Today's Problem

I don't have a decent rain jacket.  Minh has an excellent one that I envy every time it rains.

So on each rainy day (like today) I curse myself for not having purchased a rain jacket.  Then I go online and browse women's rain jackets.  Then I think, "Well, actually there is no rush.  It's not like buying a jacket online is going to keep me any drier today.  By the time it arrives it will be sunny out.  I'll do this later."

Then, later, on a nice sunny day I remember that I was going to buy a rain jacket, but that seems completely ridiculous in that moment.  Why would I buy a rain jacket?  It's sunny out.

I have a similar problem with ironing work clothes.  I keep a big pile of wrinkled clothes waiting to be ironed in our bedroom.  I hate ironing, so during the week I walk by that big pile and mentally calculate that we have enough clean, ironed work-appropriate items in the closet to get us through the week.  I promise myself that I'll catch up on the ironing over the weekend so the closets will be all stocked up and ready for next week.

Then the weekend arrives and I think, "Why would I iron dress shirts today?  It's Saturday and we don't  need those until Monday..."

I seem to have a motivation problem.

Big Dreams

I only let my kids watch about 6-10 hours of TV a week.  Basically, they watch TV every day -- sometimes just a 30 minute show before school (so I can get myself showered and dressed for work).  And some days  it's an hour of cartoons in the morning and a 2-hour movie in the afternoon (Saturdays and Sundays can seem so long sometimes and we need to fill the hours).

While I actually feel like this is a lot of TV and I sometimes wonder if it's too much, Tai feels like it is the bare minimum and is constantly asking for more.  The other day he was lamenting the fact that we do not have a TV in the car #kindergartenfirstworldproblems.

He asked me if I wished we had a TV in the car and I said no, I feel like we watch enough TV at home.  Obviously feeling oppressed by my ridiculous notion that you don't need to stare at a screen 24 hours a day, he began fantasizing out loud about his future as a grown-up and it went like this:

Tai: Well, when I grow up and have a car it's going to have a TV.  And I'm always going to be the passenger so I can watch the TV.

Me:  So who will drive the car?

Tai:  My husband.  Wife.  Wait, men can marry men, right?

Me:  Yes.

Tai:  OK, then my husband or wife will drive the car.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Keeping his options open.

We Made it to February...

Tai made it through 100 days of kindergarten before announcing, "I'm ready for first grade."   His self-assessment of his own kindergarten skills went something like this:

• "Math is boring because it's like 2+2=4 and I already know how to add.  We don't even do minus or times yet."

• "Reading is boring because the books she gives me are too babysish."

• "Word study is boring because she is teaching us 2 and 3 letter words.  And sometimes even 1-letter words, like 'I'."

Best of all, he proceeded to tell me that he and three others were the best readers in the class and that his friend (we'll call her Anna) is, "The second smartest kid in the class."

Naturally, I asked who is the smartest kid in the class and that question was met with the unmistakable look of, You have to be kidding me -- did you seriously just ask that?  And then he back peddled just a bit and said, "Well, maybe me and Anna are tied for smartest."

Basic math?  check.

Beginning reading? check.

Humility?  needs work.

Dream Catcher

When Tai was about 3 or 4 years old he started talking about having bad dreams at night and asking us to buy him a dreamcatcher.  Minh and I figured it was a phase that would pass and we did not run out and buy him one right away.

Shortly thereafter we found ourselves on vacation in Maine, in a cute little gift shop with lots of odds and ends for sale.  And there it was, hanging in the front window -- a small, beaded, reasonably-priced dreamcatcher.  Tai spotted it and of course asked us to get it for him.  We did, and it has been hanging over his bed ever since.  It was the very last thing we packed when we moved, and it was hung up over his bed in his new room before he went to sleep the very first night in the new house.

And now Quynh is three-and-a-half and telling us every night at bedtime that she's afraid to go to sleep because she'll have bad dreams.  Some nights she is weepy and scared, other nights she is angry and belligerent.  All because she is certain the Big Bad Wolf is lurking right outside her bedroom door.

Without us even asking, Tai has been trying to help her through this.  Last week he gave her a picture he drew at school to hang up by her bed and look at while she falls asleep.  And then just the other night, as bedtime approached and Quynh became nervous, Tai suddenly announced, "Quynh can have my dreamcatcher."

Minh moved the talisman from above Tai's bed to above Quynh's bed and we all praised Tai for his kindness and generosity.  Tai stated out loud, in front of Quynh, "And I won't even be scared."  Then he whispered in my ear, "I think they just make that up so kids won't be scared."

The dreamcatcher is having the same impact on Quynh as it did on Tai -- she has now gone to bed peacefully two nights in a row.  Made up or not, it works for my kids.  Hopefully in a couple years Quynh will outgrow her need for it and pass it on some other preschooler who needs it.

Rainbow Gun (patent pending)

Sporadically, over the past year or so, Tai has mentioned to me that it would be cool to have a, "gun that shoots rainbows."  I think this is just his way of being able to talk to his hippy-dippy peace loving mom about how totally cool he thinks guns are.  Generally I just say, "Yeah that would be the best gun ever," and we move on.  But this evening we had a more in-depth conversation about his future invention.

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Tai: Mama, when I grow up I'm going to study, study, study and go to school and work hard and I  really am going to make a gun that shoots rainbows.

Me: You know, I bet you really could.  Tell me how you're going to do it. 

Tai: It's going to have a black thing and when you pull the trigger the black thing lifts up.  And gears!  It will have gears so the rainbows spin and the gears will start to turn when you pull the trigger, and the black thing lifts up.

Me: And then the rainbows shoot out?

Tai:  Yeah, but you can only use it when it's sunny out.

Me:  Of course!  What does our rainbow-catcher on our dining room window have?

Tai:  Yeah, I need one of those crystal things.  It will have one of those.  And solar panels.

Me:  A prism, yup.  So how will you start?

Tai: Well first I need to read, read, read and learn how the first REAL gun was made. 

Me:  Yes, you'll need to learn history.  And science and math.

Tai: I'll need to learn about gears, and crystals. 

Me: It sounds like you might really do this when you grow up. 

Tai:  Yeah, cuz I have a smart brain.

Me: And you work really hard.  You never give up even if you do something wrong the first time.  I like that about you.  And I love that you always ask questions so you can learn new things.

Tai: Yeah, and when I do this I'll be in a lab and there will be other scientists there so I'll just ask them if I have questions.

Me: Of course.

Tai:  But it will be my own lab.  But I'll probably have an assistant.  There will probably be like 20 scientists there.

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I just had to write this all down because it was too amazing/impressive/adorable to ever be forgotten.  My only hesitation in blogging it was giving away all his big plans because I'm staring to think he's really going to invent this thing one day.