Where did she come from?

OK. So tonight at the dinner table Nola comes out and says "Can I talk to you about some bus problems, Mom?" She proceeds to tell me that the "mean boys" on the bus have once again called her a name. This time it's "potato head".

Now, being the wonderful mom that I am, I talk with her about her feelings, possible solutions, and what actions to take next. When I asked her what she did about the name-calling, she said "I turned to my friend and enjoyed the ride". Seriously. She actually said that.

She seemed to like the extreme idea of not taking the bus home to avoid the "mean boys", but after thinking about this one for a while she came up with the following:

Nola: "Mom, I think that not riding the bus on Mondays would be ok. I think that I can do 4 days on the bus."

Me: "What do you mean 'on Mondays"?"

Nola: "Well, on Tuesdays I usually ride with xxxxx, on Wednesdays I ride with yyyyyyy, on Thursdays I sit next to zzzz and aaaaa, and Fridays is ALWAYS bbbbb and cccc, since they only ride the bus home on Fridays."

Me: "Huh? You mean that you ride with these kids on the same days each week?"

Nola: "Yes."

What's going on here? Doesn't she know that she's FIVE??? And who has a schedule of friends to ride with on the bus anyway? The best part of this whole thing was that NONE of the kids she named in her bus riding schedule are actually kindergartners! I am constantly amazed at this child's ability to make friends and build social networks anywhere she goes.

Later on this evening, she asked "Mom, can I talk to you about some of my other life problems?"
LIFE PROBLEMS? From a five year old?!? Turns out that she had a bit of a scare from some dogs on leashes while she was walking home from the bus stop. Nothing major, since she once again refused my offer to come and pick her up at the bus stop after school. (She prefers to walk home by herself.)

She's an amazing kid, that Nola....

The Month of Love

OK. Here's the reality here in Herding Cats land. My camera is holding all my recent photos hostage. Seriously. Have no idea why I can't get them onto the computer, and neither does Greg. No photos, then.

However, I do need to tell all 3 of you who read this blog that February is officially the Month of Love in the Dowd house (at least in my mind. Greg mocks me.). What does that mean? Well, for Jennie over at the Squeaky Wheel, it means that there's a lot of great cooking and kind words. For me, the month of love means...GET THE CRAP OUT OF THE MASTER BEDROOM!!!!

If I had a photo of my bedroom right now, you would be scared. Truly. No one in his or her right mind would sleep in this room. There are piles of kid clothes waiting to be sorted and donated/sold, piles of almost filed papers, and other piles of who knows what. You see, I made all these piles in JANUARY thinking that I'd blow through the sorting in time for February 1 (the kick-off day of the Month of Love). Apparently I forgot that I had 3 kids under 6.

I am now praying for a miracle. Valentine's Day is Saturday, and I'd like to give Greg the gift of a clean bedroom. Will it happen? I hope so. I just have to take care of the kids, teach an art lesson to the kindergartners, organize the preschool's 100 day celebration, take the kids to their activities and keep the rest of the house in some semblance of order. Cross your fingers for me!