All Hallows' Eve

Today may be the Devil's day, but it has so far been a fitting end to a week that started very weirdly for me. I am in a much better mood now that I have solidified our Thanksgiving plans. It looks like we will indeed go to Atlanta for the holiday and see the King Tut exhibit and visit the High Museum of Art. I miss museums and I want to torture my children with them for a little bit. And it gives me something to look forward to and I think I need that right now.

Speaking of children, Emma and Elizabeth got their first report card of the school year this week. Emma got a certificate for making all A's, the first time in her life she has been graded with ABC's instead of E's and S's. She is a smart little girl and does well in school, but is more of an over-achiever than a genius (she is the first child). She reminds me of myself. She puts all too much pressure on herself. She has meltdowns in class and her 3rd grade teacher had to have a talk with her about needing to find the fun and not worry so much. My 3rd grade teacher told me the exact same things, with the exception that she was a fundy and told me God was displeased with my inability to give it all to Jesus. Moving on.

Elizabeth's first report card in Kindergarten was chock full of "surprises." We understand that the two children are very different. Night and day have as much in common. Liz is a smart girl too, but her interest in education is not what Emma's is. Part of this, I am sure, has to do with their birth order and their place in the family. When Emma was born, we took her to museums and all manner of cultural events. She went to a very structured preschool and then to a very good Kindergarten class full of other teachers' children. Then we moved and things here are very different. We sent Elizabeth to the best preschool in town, which happens to be at our church. But the emphasis of most preschools around here is on social interaction rather than on academic achievement. Elizabeth has the social interaction part down, in fact she has really flourished socially since we have been in Florida, especially considering how introverted she is. What she lacks is the patience for the book learnin.' I am sure she will come around eventually, and she really did not have a disastrous report card by any stretch of the imagination. It's just we never saw any of those grades from Emma (or from Mom and Dad for that matter).

But the truth is, neither Misty nor I can completely understand what it is like to be a middle child. Both of us were the first child of our respective parents (Misty was adopted and was the second child in her family unit, but the first child of her biological mother) and played that role in our families. Because of that, there is often an interesting dynamic in our present household because both of us are in charge. But for our little middle angel, it is hard for us to grasp what it must be like to be compared to another sibling. And she was still very young when Madeline came along, so she had very little time to be the baby and our move to Florida did a number on her more so than any of the other children. There were times when we would pull up to our house, and mind you, she was not yet 3 years old when we moved, and she would say that she wanted to go home. When we explained that we were home, she would say that she wanted to go back to our real home.

That dilemma has long since passed, but understanding her quirks has been a great challenge because she really does not act like either of us parents. Not really. I mean, I am really an introvert, but I have pretended to be extroverted for so long that most people are still surprised to find this out about me. Maybe she acts more like me than I want to admit. Hmm. Anyway, I do wonder whether or not having an additional little one made it more difficult for us to give her the attention she needed early on. Some of her low spots on her report card are things that I think we let slide because we had enough to worry about without bothering to correct her grammar (or we thought it was cute). I am sure she will catch up soon enough. I just want to be fair with all of my children and make sure they get the same advantages or experiences. Granted that is not completely possible, and neither of our younger girls will ever know what it is like to be the only one. At least she is pretty. Enough.

Tonight we go back to church for our annual "Trunk or Treat" event for the children. It was pretty cold the first few days of the week, but it has moved back into the mid-70s so I guess it will be a shorts night. We will pass out candy and all that fun stuff from the back of our van. When we were still in Dallas, I had two vans pull over at two different gas stations (on two different occasions) and offer to sell me some speakers. I guess I looked gullible. But you should hear those speakers now. Sweet. Just kidding, and sorry for dropping the "sweet" bomb. I should be punished.

Peace.