CJ has been out of school for a couple of weeks and I am already starting to get "new school year info" e-mails from the high school. Yikes. His first day is August 8th.

One of my co-workers got summer homework for her daughter in the mail last week.

Excellent memoir from one of Seattle Slew's early trainers. Makes me want to go look for video of Seattle Slew passaging in a post-parade on youtube.

sumi -- It was very nice; very chill. And there was a ton of delicious food, and my friend's new addition and deck are fan-freaking-tastic.

This is going to be a busy writing week, but then it should calm down and then I will be able to concentrate on the website -- finally.

So ... I am in need of (even more) advice from the hivemind. When should I get involved in the little spats between the girls? They are 7, 6, and 4. The spats seem to revolve around who plays what role and how in whatever pretend game that they are playing. I'm trying to keep my distance and let them figure it out themselves. Em needs this skill. Her current ethod of coping is to stomp her feet, scream at them, and start crying. Then she runs away and pouts. I say this will all the love in my heart, but my word she is her mother's daughter.

But every so often, the 7 year old gets really bossy and snotty and I totally want to step in and play momma bear. But I know that won't help Emeline figure out how to operate in a group.

Aims, I generally prefer to let kids sort this stuff out themselves. However, having watched two very talented pre-school teachers this year, I know that you can shape the rules of the play so it's less headache inducing for everybody. There's an emphasis on the word "friends" at the school, and "That's not the way we talk to our friends..." and being fair and everybody having a turn. So it's usually a matter of setting the tone of everybody having a turn at various roles and gently shaping the narrative a bit. Makes everybody happier.

Deep-fried Kool-Aid: [link]

Deep-fried Kool-Aid: [link]

Yuck!

My brother came over last night with his family, and my 3-yo niece had a scratch on her face. Apparently this is the 3rd time she's been scratched or hurt by the same little girl at her pre-school. The pre-school teachers won't even tell my brother the name of the other girl, but my niece has reported it. The pre-school apparently won't or can't do anything to stop the fighting, so my brother took his daughter out of pre-school.

It's okay at the moment because his in-laws are staying with them for a while and they're providing full-time child-care, but I'm just astonished that the pre-school isn't doing anything about the other girl. Is that normal?

ION, we finally got some summer weather here: it stayed warm after sunset last night for once! And it was warm enough this morning I didn't need a jacket. How pleasant!

Wow. [link]

That's pretty ... wow.

Hey, today is National Vanilla Milkshake Day!