Just general BS

We have planted watermelons, cantaloupes, squashes, and kale.  All have come up,  It's amazing to be back in GA, where stuff actually grows without a ton of effort.  In El Paso, just to get seeds to sprout required a ton of intervention from us, and even then, most of them wouldn't grow much beyond initially sprouting.  Here, you just plant the seeds, and they grow.  It's awesome.  I can't wait until we have our own watermelons and cantaloupes to eat. 

Erin has been making a name for herself in her new school, and not in a good way. She has been talking to friends too much in class.  Basically, she is used to being able to work cooperatively with other kids, but at this school, that's not how they do it.  They have to be quiet and do their own work. Erin isn't used to that, so she wasn't doing her work.  She didn't understand it (nothing new there), and her friends wouldn't answer her when she'd ask them questions (because they'd get in trouble for talking, like her), so she would just hide her papers somewhere.  She also got two bad notes home, which she proceeded to forge my signature to, getting me a call from her teacher, who thinks she's not dyslexic (which I kind of agree with), and suspects she's just slow, and possibly ADD (the latter of which I do not agree with).  Also, her IEP said she was consultative, meaning she wasn't actually receiving services, even though she was, so that's been interesting to sort out as well. 

I do see how it is a hard adjustment for Erin.  She said she doesn't like her new teacher because she isn't Ms. Pilkington (her teacher from her old school).  I understand that, because they are very different.  Her teacher now is not mean or anything, but she's pretty much the no bullshit old-school southern teacher I saw a lot of when I was in school.  Ms P is completely different.  She's very quiet, reserved, sweet... Her approach to the kids is completely different.  I can see how this could be an adjustment, but it is one that Erin will have to make.  We told her that she has to ask her teacher when she has questions, because that's the way it works here.  Erin is also used to being in a really small school, where everyone knows her, and sees her as a good kid with genuine issues.  What she doesn't realize is that that ship has sailed, and now she's just the new kid who's been trouble since she walked through the door.  They don't know her here, and that's not something she's used to.  Luckily, there are only 5 more weeks in the school year.  That's, if she's not sentenced to summer school, of course...

On a brighter note, we went to the birth center that Orren was born at yesterday.  (Yes, they do non-birthy stuff as well! We aren't expecting Maijala Baby #4 as far as we know.)  It was so cool to go back.  The place hasn't changed a bit, and everyone was just as great as they've always been.  Most of them remembered Orren, too.  It's hard to forget a baby born on Christmas, especially when he's the only one ever to be born on Christmas in that birth center.  We got many compliments on his beautiful hair, and how sweet he is, and of course, everyone liked meeting Bebe Chai, too.  It was good to be back there.  It's a great place with a lot of good memories for us.  Plus, it's good to be seen by people I trust so much, rather than just picking random doctors off my insurance list, like I had to do in El Paso. Of course, Thak HAD to go to the birth center with us, too.  He loves that place at least as much as I do.

Thak's unit was also flying this week, so me and the kids spent a fair amount of time at the airfield, bringing him food (because aviation knows no dinner breaks!) trying to see a launch, but we never timed it quite right.  When we would have been there in time, there were issues with the plane.  When there weren't issues with the plane, we didn't make it in time. Since we live so far away, it's not like he can just call us when they're putting it on the launcher, and we head over.  The rest of the days, it rained and they couldn't fly anyway.  That's just life in the world of UAV's.  There will be plenty more opportunities to see launches and landings.  Orren went to work with daddy one day, and stayed the whole time.  He was asking so many questions about how the planes fly, and how they work, and stuff like that.  Thak explained it to him, and then before he knew it, Orren was explaining it to one of the other contractors! He wasn't just parroting what Thak had told him either.  He really understood.  He has also explained it to me a bunch of times since. He's very fascinated with flight, and amazingly, understands it pretty well for a 3-year-old.  That boy amazes me with how smart he is.  It's so good for him to go to the airfield and be able to learn all this. 

And I have just realized that we have to be thinking about Bebe Chai's birthday party in just over a month.  This is unbelievable.  He can't be 1 already.  He just can't be.  The more kids you have, the faster it goes by.