What's in a Name?

Trying to get some details of her first day of school, I asked our routine questions when I picked her up on Tuesday. I don't even try "What did you do today," because 50% of the answers to that question are "Nothing." The remaining 50% are "I don't remember." I started with, "Did you make any new friends?," because she has been lonely without her St. Luke classmates and neighbors since we moved in June. (The only reason she was excited about going to school was to make friends.) "No," she replied emphatically. 

I tried another route, asking "Who did you sit by at breakfast?" since that is the only meal she eats while gone to school. "I don't know." As an adult, it seems preposterous to think of sitting through an entire meal and not asking the name of the fellow sitting right beside you and bumping your elbow. To a child, it's normal. (I wonder if it's because it's just not important or because they are so sef-absorbed.) 

I gave her a goal for the second day of school: Find our the name of at least one of your classmates. 

When I picked her up on Wednesday, I quickly asked her if she had met the goal of finding out one name of a classmate. "Yes, Mom," she replied while rolling her eyes to show her annoyance with my questioning. "His name is Dominic." I quickly asked her what other names she had learned. "Ughhhh, Mom. You said I had to learn one name, and I did. His name is Dominic."  I excitedly congratulated her on meeting the goal and said she could have the same goal the next day.

On Thursday, I asked her the name of one of her classmates. "His name is Dominic," she flatly said. I replied, "But, Ab, that's the name you learned yesterday. What was the the new name you learned today?" Rolling her eyes, as you can see is a frequent habit, she said, "But I just learned Dominic today Mom, because I had forgotton it. So, that's the name I learned today. "

Apparantly, Abigail is not an overachiever.

Barack Makes Me Want to Yack

We have watched enough of the DNC this week to make us sick to our stomachs. I feel compelled to watch the big moments, i.e. Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, thus far. But, I hate whatever it is that compels me to watch. Do I need to watch it to stay informed of all issues? Or, should I just confirm that I'm a conservative and refuse to waiver and ignore what else is going on? I don't know if it's best to ignore it or observe it. What I do know is that it makes me want to scream.

Daniel made an excellent point last night... "I want someone to stand up there and say, 'When I was on the campaign trail, I met this man who works three jobs to support his family. He asked me to fight for him and keep him from having to pay taxes to support lazy butts who don't want to work.' That's the candidate who I'll stand up for."

I agree! I'll give that person a standing ovation! What happened to expecting people to work for what they get and not complaining that they don't get enough handouts?! 

I'm not a fan of McCain's but I am certainly not even a friend of Obama's. He and his wife are only concerned with attacking America. Why haven't we heard either of them extoll the virtues of this great country or go on about how fortunate they are to be living and prospering in America? Especially during Michelle's speech on Monday, how could she describe the poverty she came from and not admit that America offers success for anyone who is willing to work for it? Look where she has risen to! What a country! But, you'll never hear her say that.

Now, we're starting to hear more rumblings from the Obama campaign and even Nancy Pelosi about the redistribution of wealth. Oy! What a hypocrite! Obama's own brother, George, lives in a mud hut in Nairobi on less than $12 a year. Barack Obama won't even extend his wealth or charity to his own personal family, but expects me to jump up and cheer when he talks about sharing my finances with people who don't earn their own. 

To make matters even more despicable, in the Saddleback Forum Obama purported to be a Christian and claims that America's greatest moral failure is not abiding by Jesus' command to care for the "least of these." But we now know that he doesn't even consider his own brother to be a "least of these."     

First Day of School, Part 1

The alarm went off at 6:15 this morning! That's just crazy, but our new routine nonetheless. I think we'll enjoy the earlier mornings once we get accustomed to a bit earlier bedtime. However, we hadn't even turned the first corner in our walk this morning when Abigail proclaimed, "The sun isn't even all the way up in the sky. We should not be up, Mom."

Although the rest of the walk to school was filled with questions of why they put the school so far from our house, she did enjoy her first day of public school. The most detailed run-down of events I heard was that she liked the playground and cafeteria. She made some friends, but doesn't remember any names. I'm not surprised. She is only at school from 7:30 to 10:30, so I don't expect any in-depth relationships to form any time soon. She does like her teacher, Mrs. Borman, and thinks the class is going to be more fun than St. Luke's, her previous school.

If you noticed the title of the blog, don't wait around for a more detailed continuation of Abigail's first day of school. The reference hints at Cooper's first day of school, which is next week. Tune in later to hear about the Coopster's first day away from home. (I don't know if Cooper or Mommy are more excited for the break from each other.)

Hopefully we'll be able to use this blog to keep in touch and share our stories with the many friends and family members we have throughout the country. Now that we have settled in Texas, we dearly miss our South Carolina friends and many Navy friends scattered about. I hope we can entertain you and share our life, even the mundane early morning walks to school.