::switcharoo::

My sweet little Max had to go through a little bit of a school ordeal this week.
Evidently there were some problems with class sizes, and the 1st grade classes had to be slightly reorganized. (I've heard from other moms this happens often in this school--something having to do with enrollment numbers and etc.)
I was hoping that we would be safe, since there are so many 1st graders, and the likelihood of Max being chosen out of the mob seemed low. But of course, he got picked to move into a different class. Bummer. Extra bummer since the principal called and left me a message telling me about it at 7PM on friday night before labor day. So I had to go through the whole weekend mad, and couldn't get ahold of anybody to complain and explain that my poor little son has been moved around already more than any guy needs to be, and how I just wanted him to be able to stay in the same dang class where he was actually starting to make friends!

So I didn't talk to him about it over the weekend, really hoping I was going to be able to talk the school out of it and that he'd just be able to go to his normal class. But after a billion calls to the school and emails to the principal the only way to reach her was to attack her at her office as she arrived 10 minutes before school started.

There was nothing I could do--you know--there comes a point where unless you're going to be a super duper jerk you just have to deal with what comes.

So I had to go out in the parking lot and tell my little boy he was switching classes RIGHT THEN. I felt awful.
Luckily his new teacher is super nice, and after listening to my concerns she was very sympathetic. She came out to the parking lot with me and took him back to the classroom to show him around. He was pretty sad and bummed at first, but warmed up to her pretty quickly.
He seemed to do ok, but me? I didn't do so hot that day until I picked him up and saw he was ok.
He had a good day, and he's had a good week in the new class, though he definitely misses his old one.
I'm just proud of him--he's strong and resilient and fun and smart. He's a great kid and I'm so glad he's ours!!

::careless::

Max has had quite the afternoon. He's done all sorts of things that have driven me nuts.

He found a big long rope of Kris's (much to my chagrin) and dragged it around the yard, knocking things over as he went.

He somehow pulled a big splintered strip up out of one of the deck boards. It was "the rope's fault!"

He pulled over our lame charcoal BBQ and dumped all the charcoal dust out all over our little cement patio.

Then he kicked the dust all around after I told him to stay far far away from it.

He knocked down a set of blinds in a room he had no reason to even be in, much less be in there adjusting the blinds.

He spilled milk all over the living room rug. This is really my fault because I was letting him eat dinner in the living room, and I gave him the milk. I didn't give him much and I told him specifically to be very careful. Hah. Dumb me.

All I wanted to do was yell. And I have to admit that I did. And I banished him outdoors. He was happy to be outside until banished. Then it was cruel and unusual punishment.

I have a feeling this thoughtlessness is just part of being a kid. And maybe especially being a little boy. But what can I do (besides yelling) to get him to open up his eyes and his ears? How can I positively encourage him to take some care? Any ideas from you more experienced parents out there?

::annoying::

So there are things we really like about living out here in the East, and there are things we don't like. The things we don't like can be generally categorized into two statements.
1. It's too crowded
2. It's too expensive

And yes, this is coming from people who grew up in the west where there's a lot more space, and people who just spent four years in the midwest where some things (like real estate and rent) are amazingly affordable.

But anyway, that's how we feel. And both of those points were reinforced in our minds this weekend on our Palmyra NY trip.
I have more pictures and stuff to post about it later, but I have to gripe a little bit.

The toll roads out here are enough to drive you crazy. They're everywhere, but there aren't many in RI, so whenever we go on a trip we're caught slightly unawares. And the bummer is, if you don't have cash to pay the toll at the end, and you get off to go to the bank you have to pay double tolls. Ouch.
Anyway, this time somehow I had some cash, thank goodness. Because one way the tolls added up to over $13. One stretch of road was $10!! So crazy.

When you're stuck on the toll road there are these big "travel plazas" directly off the freeway. You can go to those if you need to eat or use the bathroom and that way you don't have to pay extra tolls for getting on and off. Great deal you might think, right? Helping out the traveller, right?
WRONG.
We went to one with a McDonalds. It was so crowded. I had to wait in a huge line to use the bathroom. Then the McDonald's didn't have a dollar menu. It evidently didn't exist, and the value meals started at about $7. I call that extortion. Then it was so busy we barely found a spot to sit down and eat. Yuck.

I brought a cooler of food for our lunch on sunday. We thought it would be great, we could just stop at a rest area, eat our pbjs at a picnic table and relax.
Unfortunately, somebody had taken away all the picnic tables. All was left at the rest area were concrete pads in the midst of a big field where people let their dogs poop.

There were really big ants too. Luckily we had a blanket, but we still weren't all that comfortable. What a bummer.
What happened to good old fashioned American picnicing? What jerk decided that they wanted to make things so miserable for people that they'd be forced to go to their rotten plazas?

The bathrooms have been removed too, evidently. All there is are signs informing folks of where the nearest "travel plaza" is.
Doesn't do you much good when the 5 year old is doing the dance.

Later on we had to stop at one of the plazas to use the bathroom. It was packed with cranky people. So crowded. And some old lady got really mad at Max for stepping on her foot (supposedly) and gave us crusty looks until we finally escaped the place. If you step right next to a crazy 5 year old whose mom is already trying to contain him and drag him out to the car, you put your feet in danger.

Anyway there you go. Everything is way too crowded and too dang expensive. Argh.