yup, Moops turned 13 yesterday.

Well, here I am on day 2 of being the mother of a teenager. Do I feel any different? Eh, only when I let myself dwell on being the mother of a teenager. How did this happen? Wasn't she a baby just a few days ago? Now she's all big and opinionated and bossy. Of course, she was a big, opinionated, bossy baby...

She is good at being a teenager, though. She got out of bed this "morning" at 11:05 a.m. (the lucky little bugger). I'm willing to let that kind of thing slide, especially since we're still on "summer break," but come October 1st, she's gonna have to be up and ready to go by at least... uh, 10:45. Kidding, people. I'm kidding.

Well, I've had two years to recover from pregnancy-brain before becoming the mother of a teenager. I just barely dodged the bullet on that one, huh? That's something to be thankful for. And I still have a couple of years before I'm a mother of teenagers. Adding that "s" on there sure makes it look scary.

Ugh, I just realized: when my youngest is a teenager, my older three will be in their twenties!

Where's my rock? I'm ready to crawl back under it.

who says monsters are scary?

hey man, two thumbs up for Aristotle!

More from Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter:

Aristotle was a categorizer, in fact the greatest categorizer who ever lived. It was he who divided different forms of knowledge from one another~especially, philosophy from the physical sciences~and gave us the academic categories we still use today. He is responsible for the filing cabinet of the Western world~all those -ologies, -ses, -ics~every term from analysis to biology (which science he invented outright), from metaphysics (the term is his alone) to meteorology, from politics (that is, the theory and practice of the polis) to zoology.

an interesting idea...

From Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter, by Thomas Cahill (speaking of ancient Athens):

Once a year, the citizens voted on whether or not they should hold an ostracism. If the majority voted yes, each member of the Assembly then wrote on an ostrakon (potsherd) the name of the person he felt the city could best do without. Whoever turned up on the most ostraka was banished for ten years, after which time he could return, his property still intact. In this way, would-be tyrants~and not a few other nuisances~were eliminated. (If at first the primitiveness of this procedure shocks you, consider for a moment what benefits it could bring to your city.)

um, like, finally

A little background here: E-man has never been the most helpful child when it comes to bringing in the groceries. Carry in the dog food? No way, it's too heavy. How about a bag of canned goods? My arms are gonna fall off. Okay, how about this package of paper towels? Awww, okay. And then he shuffles off under the burden of the heaviest package of paper towels ever made.

But that all changed today. And I really didn't see it coming. I mean, he has been growing a lot lately, but I just didn't expect this to happen. First, he came to the back of the van and grabbed a bag without being asked to help. Awesome. Then he grabbed another bag. At this point, I expect him to take the two bags inside, become distracted in some way, and never come back out to help.

He stuck his arm out for another bag. And another. He took in five bags at once. I couldn't believe it. And he continued to help until the van was empty. My son, my boy, carried in more groceries than I did!

Do you hear the maniacal laughter?

In another year or so, I can just see myself arriving home from grocery shopping, collapsing on the sofa, putting my feet up, and popping bon-bons into my mouth while my big strong boy brings in all the groceries. Okay, maybe not bon-bons, because I don't really even know what they are... but something good, something decadent, something chocolate.

It's a simple dream, but it's mine.

a sight to behold...

independence

"Look, Momma, I can do it ALL. BY. MY. SELF!"

She opened the refrigerator all by herself. She took the cap off the soy milk, all by herself.

She lifted the carton onto the counter all by herself. She spilled it... all over herself!

The dog was beside herself with joy.

'tis a sickness

This is the kind of thing I get excited about:

We stocked up on a few school supplies today, thanks to Target's back-to-school clearance. Ten single-subject notebooks for 70...wait, there's no cent sign on my keyboard?! 70 cents! At that price I should have bought 20 packs. We got binders, pens, pencils, and sticky notes, Oh my! I bought "washable markers" for the little one - somehow I just know that was a mistake.

And then, when we got home, there was a package waiting for us. Moops got excited, thinking it was one of her birthday presents. But no, it was the student planners I ordered! Each of the kids gets their own this year. Yippee!

fell down, got a boo-boo

Somebody please tell me, how can a 2 year-old go from a seated position to head-over-heels flying through the air in the blink of an eye?

Little Miss catapulted herself off the end of the bed, resulting in a slight abrasion between her eyes and a mild heart attack for her mom. She's mostly better now...thanks to the magic of chapstick. Chapstick's wonderful stuff, it is. Just pull of the cap and take a sniff. Better yet, smear that stuff all over your lips. Everything's gonna be alright, baby.

shhh

We're testing today.

Well, not we, E-man is taking his CAT (California Achievement Test) today.

The kid actually asked me if there is a DOG test.

Yeah, kid, there is. You're taking it next.

consider yourself lucky

You didn't have to hear this scream.