I admit, I’m a meany.
My daughter called me a “meany” this morning because I told her she wouldn’t be going to her grandmother’s today until she finished a workbook page.
Prior to summer vacation, we got summer workbooks for both kids. Each day is two pages of exercises in writing, reading or math.
About every other morning I pull out the books, put them in front of the kids at the breakfast or dinner table, and say, ”Go for it.”
My son - surprisingly - is more willing to do the pages. He gets through them quicker than I think he should, then starts shoveling hashbrowns and eggs down for breakfast.
My daughter keeps coming up with other stuff she “must” do: stickers, coloring, beads.
Mind you, she’s in preschool and not even entering kindergarten in the fall.
But still, I’m trying to set a routine for August when school resumes - both kids will projects and reading during the week.
Really, I haven’t pushed my daughter much. My son is further along in his book.
But then I worry I’m leaving her out.
I know it’s summer. Maybe I shouldn’t worry so much about my daughter - until next year.

A major leap took place in my house this morning, a moment when I realized my little boy is not so little anymore.
For the first time, my soon-to-be first grader picked up a CHAPTER BOOK and started to read it.
Last week he received a set of Cam Jansen books from his aunt.
This morning when I suggested he read them he said, “But the words are so small.”
Then he opened the package and flipped to the first page of the first book. “They’re not that small,” he said.
He sat down at the breakfast table with the book and to my surprise, he started to read outloud.
It took some stumbling. I bounced over between getting food on the table and lunches ready to help him with difficult words. I wanted to drop everything but knew that would make us later than we already were.
But I did let him read as long as he could.
He put the book down and said he would do more tonight.
And tonight, nothing is going to distract me from being right there with him.

My sister sent me a hysterical e-mail for Mother’s Day that appeared as a newscast about Mother of the Year. Her favorite line is, “And this just in. Pulling your hair into a ponytail is not the same as taking a shower.”
I experienced that this morning.
I just returned from an annual “Zonie” temporary migration to Southern California, otherwise known as “trip to Disneyland, the beach and family.”
I put out the kids’ clothes last night and made lunches. I should have just slept for hours and hours, still recovering from the six and a half hour drive, but I woke up at 4 a.m.
I got online and was checking my photos from the trip and catching up on dozens of work e-mail when I noticed the sun was up.
Thinking I didn’t have much time, I grabbed a quick shower. Moms, you know that one. I didn’t wash my hair or shave my legs, only to look in the mirror afterward and realize I needed to watch my hair and shave my legs.
Why did I get out of the shower?
So I stuck my head under the tub faucet to wash my hair, grabbed my razor and finished my legs in the sink, all while in the dress I put on immediately after said shower.
The kids were excited about getting to camp this morning so that hustle and bustle wasn’t bad, thankfully, because then I found the note the city dropped off reminding me to trim my trees that were hanging over the fire hydrant valve.
My husband, by then, was already in the shower so I grabbed the clippers and cut off the offending branches.
At last, the kids in the car, we drove away.
Reality back in place and me back at the office.
Good thing I love my job because part of me wants to be back in California.

Several weeks ago, in the midst of doing our remodeling, I decided we needed a garden.
Our backyard is a disaster area. But I knew it was time to plant summer veggies. So while visiting my local home improvement store to pick up paint, I bought wood, soil, seeds and one tomato plant.
I asked someone at the store to cut it into four 2-foot pieces. I brought it home and nailed together a 2′x2′ box. I found a sunny part of the backyard and plopped it down.
My kids put in the soil and seeds (they picked out corn, onion and cucumber. My son loves corn and my daughter loves tomatoes!
About every other day we go to the backyard when we get home to see how our garden is doing.
It’s been a fun adventure. When the first shoots came up, I couldn’t believe we’d done it. So far, we have eight corn plants, one cucumber plant and three onion plants growing alongside our tomato plant. We don’t have anything to eat yet, but flowers have appeared in the last week. I think that’s a sign of coming vegetables. Being a neophyte farmer, I’ll just have to wait and see what happens. And really, that’s what this experiment is all about.
Now, if I can only keep everything alive in the pending heatwave!