Proud Mommy Moment and minor updates

[queenriley]

Update:

Birthday was good. Received SGA season 1 on DVD. Woohoo! Funny David Hewlett commentary (and Joe Flannigan is hilarious when he's not being all technical and stuff). Also? I'm totally lovin me some Rainbow now that I've listened to some of his commentary too. MMMMMMM!Rainbow.

Sam is almost 7 months old. He eats solids now. He still prefers breastmilk though, and from the tap if he can get it. My son is destined to be a boob man... to his future girl or boyfriend, I'm sorry. :P

School is over in one week. We have a little mini-graduation thing on Friday where we get our certificates and paperwork to apply for the state boards. Yay! Then I can be better employed than at Arby's (which is a crappy job but I love my co-workers, so Arby's is cool). I'm also working my ARSE off for them, doing school during the day and working until at least 9 or 10 at night... I'm tired.

The joys of living in a small mostly Christian, and mostly Baptist at that, town where the people have very very very little exposure to other religions or cultures... two of my three co-workers last night were shocked, I mean really shocked, to discover that I don't celebrate Easter. I'm Jewish, so I feel it's rather rude of me to just go about celebrating other religion's holidays. They said I should at least do the whole Easter Bunny thing and give my kids baskets and egg hunts. I said no, cause it's not a secular holiday like St. Patrick's Day, it's a Christian holiday no matter how you slice it and I feel it's taking away from the Christians for somebody non-Christian to celebrate their holiday. It's just rude and disrespectful and I won't do it, thanks anyway. So then I was told I'm depriving my children, poor kids, by not giving them an Easter basket. The manager, however, is totally cool and backed me up on it. He's so awesome I made him brownies.

And now, for the Proud Mommy Moment!!!

Alex started preschool in January, 5 months after all the other kids in her class. They were all on book 3, 4, or 5 of the preschool readers (thin little books that work on letter combination sounds and some words). There are 10 of these books. She started on book 1 in January. She finished book 10 last week. ALL of her other classmates are no further than book 8. *beam*

She's moved into the kindergarten books now, of which there are... 8, I think. They focus on bigger words and small sentances. She's the ONLY one in her class to reach the kindergarten books and, since there is only 1 month left of class, she's likely to be the only one reading in them before the school year is over.

Since she's done so well, she's got a speaking part during her preschool graduation! She gets to read from a book in front of everybody to show all the kids have worked on this year. She got that part because she's the top reader of the class.

Go Alex! I'm busting at the seams I'm so proud of her.

Comments

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

Yay! *hugs for you*

(And I agree on the Easter thing - we never did anything for Easter because it's the big Christian holiday and we are not Christian, and this never deprived us, for crying out loud. Chocolate we can get from a shop if we want it, for crying out loud.)

And wow, go Alex. That's awesome. You've got quite the kids, there, m'dear. :)

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

I wholeheartedly agree! My children are FAR from deprived, thank you very much.

And thank you, I do believe I have very impressive children. :D

[atm-greggo.livejournal.com]

congratulations! that's so exciting, about your graduation and about alex!

i agree with you on the whole other religions thing... and i think you'd be confusing sam and alex even more if you celebrated christian holidays in a "non-christian" way... that doesn't make sense. you sound totally spot on. ... and how can you be depriving your children of anything when they get EIGHT nights of meaningful (ie not watered-down like christmas is in so many cases, but with a clear meaning remaining) gift-giving?

anyway, i miss you tine! i don't get to say hi often enough, but when i saw this post at the top of my friends page i smiled from ear to ear - i'm so happy that everything's going in the right direction for you!

much love and SGA,
greggo

p.s. - you're not going to deprive them of the traditional good friday rocky horror picture show screening though, are you? hehehehehe

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

I agree it'd be confusing to them, not to mention it would teach them a lack of respect for other religions. I want them to respect and ACCEPT all religions, not just learn religious tolerance. I want them to more than tolerate, I want them to realize every religion is just as valid and significant as their own. Anyway, that branches off into Something Completely Different, so I shan't go there now.

I miss you too! I wish I could have seen you before we left. :( Things are going really well here though. I'm 10 times happier and things are just falling right into place, finally. I suppose that's more my attitude towards it than location, but hey, anything helps, right?

Of course I will NOT deprive them of the good friday RHPS screening! As soon as Alex is about 10-12, old enough to catch most of the humour, I'll be introducing her to Rocky. Same with Sam. And I wouldn't dream of doing so on any day other than good friday. :D

[murasaki99.livejournal.com]

Easter was Ostara (and many other names) long before the christians got hold of it. It celebrates the arrival of spring and the time of the Earth's renewal. The bunnies, chicks, and eggs are all part of the ancient Pagan festivals. Celebrate if you want, altho if you mention you're celebrating the Pagan equinox, you might horrify your traditional neighbors. >D

Many congratulations on Alex's reading skills! I'd be proud, too. Reading is the key to everything. Good job!

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

But again, I'm not Pagan and would feel it's a disservice to the Pagans out there for me to celebrate their holiday. It just seems disrespectful. I comprehend that many of the Jewish holidays also have Pagan roots, but I still don't want to be disrespectful to anybody. All religions, in my eyes, are valid and meaningful. I would hate for somebody to feel slighted because I, not of that religion, tried to celebrate their holiday.

[wench2002.livejournal.com]

Go Alex! That's fantastic news to see she's doing so well. You and Jeff must be so proud. :)

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

Unbelievably fantastically proud. And thank you.

[tefkas.livejournal.com]

Well done Alex! :D

Also: I feel it's taking away from the Christians for somebody non-Christian to celebrate their holiday. It's just rude and disrespectful and I won't do it, thanks anyway. Exactly. ♥

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

*loves*

We're a rare few who feel that way.

[hildigunnur.livejournal.com]

Woohoo for Alex! Smart girls rule!

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

I agree! Smart chicks rock!

[lilac-bearry.livejournal.com]

Way to go you and Alex! And boob boy! :P

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

That should be his superhero name. Boob Boy. :P

[snoopypez.livejournal.com]

Awww! Yay, Alex! Let's hope that love of reading sticks with her forever. :D

Heh, I totally treat Easter like a secular holiday. I mean, I know it isn't, and I know you're right, but still. I'm all about the bunnies and sweets. Nothing else. :P

My son is destined to be a boob man... to his future girl or boyfriend, I'm sorry. :P

I love you.

[snoopypez.livejournal.com]

Oh, and also, now I am sad, cause I've totally always wished I could celebrate Hannukah/its many spellings. ;P

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

You just need to find yourself a Jewish family/friend nearby and ask if you can celebrate with them. Or make a cross-country trip to visit me next November/December-ish... actually, I think next year Chanukah (and all it's various spellings) falls right around Christmas.

Dude, the way you wrote that... I totally want to write a crack!fic slashing Chanukah and It's Many Spellings. :P

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

But see, it's okay for you to treat it secular, because even if you aren't Christian, you aren't a religion that is contradictory to Christianity. Your family, at one point, was probably Christian even if it was way in the past, so it's all good there. :)

[sarka.livejournal.com]

OMG Birthday! I am SO the doofus!

I'm sorry I didn't congratulate you or make a post on the proper day, honey! Oh, Christ, I just realized which day the 6th was. The 6th was The Day I Slept All Day to make up for having slept the grand total of 31 hours spread over the 7 days before that. So, it's no wonder I forgot, but that still doesn't excuse me, because I should have remembered the next day. Happy belated birthday! *blushes and toes ground*

And Alex, oh, she is sooooo cool. Oh, you are so allowed to be proud of her.

[annabella.livejournal.com]

Did you get the card I sent? Hmmmmm????
I know it was lame but I'm poor.

Oh, wait, you probably have no idea who this is....

You'll have to GUESS.

[queenriley.livejournal.com]

You're my sister, duh. The name kind of gave it away.

Yes, I got the card. Highly amusing, not lame. :)

Which reminds me, do you know how to knit wool soakers? For cloth diapering, that is? Do you even have time to knit wool soakers? I'm clothing Sam and he could use some covers... he's only got 2 and they don't fit real well anymore. He's getting 2 more eventually, but my friend hasn't gotten the fabric back yet. I'd love to have some wool soakers for him, though... they'd breathe easier in the summer than a traditional PUL cover. They need to be lanolized but I can do that on my own, I've already got the lanolin from the early days of breastfeeding. Let me know.

You need to come see the fat baby anyway. :P And Alex graduates preschool soon plus her bday is coming up.