Bits and bytes.

Kiddle: "Mommy, get off my computer!"
Me: "Excuse me? It's MY computer. I just let you use it."
Kiddle: "NO, Mommy. That's MY computer. YOU. GET. OUT. OF. THERE."

Wow. Needless to say, I did not get out of there.

***

We're not going to make it to Oklahoma for Christmas this year, so my mom ordered some gifts for the boys. You know, ON THE COMPUTER. She managed to get Kiddle's Imaginext Gorilla Mountain ordered from Walmart with only one phone call to me. Pretty good so far. But then she emailed me that when she ordered a puzzle from Amazon for Kiddle, she accidentally ordered TWO. Seriously. How does one do that? I can see missing the "2" in the quantity box, but it seems like the total cost should have tipped her off. God bless her.

It does make me wonder what technology will be in place in 20-30 years that stumps me to the point of driving Kiddle and Bigga crazy. I just try to keep that in mind whenever my mom is gearing up to place some orders. Patience ... patience.

***

Several years ago — you know, when I had a real job and was paid to be on the computer excessively — my right wrist was bothering me to the point that I had to switch my mouse over to the left side. And LIKED it. I could still write with my right hand and manipulate a document with the left, or, even more importantly, eat my lunch and surf around online. That practice was carried over to home and continues to this day, much to the annoyance of Mr. P anytime he tries to hop on my computer for a quick look at something.

But I decided to sacrifice my convenience for the kiddo. You see, he's got GREAT gross motor skills and pretty good fine motor skills. Or so I thought. Apparently school doesn't think so, simply because he can't draw a circle or use scissors very well. But he doesn't like to do those things so I hadn't pushed him too hard in the artsy-craftsy fields. What he does like to do is while away his time on the computer, which certainly requires a bit of fine motor coordination. He gets lots of practice — with his LEFT hand. And he's a righty. Whoops.

So I've officially switched back to a right-handed mouse. I know, I know, what a wonderful mom I am, giving up my ability to eat a sandwich while keeping myself updated on my Facebook friends' minutiae and all. And hopefully I'll find the sacrifice was worth it when Kiddle's school notebook is full of perfect circles, expertly cut out snowflakes, and in-the-lines colouring.

First Day of School 2009

What I should have done with my first six hours of Kiddle-free time:

• Exercise
• Laundry
• Sort through the horrifying amount of old mail lying around
• Clean up the kitchen
• Weed my flower beds

What I did:

• Go to Target
• Talk on the phone
• Obsessively check Facebook
• Play peek-a-boo with Bigga
• Watch reruns of "Criminal Minds" and "Without a Trace"

There's always tomorrow, right? Fifteen more years of school days, in fact. Plenty of time to get it all done.

School is cool.

If you've been following along for a while, you'll know that Kiddle has had some going-to-school issues. He's much, much, much improved but his common quip as we pull into the carpool line is "NO KOOL, NO KOOL," and sometimes there are still some tears as he walks away with his teacher.

Imagine my surprise today when when he was giggling to himself as we got in line, and when I trotted out my cheerleader-ish "Yay school!," he actually clapped and said, "YAY KOOL!!" as well. Shocker.

Think he'll have a meltdown next Tuesday?

What? Aren't you going to miss me?

A big step forward for Kiddle today ... for the very first time he didn't cry when I dropped him off at preschool. Lord, that only took two months of twice weekly meltdowns. I have my fingers crossed for Thursday. Let's hope it's a trend, and not a one-time anomaly.

Second day of preschool ...

and as suspected it was a bit worse than the first day. Kiddle started yelling NOOOO as soon as I pulled into the parking lot and it took him about 15 minutes to stop crying once I left. He was great out on the playground, but started crying again when they came inside. He was crying when he got to me. Argh.

I spoke to the director for a few minutes after class. She was basically wondering if it was ok with me if his teachers ignored him rather than trying to comfort him. YES! He doesn't know them so holding him is probably making it worse, plus he can be a bit dramatic (related to my mom and sister, perhaps?), so letting him work it out himself is most likely the best course of action.

My fingers are crossed hoping for some improvement next week.