The problem is there is no where else to put kids. With budget cuts, there are no more classes. My first period is tiny (19) and has to stay AP because there are about 10 kids who want AP and they can't be be put in my true AP class which has 38.

It's a split roster. The class is certified for AP. To go down is no problem for certification. We're on a 4 x 4 block, which means in a 20 week period, we cover an entire year's worth of curriculum. AP is taught for the full school year, instead of just a year compressed into 20 weeks., so the other 20 weeks have to be named something.

I'm a terrible and disgusting mother. I took a fry off of Noah's plate and then he yelled at me, "I want my french fry back." I took the chewed fry out of my mouth and gave it to him. He promptly ate it.

What is wrong with me?

That doesn't even count as bad mothering. Hell with birds, that's ideal mothering.

Sigh. Rush Limbaugh takes on Newsweek. The actual article in Newsweek said, basically, that white parents don't talk about race enough. Little kids notice racial differences, because little kids notice everything, and that if you say "Good job! You know your colors!" when a toddler points out that one kid had a red shirt and another kid has a blue shirt, but "Shhh! We're all the same!" when the same toddler points out that one kid has brown skin and another kid has pink skin, then the message that the kid gets isn't "everybody's equal," but "Trying to figure out why different people have different skin colors makes Mommy and Daddy act really weird," and then the kids basically end up left to figure out race on their own, which doesn't work out so well, since a pretty common little kid way of looking at the world is "People who are like me are better than people who are not like me," no matter what particular trait is being considered for "like me." The article also pointed out that parents will be direct about things like gender differences -- if a kid points out a female truck driver and says that girls can't be truck drivers, the parents will frequently respond with something like, "A girl can drive a truck, and a boy can be a nurse, and a girl or a boy can have any job." Something with concrete examples that the kid understands. But if the kid points out a black doctor and says that black people can't be doctors, the response is frequently, "We're all equal" or "We're all the same inside," without actually checking to see if the kid even knows what the word "equal" means.

So, anyway. I thought it was a very interesting article. This, though, was Rush Limbaugh's take on it: [link]

This story in Newsweek: Apparently being born white automatically makes you a racist -- which, to me, is just another example of what obsessive racists the leftists actually are. It's the left that refuses to let people be who they are. It's the left that looks at people and sees categories first rather than individuals. They see either women or gays or blacks or whites or Hispanics.

It is the left that gave us hyphenated Americans. It is the left that prefers "celebrating diversity" to the glory of the American melting pot. There used to be a distinct American culture that everybody who moved here wanted to be part of. Now that's not happening. This is why I say there are two or three different Americas. And I'll tell you this: If children were not constantly hounded about race it would never occur to them that it was an issue to be considered.

OMG, Kat, don't write those horrible things! I'm totally a mandated reporter!

Hell with birds, that's ideal mothering.

Truly, you should have passed it from your mouth to his.

t /not mother

Noah likes his fries.

At the bbq, T was totally being a melty toddler and the ONLY thing that appeased him was carrying around his dad's beer. So that's what we let him do. Toddler with the sobby hiccups toddling sorrowfully about with his lower lip out, beer in hand AWSOME. I wish I'd had my camera.

I'm possibly a more terrible mother for indulging his fry thing.

I'm learning a lot about (not!) parenting from other parents at daycare. One parent who has a 15 month old has told the day care provider, C, not to let her son be out of the high chair or bouncer all day because, "he might fall and get hurt." so the kid is never going to walk?

This same kid has size 7 E feet, but they are crammed into a pair of size 6 C Air Jordans (yesterday) and Nike today because Dad bought them and Dad thinks his son is going to be a basketball player and Dad likes blink (Dad drives a Hummer).

People are fascinating!

sara, that's hysterical. I wish there were pictures. Noah also got bit by our dog. He had cornered the dog in our bedroom and was hitting him on the head with a cup. I tried to get between them when I heard the growl, but I wasn't quick enough. Noah not so tramautized and hasn't learned his lesson either. He still chases and harasses the dog.

Hil, I read that article after I saw this blog post: [link] I thought it was a very interesting examination of the socialization issues of race and racial discourse in this country.

It surprises me not a whit that Limbaugh is frightened of anything that threatens his position of white male American privilege. He is, and always will be, part of the problem.