, the Hulk, riding his tricycle, Little Einstien's and Transformers. He is 100% boy, despite my efforts to enroll him dance class (absolutely refused to attend) and expose him to "girl" toys (the only time he ever uses his dollhouse is as a stepstool to reach his lightswitch). He is the light of my life.

It's the last week of my job. I will be really sad to have this one end. It's so easy and such good money. I work 8:30-2:30-- best hours ever. Even if I get a contract position, I might do it again next summer just to keep busy and have some extra cash.

Okay, one last thing. Is there a way to subscribe to your friend's blogs on this thing? Like, so when you sign it tells you that your friends have posted new blogs? Just curious. I am still getting the hang of things. If anyone out there knows, let me know!

Whining makes my ears bleed

I can't take any more of it. Isaac has an immense vocabulary. This is why I can't understand why the last few weeks he has been resorting to straight up cat scratching on a chalkboard whining. It is generally accompanied by throwing himself on the ground and kicking his feet and banging his head. It's obnoxious and it's intolerable and I have very little patience for it. Anytime he doesn't get his way he breaks out into it. I don't even understand why he does it, since 80% of the time we have no idea what has him so upset and we cannot understand him at all to try to help him. It just feels like he is really regressing which of course is troubling. He binky which we had almost faded out (yes he is 3.5 and still uses a binky-- don't judge-- we never meant for it to happen) is almost always in his mouth and his toilet training is regressing also. I wish I knew what to do. I wish I was more patient with him. So I have been hitting up all of the kiddy movies this summer now that Isaac has discovered he loves the movies. We have seen Kung Fu Panda (two thumbs up!), Space Chimps (one opposable thumb up) and Wall E (we only saw the first half because Isaac gorged himself on popcorn and had to leave before it was over. I haven't seen many grown up movies lately though. So yesterday I ran up to the outlets because I heard that the kids stores were having huge markdowns on summer stuff and boy were they ever. I always buy a year ahead for Isaac off the clearance rack. I started off at The Children's Place. I got shirts for less than 2 bucks and jeans for 2.99, cargo shorts and mesh shorts. Then I moved on to Carter's where I got pajamas sets for 6 bucks each. Then I moved onto OshKosh where the sales weren't as good. I had been buying 5t but when I got to Osh Kosh I made a sad discovery. They don't carrying 5t! 5 is 5/6 in the BOYS department. I left the store promptly. I am not ready to leave the toddler department behind yet. I stopped into Gymboree. I usually avoid that store because their clothes are horribly over priced and not that cute (at least the boys side). I don't really get all the hype. I know moms who are crazy about that store and buy entire lines for their kids. I did pick up a 2.99 tank top and 4.99 cargo shorts. I rounded out my shopping trip at Gap Kids. It was a productive hour at the outlets. I also got a new duvet cover for my bed from Target for only 8 bucks. My comforter becomes a drop cloth for Isaac's breakfast each morning and is starting to look a little shabby. Gotta stretch those dollars. What else? Well, there is no news on the job front, of course. I'm trying to keep my head up but it is getting harder and harder to keep hope. I have only two weeks left at my current job (extended school year) and then nothing. I really don't want to sub again for another year. It's so frustrating. At this point I really am considering, like, Chester schools. My student loans are now due (and the total I have amassed in loans is nothing short of horrifying) and I cannot make the payments on a sub's salary. Not to mention, it has been a year now since I have had health insurance. One of these days I would actually like to go to the doctor if I get sick, or possibly even get prescription medicine. It should not be this hard for a special ed teacher to get a contract position. And, if one more person tells me I should be an instructional assistant I am going to scream. I am a certified teacher with a master's degree. I am not going to take a job that requires only a high school diploma. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Anyways, onto happier topics, my sister comes home Tuesday and I CAN NOT wait. August is going to be a fun month-- Counting Crows, a week at the shore.

Hello, hello

I have been blogging on myspace for a little over four years now, but I have decided to switch over to this site for a variety of reasons. However, I'm still figuring out how this site works, so don't expect anything too fancy too soon. I was reading through a friends blog (shout out to kristeee) and it really brought me back to when Isaac was a newborn and the sleep deprived, running on empty emotional mess I was back then as I was juggling the unexpected reality of being a single mom (if you don't know, ask), going back to work in a new position at a physically demanding job when Isaac was eight weeks old and leaving him at daycare, and taking graduate classes. I'm surprised I made it out alive to be honest. It's crazy to me to look at my wise cracking three year old putting on his own shoes and riding a tricycle and jumping feet first into the the deep end of the swimming pool and it seriously tugs at my heart strings. Where did my *baby* go? I was working and working and doing practicums and going to classes and driving and driving and I really feel like I missed out on the best parts of his babyhood. I do not regret any of what I did, and even if my circumstances had been different I would still want a career (no offense to ANYONE but stay at home mommyhood is NOT for me). However, I always worry that Isaac will be my only child and that I will never get a chance to really savor the best parts of babyhood. Anyways, I don't mean to make my first blog such a depressing one.