Slippery Slope

CHEATER CHEATER? Before 9 a.m., Magnolia Preparatory Academy was embroiled in an ethical quagmire. CJ has been working and working to try to beat this one portion of one of his Nintendo games. It involved some characters flashing on a screen ridiculously (in my opinion) quickly, and you had to tell the "boss" of that level how many of the characters you saw. Sounds simple enough, but there were multiple characters with minor variations and the glimpse of them really wasn't long enough to count them all, let alone pick out subtle variances and count the "right" ones. Oh, and the little buggers were MOVING. Anyway, CJ was trying and trying and trying and couldn't (no surprise) do it. He asked me for help and I tried, but I can't do the impossible ... I asked him if he could pause the game/freeze the screen so we could count them. He'd already tried that (of course) and it wouldn't work (when you pause the game, the character screen is covered) . Since my camera is rarely more than a few feet away from me, I wondered aloud if I could take a photo of the screen with the characters, then he could pause the game, we could look at the photo and then he could answer the question. He wanted to give it a go and so we did. And it worked. Grinning from ear to ear, he said, "So, did you think of a way to cheat?" Um, ouch. Hmm, well, yes, I guess I did, son. ... Yikes. And so the joy of victory was indeed, a bit tainted. And so we talked. About cheating and troubleshooting and being creative and coming up with workarounds. And how sometimes/usually cheating is a bad Bad BAD thing. But it's complicated, isn't it? The world has more shades of gray than black and white. And being a Trekker/Trekkie, I couldn't help but think about the Kobayashi Maru. I, for one, think Capt. James T. Kirk was to be commended for changing the rules, so to speak, so that he overcame an "unwinnable" situation. Complicated stuff.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: We got out our calendars today for the first time in a few days. IMHO, it is actually good to skip a couple of days between calendar sessions because then the kids really have to think about what day it is (instead of just knowing it's the next day after the X we drew the day before). The kids zeroed in on today's date with little delay, and spontaneously noted important days past and those yet to come, and the fact that yoga was yesterday and ballet is tomorrow.

MOOD MUSIC: While the kids worked on math and language arts worksheets, I found some music that seemed to fit the day. Today, the oppressive rain drove my choices. I led with "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head." The kids' favorite part of the song was an odd musical interlude - a circusy sounding break, where in the movie Paul Newman is clowning around on his bicycle, trying to impress Katherine Ross. The kids just loved the song and asked me to play it three times. (On the other hand, the song left me feeling a bit sentimental. Newman and Redford were both so young and beautiful in the video/movie, which I loved kid.) Next up was "I Love a Rainy Night" (which took me right back to the elementary school bus). incredibly, I happened to find a video for the song that used Club Penguin animation. Talk about when worlds collide! CJ asked to see an "original" version - so I found Eddie Rabbitt singing it at Branson.

Often, the kids become interested in the music I find to the point of distraction - singing and dancing in and around their seats. I'm trying to decide how I feel about this. Am I breeding/fostering ADHD types, or creativity or both? Dunno. But here's Annabelle doing her math today listing to "I Live a Rainy Night."

Interestingly, by the time CJ & Annabelle finished their writing and math worksheets, the sun was shining brightly, so we decided to take advantage of it.

PARK PROGRESS: We used the short sun break to get a little vitamin D and exercise. We walked Kirby to the park and checked out construction progress there. There were two crews of workers - one pouring concrete pathways, another piecing together the play structure. I bet the place is done within 2-3 weeks - if we get decent weather! Speaking of which, good thing we walked when we did. The skies absolutely opened up not 20 minutes after our return (Here Comes that Rainy Day Feeling Again!). (Gee, hope the hard rain didn't wash out all that fresh cement at the park!)

SCARY STORIES: While CeeJ & Bee ate their lunchtime Frankenstein yogurt (the monster's mug is on the plastic tub this month), I read them a trio of Halloween-y books. Though I didn't plan it this way, all of the books ended up being about being brave in the face of things (or people) that seem scary on the surface. (I have to think that must be a common theme of Halloween books.) One of the books was lame (IMHO, Whoooo's Haunting the Teeny Tiny Ghost), one was average at best (Louanne Pig in Witch Lady) and one was very clever (The Little Bit Scary People). We read the clever one twice, and CJ wanted to make up his own Little Bit Scary People.

SECOND TO LAST SESSION: Wednesday afternoon means Befriended for CJ. He was thrilled today when I told him that he graduates next week. Truth be told, he really doesn't look forward to attending. We talked briefly about how oftentimes in life we have to do things we don't want to, but it's important to see things through to the end.

BACK IN THE SWIM: Swimming was a regular and favorite activity of Christian and the kids this summer, but the outdoor pool here in Magnolia closed after Labor Day. The trio got back into the drink tonight at the Ballard (indoor) pool, but they were disappointed to discover that Parks & Rec pool has different rules and that only bonafide swimmers can go down the slide (in Magnolia, kids can wear floatation devices and go down). Despite the disappointment, the kids got a good watery workout, and I'm sure they'll go back for more.

OVERHEARD: This afternoon Annabelle asked me to put a dandelion she'd picked in her hair. I handed her a mirror and went to fetch a barrette. From the bathroom, I hear Annabelle kissing the mirror and whispering, "Oh my god, you do look good." (Yes, that's a direct quote.) Hysterical. After I stick the flower in her hair, she glances at her reflection and declares, "Gorgeous!" (And humble, too, might I add.)