Bread Crumb Soup

Happy new year! Tonight begins a new year for those of us who are Jewish. We'll eat sweet things (because life is sweet and another year of it sweeter still), we'll light candles and say a special blessing reserved for "firsts" — and we'll try to rack up as many firsts as possible, just so we can say it a lot — we'll go to the evening service in a really great mood and enjoy seeing all our friends as well as all the people who don't make a regular habit of attending services.

ADHDance

Diva began ballet at four. By five, she knew it was not for her. It's wasn't that she couldn't do it - she was no better or worse really than any other short legged, round-tummied ballerina. Nor did she (at four, anyway) object to pink. Ballet just isn’t her vocabulary. She's a kid who, very young, took to anything Bob Fosse - a detail we somehow missed when we signed her up for dance.

It was her brother who, upon watching a full ballet for the first time, sat rapt on the edge of his seat through the entire performance and came home with the bug.

Gamma Girl Justice

The definitive gamma girl, Diva has hit on a new way to respond to immature fifth grade boys who aggravate her. Not sure what, exactly, a gamma girl is? Here goes: First (because they are always first) are the queen bees. They rule the school with some combination of money, looks, unshakable confidence and an arsenal of offensive weapons - rumor, gossip, poisonous looks and the ego-shattering snicker. Meet the alpha girls.

Down in the Dumpster

I don't know how many times I've said to the kids, "we're living in a garbage dump". Between Diva's generalized pigginess and Wild Child's tendency to drop toy weapons and snack wrappers on anything that can't run away, our home's general appearance is that of a family in crisis.

Moving through our house isn't actually all that difficult despite it's resemblance to an overgrown forest because like a forest, we've carved trails. Well worn traffic areas flow through the clutter of the entryway, into the staging area known as the living room and from there, branch off into the thicket to end up in the kitchen, with it’s own zone of functionality, the bathroom or the playroom. (I won't delve into the playroom except to say that in a rage one day last week, I removed the doorknob.)

Back to School at the Mall

Wild Child and the Diva are headed back to school. When they arrive for their first day in a higher grade,they will be kitted out in new outfits that say to one and all, "this is who I am this year". I imagine it's the same for kids across the country; they've grown over the summer and not just in shoe size, so they're gearing up to start again as a new and improved version of themselves.