Fade in to a restaurant dinner scene. It’s family pizza night at Grimaldi’s. A Mom, Papa and their two daughters, Chloe and Sophie, are patiently awaiting their food. The camera pans in on the midst of their animated conversation about Chloe’s 12-year old male French cousin who has a girlfriend.
“What would you say if I told you I had a boyfriend?” asks Chloe.
I asked the girls to write about their New Year’s resolutions for 2014. I expected a sarcastic list from Chloe and a heartwarming list from Sophie. Instead, they wrote tirades about the stupidity of New Year’s resolutions (you can read them below, if you dare).
Continue reading Chloe and Sophie Say Resolutions Are Stupid – Happy 2014!
Watching movies with Chloe is fast becoming one of my favorite pastimes, especially now that I’m no longer limited to viewing saccharine-sweet children’s films with her. We have embarked on an epic quest: making our way through the American Film Institute’s “100 Years 100 Movies” list. We also have a lot of Oscar contenders to see in the theater before the end of the year. And we have plenty of schlock to watch on Netflix. Our viewing tastes run the gamut.
Chloe, unsurprisingly to those who know her, has very strong opinions about the movies she watches. And as a gift to all of you, she kindly agreed to critique some of the movies she’s seen over the past few weeks. Here you go, straight from the horse’s mouth:
Our first Halloween celebrated on All Hallows’ Eve since 2010. Thank you, snow storms and hurricanes for making a mess of the last two years. But this year, we were determined not to be defeated, despite skies threatening a downpour.
I have a confession to make. I hate school projects. I have no patience for them. They suck all the air out of me.
Fortunately, Chloe no longer requires much assistance with them. Sophie, on the other hand, will continue to bring home these assignments for the next few years. Her current project is not particularly complicated, which makes me feel even worse because, despite its relative ease, I still couldn’t manage to rein in my bad passive/aggressive parenting instincts.
Had an interesting conversation with Chloe the other day about the shenanigans in Congress – the government shutdown and the looming debt ceiling disaster. The best part about the discussion was observing her avid interest in learning about what was happening and understanding why it was happening. My husband and I explained the situation to her as best we could (and no, despite efforts to remain neutral, we failed miserably).
Continue reading An Important Lesson for our Kids: How Not to Negotiate
It’s back to reality for Chloe and Sophie. The lazy days of summer are over, there are no vacations planned any time soon and worst of all (for them, not me), they’re back in school.
For Chloe, 7th grade doesn’t represent much of a change. She’s lucky enough to have the same core subject teachers as she did last year. So far, she only has two big gripes (not bad for her). One, she’s in an elective class that she regrets choosing. Mind you, she’s only had the class one time so far, but Chloe is not one to take her time forming opinions. Two, she was placed into a gym class that she can’t stand. And why can’t she stand it, you ask? Because it’s “Team Sports” and Chloe and team sports are like oil and water. They just don’t mix. I am girding myself for a torrent of verbal diarrhea about her plight this afternoon.
Continue reading School’s in Session and My Girls Remind Me of Certain Shakespeare Characters
The results are in. The truce reached between Chloe and Sophie lasted about one day. I’m not surprised. Disappointed, yes. But not surprised.
After the girls managed to studiously ignore one another a little bit, we all went to the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse on Thursday. The experience has taught me that state fairs bring out the worst in kids – and adults, too. For the first two hours they went on rickety carnival rides together and seemingly enjoyed one another’s company. They even split the cost of buying a huge package of candy buttons. Not much bickering, teasing or arguing took place because they were too busy to realize they were actually getting along.
Sophie has been going through one of those dreaded kid stages again. She’s around the corner from her 8th birthday and pushing all of our buttons. Adorable and kind one minute, angry and manipulative the next.
It’s been a momentous school year. The girls had a successful term at school, academically and socially. They worked hard, learned a lot and made new friends. Here are some developments in their young lives that I think they’d like to remember when they’re my age:
Continue reading Looking Back as Another School Year Comes to an End
