Bullies and Bullying

It's hard enough being an adult and dealing with nasty folks. I know when someone doesn't like me that issue clouds my mind with anger and hurt and prevents me from seeing the myriad good things in my life. One mean person and my day, my week, my however-long-until-I-don't-have-to-see-them-again is ruined.

So when the bullying happens to one of my children, I feel not only angry and hurt and derailed, I also feel a loss. A loss for another part of their childhood and a loss in my own abilities as parent. I can't DO anything to wipe that nasty, insecure, rude, violent child out of my own baby's life. And I know that my kid has to go back to the same place, see that same person and deal with the same cruelty day after day after day.

If we were overseas I'd know all the kids or at least recognize them in the hall. I'd talk to the teacher, the counselor, the principal and arrange a meeting with the offending child AND their parents and things would be changed. I know that, because I've been on the other end of bully dealings too (thank you Jonathon and your lack of self-control in Kindergarten). But here, what can we do here? In the land of "say anything and you might get sued.... or worse" what can be done to protect a child who is rammed into lockers in the hallway and called vile names in passing, who has rumors and lies spread, who has to wade invisibly through 450 kids to get to the next class safely? And who has had this slowly escalate since the first week of school as a new kid with no history!? Who is watching out for her?

We've always told our kids to be the better person. Ignore the nasty kids, they will always be there but how we behave matters more. Stick with your friends, those kids who support you and are good people. Trust that the truth is stronger than whatever dirt they choose to throw at you. Stay strong, believe in yourself, keep your head up.

But sometimes that's not enough. It's definitely not enough when periodic snottiness turns into bruises. No one lays a hand on my kid and walks away with a giggle and a sneer. Today the counselor gets involved. Tonight we make a plan. I have no clue what that plan will entail but something will have to happen, and I'm open to suggestions.

This little parasite doesn't get keep hurting my kid with no repercussions.

How could I forget?

We went to Citi Centre mall on Saturday after the dentist and before the Rickshaw Challenge. Spiderman 3 just came out on Friday and a tyre company, CEAT, had a promotion in the main hall with a challenge - wrap some velcro on your arms and knees and try to climb a slope with velcro strips on it. We watched some 20something guys attempt it and fail pretty spectacularly. How hard could it be??

Katherine wanted to try. After watching a bit I encouraged her to approach the guy with a clipboard and ask for a turn. I stepped back to watch until she truned back crestfallen.
The answer was No, and the reason? Oh, you'll love this: she's a girl. We went out to the car all the while muttering how unfair it was. But as we started up the car and began to pull out I got more and more agitated about this stupid reason. Here's where Ian turns into SuperDad. I poked Ian and asked him to take Katherine back in there and make them let her try. OK, not my finest moment, but you get what I was after. We battle to have our kids understand that anything is possible, any door is open to them, and some company like CEAT is going to tell our kid they can't do something because she's a girl? What kind of message is that? Ugh.
So, Ian... sorry, SuperDad... brought Katherine back in. He went up to Clipboard Guy and said to give her a chance. He heard again, she was a girl, not allowed. Clipboard Guy's manager came over and said Nope, no girls. SuperDad asked to see the rules (rules?) that say so. Manager Guy backtracked and said SuperDad would have to sign a release. OK then, release in hand, Katherine started getting outfitted. Manager Guy called his Big Boss Manager. Big Boss Manager said No, that girls were not CEAT's target clients. SuperDad states that women buy tires too. This time, the rules were amended... boys only. And only boys 18-40 years old. So said Big Boss Manager.
Girl with the microphone who was helping Katherine get ready was very confused, and was told to make an announcement that no one under 18 could participate, and of course... men only. I'm sure there was a collective groan among the teens standing around waiting for their turn.
SuperDad brought his flexible, agile and very capable girl back to the car. She was upset and rightly so for how they treated her. What great PR it would have been if they had let her even attempt the challenge. Fact is, she would have made it to the top, a whopping 7' high. And she would have made all those macho guys look bad.
Hmm, yes, perhaps that was the real reason after all?

"This Has Been the Worst and Best Weekend"

We can't find true pleasure in the joys of life, without experiencing and understanding the sorrows. While we lost a small member of the family this weekend, another gained another year.

Katherine is a full-fledged preteen, and she looks the part. After opening her gifts last night, she donned new clothes for school this morning, brushed her hair and pulled it back, and seemed to have grown a couple inches over night.
Her party on Friday night was fun. She and a couple sleepover friends made a full dinner complete with drinks (sour and thick fruit smoothies along with bubbly fruity juice spritzer), appetizers (chicken noodle "stew" that was pasty, and yummy tuna biscuits) and dessert (ice cream balls rolled in coconut). The main pasta dish was decent as well. And all told, they cooked and served and ate from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The girls were bushed by the end of it but proud of their efforts. And they had plenty of fun in the process.
As we wish Katherine a very happy 11th birthday, we also wish my mom a Happy happy Birthday!

The After School Cha Cha

Where is the balance? School, fun, rest, family, homework, friends, exercise.

The stress for "life balance" starts earlier than I thought.

All my kids want to do afterschool activities, and the kid currently with the least stuff after school is Katherine. They don't get home until 4 and we never know how much homework she's going to get each evening. With dinner around 6 or 6:30 (usually done by 7), she's in bed by 8 and reads until 9, then she's up at 6:30 to start all over. She needs sleep, a lot of sleep. She's growing again, starting the long stretch from 11 year old into 12 years old, expecting puberty to kick in in the coming year, growing taller. This week back at school has taken its toll on her, the bags under her eyes came back fast and she's getting tummy aches.
But I -want- her to do activities. She wants to do activities. And we both acknowledge the fact that it realistically can't be done without really squishing our schedule and taking a greater physical toll. I'm one who thinks kids should have time every day to do nothing structured. For us, it's the time between homework and dinner. She invites a friend over or plays computer games or watches TV. There's an hour each day to pick whatever, then it's time to set the table and get the evening stuff done.
Next year, for Middle School the school day extends a 1/2 hour longer and the homework load will increase. How do kids find time to do fun stuff after school without killing themselves in the process? She'd like to take tennis (2x/week), continue piano lessons (1x/week), begin horseriding (2-3x/week), and join the swim team (3x/week). If it's this hard now to do one afterschool activity (ballet, once a week) and piano on Saturday morning, how will we ever manage next year??
I don't have the answers, I'm rather hoping I'll receive divine inspiration on the whole balancing thing, sometime before the kids move out at least.
Speaking of growing up, what is with the Indian freedom of sharing or inquiring into personal issues? Tamil Nadu is a conservative state yet it's interesting to see what that pertains to. Clothing, emotional expression, women on the right/men on the left. But just yesterday I mentioned to Mercy, the cook, that Katherine wasn't feeling well at school and she asked if Katherine had started her period. After a short yet stunned silence, I replied to the negative. This was after the driver came to work late because he took his wife to the hospital. What I understood over the phone as a stomach ache was explained to Ian as "missing her menses for 2 1/2 months." Maybe the propriety is solely between the sexes but within discussion is open and free?
Anyhow. I know it's coming. But I don't need to discuss it with, uh, the "staff."

A Step in the Right Direction

I do the family laundry. This is no surprise and it's also no small feat for six people. But laundry is one of those chores I really don't mind. I like line hanging, I like sorting. It's all very orderly. What I don't like is emptying piles of mixed up clothing from the dryer and then straightening it out. Sensory overload or something, I don't know.

But now that Katherine has her own room, she also has her own laundry basket.

I still do the laundering, it's easy to throw a load in the wash while making school lunches, put the kids on the bus, switch to the dryer, etc etc. There's a rhythm to doing clothes. With Katherine's laundry segregated from the rest of the family's (and I guess this means Rebecca's too, huh?) I can do an entire load just for her. The beauty of this is that once the dryer is done, I can have Katherine get her own clothes from the machine, fold them up and put them away. What liberation! Even better was the following discussion:
M: Katherine, the dryer is full of your clothes. Please get them, bring them to your room, fold them and put...
K: OK ok ok, the sooner I get to this, the sooner it'll be done.
M: *silent cheer*
K: Mom, why are all of these clothes inside out?
M: Because everyone just takes off their clothes and plops them in the basket.
K: But it takes a long time to turn every one of them out!
M: Yup, it sure does. I do it for five people every time (because you know, -I- know what a pain it is, so I turn my clothes out as I remove them before they're washed)
K: Well, I'm going to start turning them out before they go in the basket too. It'll just be easier.
M: *second silent cheer* Oh, and could you empty your pockets and take your belts off too?
Baby steps. But she's nearly 11 and plenty old to pay attention to these things.
Reminds me of a friend of mine who decided over these holidays she was no longer the housecleaning fairy and got her 3 kids in on the act. One of the chores she passed on was the switching of the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Her 5 year old daughter was all geared up when she stuck her hands in the machine and then quickly removed them with a shocked look on her face.
"Mom, they're WET!"
Too often I get annoyed with my kids over things I feel are quite obvious, or would be obvious with an iota of thought, so I roll my eyes and use sarcasm when a simple Yes or No would suffice. What I've tried to tell myself is that these are things that I do naturally think about, but it's not always on a kid's mind to consider what happens with spilled juice on the floor or why poking fork tines into a tablecloth is still a bad idea. They know the sugar is sticky or that ants like sweet stuff, but thinking the step ahead to cleaning it up well... not quite there yet. Or that tines don't do any damage to a tablecloth, but the table underneath takes quite a beating... not quite there yet.
It's funny, my boys really like connect-the-dot puzzles. I do wish all my kids would take it a step further to real life. Katherine is getting there. I'm hoping the others will be well on their way before their 10th birthday.

*yaaaaawn*

I seem to be pretty sleepy lately. Staying up until midnight... obvious starting point. The heavy rainstorm... not helping. But I need to get myself in gear to face the day and the weekend. It's another long weekend here, Monday being a Togolese holiday. I don't know what for, but the kids are in school and Ian will be home with me and Katherine.

As you know, Katherine is homeschooling now. There's a week left in the regular school year, but we'll continue School Lite through the summer. There's not much else to do, and even when there was we've always done little projects and lessons each summer with all the kids.
Katherine did a good section on Genetics this past week, learning dominant and recessive traits, chromosomes, genes, alleles, mutation, etc. To round it out, PBSkids.org has a program for determining different traits in dogs, and the tables in the science workbook focus on traits in the family. Several other websites have proved useful as well, like the Canadaian The GEEE! in Genome site. Next week we'll apply the information from Genetics to the beginning stages of human reproduction. Yes, there's a reason we're doing this the last week while the other kids are in school.
In Math, she continues with long division. She's not enjoying it and is looking forward to being done with it, finishing review of mixed fractions, decimals, then moving into Algebra. I'm not a big fan of Geometry and hopefully that'll change, but I'm putting it off for now.
In History, she's working her way through the Pre-Civil War time. Actually, I think this week she'll be in the Civil War. We're way behind on history because while she attended AISL she didn't go through chapters quite regularly. Her timeline on the wall is getting full though. For each section she reads, I have her pick an important date/event to add to the wall. I'm not sure yet what should happen at 1900 when this line is full. Hmmm.
For French, she does Rosetta Stone sections several times a week, as well as reading stories in Petites Histoires. She also visits with her bilingual friend, Paige, each week. They do stuff like mess with make-up or play the Sims, but cover parts of the face and items in a house while they're playing.
For Spelling/Vocabulary, I have a 5th grade book we use. Lately the topic has been Greek Roots, so she's figuring out how words are created. For Literature, well, I admit I let her have free reign. She's a bookworm, so she reads whatever she wants to.
Anyway, quick overview of what's been keeping me busy.

We've withdrawn Katherine from AISL

Withdrawing Katherine from school is for the best for her. It will seem silly to some, to pull her now with only 4 weeks of school left. But her teacher had already told me that in his class the last few weeks of the year is geared to fun and games. Katherine is left out of games, which is no fun.



She didn't feel she could talk to her teacher and she was too often bored in class, she felt very uncomfortable with her French teacher, she adamantly disliked her P.E. teacher, and she was ostracized by her classmates. Looking through our journal from the past 9 months, we should have pulled her out over the Christmas break. But we didn't, always waiting for things to get better, for that silver lining to show up. Meanwhile we spoke with her teachers and brought our troubles to the Director. The situation did not improve and we waited long enough, so she's home now. Yes, there is an isolation problem. It's another reason we waited so long to pull her, we figured being in school even with all its problems was better than being at home with no outlets, no kids, no change at all. Unfortunately, it simply became too detrimental to her to leave her where she was. Three major meltdowns in two weeks is uncommon, even for Ms. Emotional.
The biggest calalyst towards this decision was when, two weeks ago, Katherine was having an extremely difficult time in school. She burst into tears that Sunday evening, and finally spilled what had been bugging her. The other girl in her class took Katherine aside to let her know "No one likes you in the class because they think you're bossy, like your dad."
The trickle down effect in action.
We've always told our kids that school isn't always easy. Personalities clash. Work is too hard or too easy sometimes. Teachers are all different. It's a part of life learning to deal with these things, with parent involvement when needed.
We didn't before and we do not now believe that our kids should have to suffer for the decisions we make and what we are involved in. There is quite a bit of bad blood floating around the school about our and the Embassy's involvement with pulling the State Department grant from AISL and about the high visa refusal rate for AISL high school "graduates" (some of these "graduates" are in their 20s, having barely completed 9th grade correspondance high school classes). But when adults decide to share their problems and frustrations with their children or classmates... and those children share the problems with siblings... and those siblings take it out on our daughter...
Aside from calling a town hall meeting and telling everyone to knock it off, what can you do? A small school can breed indifference and animosity, just as easily as it can provide opportunities for growth, tolerance and understanding.
Unfortunatly for us, we didn't find ourselves in the latter.

Happy Birthday, KATHERINE!

Katherine is 10 today. She's TEN! Double digits... One - oh...

Wow.

Last Friday we went to ASFS

The girls attend the Science Focus school here in Arlington and on Friday my mom, the boys and I went to see Katherine and her classmates put on a puppet show. The shows were cute, various interpretations of a comic involving a cat and a frog, but what I didn't know was that immediately following was the 3rd-5th awards ceremony.

Third quarter report cards came out last week and both girls did very well. The only surprise was Katherine's O(utstanding)s in Listening and in Personal Organization. Huh?? If anyone recalls, in Manila both of those areas were her difficult zones. She's either growing up or the requirements are different here.
There were no surprises for Rebecca. Her spelling Stinks but her logical thinking is exceptional. Her reading is improving, her math is right at grade level, but she can't tell time. P.E. is not her forte.
Katherine received all As and Bs for grades, with Os and Ss for efforts. As a result, at the awards ceremony she received a certificate for achieving the Honor Roll. I'm glad that grandma pays attention to the school calendar!
Looks like I've reached the point of needing a scrapbook to hold school awards.
Also related to school, we're in Virginia and at the end of May every student in the state takes the Standards of Learning tests, aka SOLs. The acronym's other meaning may apply better to us because Katherine is getting a crash course in everything taught the past 2 1/2 years. The SOLs cover material from 1st and 2nd grades in VA. She was almost in tears with frustration last night trying to absorb the differences between direct and representational democracies. And she cannot keep the Tiber and Niger rivers straight.
In Manila the classes covered zero American History or Explorers and completely different language arts. There are 5 different exams at the end of the month and it's going to be interesting. She'll do fine in Reading, Writing and Math, but Science and Social Studies will be hard.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart

What a mix of highs and lows. And what a day overall.

Katherine is finally sleeping peacefully in her bed. She has turned 9, had friends over, blown up balloons, eaten cake, opened presents, laughed and giggled and played.
Unfortunately, (most of) her friends she invited to sleep over are in the den watching Ella Enchanted. I had just dozed off as the girls finished watching a movie when Rebecca came in saying one of the girls was homesick and Katherine was crying. The friend went home and Katherine moved to her own bed to collect herself. The rest of the girls weren't sleepy yet. So here we are.
It's nearly 2 a.m. and it's time for shut eye. Goodnight.

An eye-opener

Yesterday was the day for Katherine to execute her gift-giving endeavor.

For many weeks Katherine has been gathering toiletries, candy and small toys to parcel together in bags (some of which I made with my rediscovered basic ability with the sewing machine) and give to the street children we see on the way to the Embassy.
In theory a wonderful and generous idea. In reality, well.... still wonderful and generous but not quite what she'd envisioned.
Katherine imagined a young beggar at the window. She would roll down the window and happily pass a bag of goodies over, saying "Maligayang Pasko" and being thanked with a smile. Then another child beggar would come and she would repeat the scenario.
I'd gone through the process that would actually occur. I told her that once one child received something, the rest would swarm the car. I told her that I would control the window and that if it got to be too much we would shut it. She worried that someone would get their hand caught, I said they would move. I don't think she took me too seriously but when it was all done I realized that I hadn't thought everything through. The largest fault was mine, in letting her hand out bags before we were right at the light. We had a couple cycles to go through and it was too long to sit with children and teens and adults mauling the car.
A couple of kids knocked on the window and I allowed her to pass out some bags. And like I predicted, the car was swarmed. I opened the window too far to try to get gifts to the lower, smaller kids but bigger kids started grabbing them right from Katherine, and not just one at at time. Then the worst part, the adults ran over and shoved THEIR hands in the car. I shut the window 3/4 of the way, I yelled at them to go away, I yelled that the bags were for the children. They ignored me. I shut the window on one man's arm and had to lower it a bit so he could pull it out.
The light changed and I moved up, but like I said not through the intersection, so the children that hadn't received anything ran down the street following us. Katherine was able to hand out a few more before the throng grew too big and I had to shut the window again. We ignored the rest who kept panting on the window and knocking.
The light changed again and we were still not through the intersection. One child decided he didn't want to run after the car so he HUNG ONTO the rear view mirror while I drove! He had a rock in his hand and when we stopped again, he knocked with the rock on the window, a loud irritating noise. I told him to knock it off and one of his buddies would periodically stop him, but I discovered later that when he wasn't knocking on the window he was -scratching the paint of the car-. There were three or four more bags and we gave them only to the young ladies holding infants. We realized after that the girls were well-behaved while the boys were obviously not.
The light finally changed for the last time and with no one hanging on the car, but instead with a final smack and a few kicks, we made it through relatively unscathed. Physically at least, for Katherine was emotionally worn.
She'd wanted to be the benevolent gift-giver. She'd actually wanted to walk around the street handing out bags but I'd figured this was a reasonable compromise where we were secure and I was in control. It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. Katherine was confused as to why the people were so mean. Why did one of them almost touch her (he didn't, I wouldn't have allowed that). Why did they scrape the car and why didn't they say Thank You? Why didn't she get to say Maligayang Pasko like she'd practiced.
Why wasn't it a good experience being nice to others?
I asked her what her goal had been. To give away to those less fortunate? Then her goal was accomplished. We also agreed that next time (for in Togo the children have even less) we would do it differently. Katherine has a vision of going from door to door at night and mysteriously dropping packages at their door. I had to remind her that the children she was giving to didn't have houses, much less doors. But we'll think of something else. There are always organized gift-giving programs, so we will participate with something like that until she and the other kids are much much older.
I'm extremely proud of Katherine for wanting to give the way that she did. I hope that all the kids develop the same sort of desire to share what they can. We both learned something from this experience and it wasn't all bad. We talked a lot about -why- the people we'd encountered behaved the way they did and while none of the kids really understand it (how can they?) it will prepare them a bit for our next stop in Togo.

Katherine and boys

During Filipinia Week, they held a barrio fiesta and one stop Katherine made was at the fortune teller.

Our exchange:
Katherine: That fortune teller wasn’t very good.
Me: Why? What did she say?
Katherine: Well, when I asked if I was going to be in a Harry Potter movie, she said No! And that’s not true.
Imagine me stifling loads of giggles.
See, we’ve been talking to her about Daniel Radcliffe and she has it in her head that all she has to do is ask him and she’ll be awarded a part in the last Harry Potter movie (for by then she will be 11, and finally old enough to be a First Year at Hogwarts). Of course, she has yet to actually write and ask such a thing, but for her it’s a done deal. We’ve told her she’d fit perfectly at Draco’s little sister Draconia. Never mind that so far Draco doesn’t have any siblings, nor is there a good likelihood she would be called Draconia. She’s sold.
In real life though, AJ (remember him? They arrived a couple months ago and we tried to break into their house) is 10 and when the two of them are together they are inseparable. We’ve seen the family at the pool on Sundays recently, and AJ and Katherine cross paths at school. One time when I was picking up the girls Rebecca and I were standing at the bottom of the stairwell waiting for Katherine to come down. AJ came by and I waved. He went around the corner then returned so I inquired if everything was OK. He said he was fine, just that he wanted to say hello and when I saw Katherine if I could tell her hello for him as well.
Have I mentioned what a nice kid he is and how he has a slight resemblance to Harry Potter?

Following the Age of Reason...

Immediately after the Age of Reason seems to be the Age of Discontent.

Katherine has put herself in a circle of girls that shift alliances by the minute. It's infuriating and frustrating and, let's face it, annoying. Daily I hear the report of who is friends with who. Who is being mean, who's spying (on what? And why does spying need to go on... what're they doing?) who said this or that, blah blah blah.
I could pull my hair out, and she's only 8 years old.
Katherine came home "sick" from school on Thursday. I put that in quotes because I'm not sure what to believe from her at the moment. She hasn't been feeling well for the past couple weeks. A lot of headaches (see above as to my guess why, and the fact that she has takent to drinking almost nothing throughout the day... I'm remedying the latter as best I can, the former, well, read on), stomach aches and general "I don't feel good". Finally Thursday the nurse called from the clinic and I picked her up.
But then Rebecca came home and the "she saids" started. Katherine is apparently having serious issues with a classmate, but it's not who I expected and honestly what I'm hearing just doesn't jive well with what I thought these two kids were like. Then on Friday, the other girl told her mom that Katherine called her a really bad name and flicked her middle finger at her!
Anyone who knows Katherine up to now would say that's impossible. She's simply not like that. But it concerned the other mom enough to talk to Ian. Ian talked to me, then to Katherine. The mom talked to me today and now we're going to get the girls together tomorrow afternoon to hash this out.
Last year, issues like this would be worked out in the classroom during a teacher-led circle time. Mrs. Bayly worked hard to keep the classroom harmony and it showed. Whenever Katherine had an issue with a classmate she would come home a few days later and said it had been discussed and worked out and everyone was friends again. Mr. Gascon doesn't use that route and Katherine has mentioned several times that she and other girls have asked playground monitors to help them work out the problems and they're generally brushed off. I can see why, playground monitors have a lot to watch over. The homeroom teachers play such a pivotal role in how the class meshes that to have what seems like an oblivious leader isn't working for this age.
So tomorrow afternoon we see what's what by putting the two girls together with us next to them and figure out what's really going on. Last year they were great friends, this year they share a class again and the swim team, along with CCD on Wednesdays. Something is going on and we'll find out what.
Along that note, earlier this week we had a bedtime race and I gave the kids 10 minutes to do what they needed to do (go potty, brush teeth and change into PJs). They were done with three minutes to spare, pretty good! Of course I still asked if they'd all brushed and each assured me they had, but Katherine had a chocolate milk (don't ask) and said her teeth were probably dirty again from drinking that.
I happened to go to the bathroom to check the tap, push the stepstools back, etc. and I noticed the toothbrushes. All were wet... but Katherine's.
Now, the penalty for not having everything done (it was a test of cooperation as well) was that they wouldn't get stories. Everyone would get penalized, so it wasn't worth it, right? She said she was helping her brothers. Well....
She said she thought she would run out of time. I reminded her of the 3 minute warning and when she said she was done. I told her she could count to 30 while brushing her teeth and would know for certain that 30 seconds was less than 3 minutes and she would be done in plenty of time. She didn't have a response to that.
The last thing I pointed out, of course, was that lying was never acceptable. And in addition to that, no matter the lie I would either know or figure it out. Perhaps not immediately, but no lie would survive.
I'm disappointed in her at the moment. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Katherine is ill.

After her swim meet and the birthday party yesterday, Katherine came down with a 101 fever last night. Today it's up to 103. I don't know if she'll be off to school tomorrow, but I already gave her a break from her swim lesson today and her swim practice after school tomorrow. If she wakes up without a fever I think she'll be good to go, but we'll see.

Quick post because I'm too tired to write more

Katherine had her first ISM Sailfish swim meet (held at Brent, along with the Brent, British, Manila Japanese and European International teams) this morning and did her very best.

She had four events, 25m in each stroke. For a kid who wasn't swimming any stroke 3 months ago, she did amazing. The biggest surprise for me was her butterfly and how well she's progressed since even a few weeks ago when she hit the flags and basically stopped moving. Oh her arms were going but her forward motion stopped, she was too tired. Not today, today she did great.
I only know her ranking for the first two events so far, the 25m Free (32/41) and the 25m Back (27/31). She had a goal for each race... overall it was "don't get disqualified". And she didn't! For breast stroke it was to touch the wall with both hands... and she did. For butterfly it was to finish... and she did. For backstroke it was to not be last... and she wasn't.
We were very proud of her effort, sending her loads of encouragements as she worked herself into a nervous tizzy before the first event. But 5 hours later she was a successful swim meet survivor. Not the best, but far from last place as well.

There's always a silver lining

On Friday I picked up the girls from school and we schlepped over to Seafront to get our annual TB check.

The boys had received their shots the week before and both had come back normal. This time the girls and I were ready. Katherine spoke incessantly on the car ride over about how she really didn't like the TB test. That and finger pricks were "the absolute worst" and she would rather have her blood drawn. She got so worked up she was on the verge of tears. The boys had done wonderful and tried to reassure her that it did hurt but it wasn't bad. And she'd get candy. Rebecca was nervous and wanted me to go first, but in the end did just fine as well.
When the nurse called, we were ready. The thing was, Katherine didn't have to get the test at all. Because of last year's positive reaction followed by the course of INH, she is now branded CONVERTED on her medical folder. Once a positive, always a positive. She will perpetually carry the potential for the disease in her blood.
Katherine was thrilled. She couldn't resist rubbing it in to all her siblings that she would never have to get that shot again and we would, nyah nyah. No amount of discussion could convince her that it was actually worse to -have- those nasty TB germs in her body (and the six months of daily drugs she'd had to take), than to get a little bump on her arm once a year. Nope, she got out of there without a shot and was bouncing with joy.
There's a silver lining to everything.

A Katherine funny

A usual activity for Katherine at restaurants is to take a response card and fill it out. At Burgoo's in Powerplant she usually writes a note on the paper tablecloth telling the restaurant how much she likes the food.

Yesterday at Outback she took a card and was dutifully filling it out. Through address and phone numbers, she reached the section to list birthdays with mm/dd/yy. She pondered this abbreviation for a while then asked us if it meant...

Mommy's birthday
Daddy's birthday
Yaya's birthday?

We both broke down laughing. Of course we explained what it actually meant, but it's always fun to see how her brain takes what it's familiar with and tries to make it fit. We've been here 16 months and yaya has become part of her vocbulary.

In other news, she finished _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ on Friday night. She was very proud of herself and so were we. That's a big book for even an adult to get through. She started it June 5th (the day after seeing "Prisoner of Azkaban") and finished it July 17th. Six weeks is pretty good!

Katherine received some mail today.

Katherine received an envelope "from" Daniel Radcliffe which included a photo of him and his fan club newsletter of what he's been up to. It seems that he's been learning to SCUBA for the underwater scenes in _Goblet_.

Katherine was thrilled and wants to bring it to school to prove that she wrote a letter to an actor.

Over our trip, Harry Potter was a frequent topic of discussion and we've figured out that she'll be old enough to become a student at Hogwarts for the 6th movie. We've told her that she could play the role of Draco's little sister, Draconia. Of course she'll need to include a photo of herself in her next letter.

A Special Day for Katherine

Katherine took another step in our Faith today as she completed her First Communion.

At 10:30 Mass this morning, Katherine and her 68 CCD classmates took and celebrated their First Communion so she can now fully participate in our Mass.
This was the reason my mom came to visit, and Katherine was happy, excited and nervous.
Last year I'd bought her a dress and it fit beautifully. New stockings and shoes completed the basic outfit, while a lovely lace and bead headband (from grandpa), pocketbook (from grandma), pearl bracelet (from mom), gold cross necklace (from grandpa), communion pin and children's missal completed the ensemble. She was gorgeous, and not just in her outfit. You could tell she was excited this day had finally arrived.
Katherine, my mom and I went to the church at 9 to complete preparations. There we picked up her head wreath and stole. While we had her photos taken with the headband, the wreath she used during the ceremony to match all the other girls. The stole was embroidered with the sacraments she has completed along with their dates, with confirmation left empty to be filled in a few years. We attached her communion pin next to the First Communion lettering.
All the girls were beautifully dressed. I'd feared that some would show in ballgowns or dresses reminiscent of beauty pageants, but none had and all the girls glowed.
It wasn't long before the parents (and yayas) were shooed out to reserve our pews in the church, and Ian and the boys joined us right before the group processed in. And then there was the Mass which was blissfully short and wonderfully touching.
After Mass we picked up Katherine's commemorative box to store her mementoes while the kids had a snack (for like everything here, there was food).
Home for a short while and a change of clothes, then off to Powerplant to grab a few sandwiches for lunch before seeing Shrek 2. A cute movie with loads of adult humor and jokes that are missed by the kids, but the kids kept on luaghing anyway. The storyline was more complicated than the first time around, but the kids didn't mind and thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The music track was boppin' just like the original. Jonathon did great (unlike Finding Nemo) because it was fun, there wasn't a scary thing in it, it wasn't too loud and he had a popcorn bucket all his own. Actually, I think the popcorn might have been his favorite for once it was emptied he announed it was time to leave. He was convinced otherwise without any trouble once I reminded him the movie wasn't over.
We saw loads of folks we knew too. With the way movies arrive and disappear in a couple weeks, it's a must to hit the theater as the first opportunity.
Then home. The kids were exhausted once again. Will they be OK for school tomorrow? We adults stayed up to watch some Survivor finale and the newly recorded Manila post video (coming to an OBC near you). But now, it's after 10 p.m. and I'm too tired to be up.
Goodnight.

Sometimes they surprise you...

While leaving the school today, I commented that someone had left a bunch of trash on the lawn. It looked like a lunchbox had been overturned and a variety of wrappers and bags were floating about.

Unprompted, Katherine heads over and cleans it up, with Jonathon and Rebecca helping out.

Katherine: "We've been learning about how we all need to work to keep our environment clean."