Sometimes, just sometimes I think LatteGirl is something of a Weather Fairy. As I sit her, I am reading about news that from D.C. though Maine, people are suffering from hiddeous rainfall lately, having their basements filled with water, finding 4-foot alligators, and more.

But with all this terrible weather, over the last week LatteGirl has taken two trips to the lake with camp, and today her and TheWife made a trip down to the Jersey Shore. Somehow all the rain, all the problems, seem to manage to find a way to work their way right around us, and not even put a damper on her plans. No flooding here, and the rains even seem to find a way to stop long enough for her activities to take place.

With more rain expected, and talks that the Mid-Atlantic region is more likely to receive a direct hit than in any time since 1938. I hope her fairy magic doesn’t run out.

Of course like every parent, I feel like LatteGirl is growing up WAY TO FAST. I can often be heard uttering the universally understood, “Where did the time go?” But this already hyper-accelerated pace seems to have been given an additional kick recently, and seemingly according to her, being six changes everything.

When we were deciding how to handle summer vacation, we decided to split up her time. Three days at camp and two days home with mom, figuring that at least she would be spending a majority of her time with her peers, enable her to join up with some of her old friends who are also attending this camp, and hopefully make some new friends. Since she is often shy in new surroundings, and new people coupled with the fact that last summer we basically did the same thing with her last months at Pre-K this seemed like a good mix. The two days “off” from camp would allow her to do other things with mom, and give her a break from the stresses of camp.

Well Day 1 we were informed of just how wrong we were. Our shy little girl made a couple of new friends right away, and wanted to know “Why?” she couldn’t go to camp 5 days a week, and why were we “making” her stay home two days a week. Now some of this of course is exacerbated by some friends that she had from Pre-K, who she simply adores and their teaming up again has her thrilled. I know full well a week or two from now, that euphoria would wear off.

But the changes have not stopped there. By Day 2, once inside the meeting place, my shy little princess, yelled “By Mom” and bolted off to be with her friends, and get online so they could board the bus (they were heading up to the lake – Do I need to say how thrilled I am that we got her into swimming lessons this past winter/spring?). TheWife was devastated. No more big good-bye hugs and “smooches.” Since she started Kindergarten LatteGirl has had a tradition. So that she “would not be lonely or miss us too much,” when I leave for work in the morning I give her a kiss on her right hand, TheWife kisses the left. This way when she is missing us she can “put the smooch” on her cheek to feel loved and no longer lonely. Well is seems that she still likes the idea, but at six years old, that it is too silly to do in front of her friends (already appearances are SOOOOOO important). My part of things was safe, because she is still in bed when I am leaving for work, but TheWife was informed that if she wanted her smooches and hugs, it had to be done in the car, before they were in sight of everyone else.

Of course not everything is all about the camp. When we inquired as to whether she would want to take another dance class for the summer (her “regular” classes run similar to the school year), she was hesitant but decided to check out what the summer class was about. She returned back, thrilled and ready to go. Why? Because it wasn’t just another “Tap and Ballet” class as her regular one is. No. She was taking a class to learn… Hip Hop and Jazz.

And of course, no discussion of how fast children grow up is complete without stating… in complete whiny parent sounds, “She is growing like a weed!” I swear she has grown at least a couple of inches since her birthday at the end of May. How could this be? It is going to be fun watching her blossom this summer. I just need to find a way to accept that for every new first, there will probably also be the end of some other part of her as my little baby girl.

Oh my freakin’ gosh… has every school official and PTAnal (as opposed to those that just participate in the PTA for the benefit of their students), just lost their minds?

I know I am not the only parent in the world taking on a school board over school uniforms, and certainly I am not the only one that thinks the banning of cupcakes is a bit over the top. But I must admit, I have small battles to fight compared to parents that have School Administrators that do things such as (thanks to Doug Reality Me , and BusyMom for the links, and take a look at his take, as he has put much more work into the finding the source of FACTS than I have, and/or BusyMom with her humorous but telling crotchedy old lady take), ban recess it in the “name of safety”, Ban Recess in favor of Sensitivity Training , or ban Pizza Parties.

Now some things I can take in better stride and almost understand (I said almost). The whole banning of cupcakes and Pizza is just taking a good idea and taking it to an illogical conclusion. We all make mistakes of this type in our lives, we take what starts out as a good idea and run with it until we finally reach a point of saying, “What the hell am I doing?” The only unfortunate point with something that is political (and don’t kid yourself, if you think that just because they do not run on “party tickets” that politics are not involved), it takes a long time to correct things when they go off course.

But now let us look at the Draconian schemes. School Uniforms and this latest stupidity banning Recess. I have found one common thread, that I find frightening alarming, but at the same time a perfect clue that an idea is based on stupidity rather than anything that resembles a reasonable fact. The commonality, is administrators “selling” their idea by trying to frighten parents with visions of the Columbine Massacre.

Now I was annoyed when my local school board did it, citing certain types of clothing would make it easier to smuggle weapons into school. But I could almost see the argument that they were trying to make (not agree with it, but at least understand it). Of course that fell apart, first when it was pointed out that at Columbine, they carried in their weapons in duffel bags, and second when the kid they showed with all those concealed weapons in the film, was wearing a shirt very similar to the one being proposed for the uniform shirt (hmmm… maybe they should have reviewed the tape before the public hearing). But, I could not be annoyed, because I was too stunned when I read in the “justification” for banning recess when P.A.T. (I assume that is the same as a PTA or PTO) member Pat Kirputnik stated:

Did you know that every single grade school feeding into Columbine High School had recess?

“And here’s the most shocking part,” continued Kirputnik, “The school board continued the practice even after the tragedy there, as if they didn’t see a connection at all. I would characterize that as criminally negligent.”

Wow! How did we ever survive as a society? I mean Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went there that day and shot 12 fellow students and a teacher because they had recess in Grammar School? Obviously Ms. Kirputnik has some serious information that she should share with the world here since she found that link so obvious.

Please people don’t forget the lesson’s from Columbine, but let us put it to rest as an excuse whenever we decide to justify squeezing kids under your thumbs a little more. Video games didn’t lead these individuals to do what they did. Neither did recess, or their not wearing a school uniform (hell they were NOT a member of the Trenchcoat Mafia, as was originally widely reported). A Zero-Tolerance policy where good student gets expelled under questionable circumstances, will not “prevent it.” Let Columbine rest in peace, and stop using it as an excuse for everything you wish to do.

I am a tech geek. I like all the newest and latest gadgets. I have PCs running Windows XP, 2000, Redhat Linux, Suse Linux, Xandros. My cell phone is powered by Windows PocketPC software. I love my tech toys.

BUT!

I am not touching the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray debacle. I refuse to wind up like those that in the past wound up with lame duck BetaMax or LaserDisc players. And even when the market finally decides a winner, I am not buying another player until somebody swears to me in blood that this is the last format that they are going to come out with!!!

And I seriously hope that the MPAA and its members do not expect me to buy all five (so far) seasons of of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation again just to get the “High Definition Experience.” I love the show… I just don’t need to see Sara in such high resolution that I can see whether or not she has clogged pores.

Gerah from Baby Poop and Business Suits, wins hands down for my new Blog Quote of the Week, and unless something amazing comes up, will be an easy winner for Blog Quote of the Month. Actually she has to give credit for the actual quote to her daughter Kyra, who is busy learning about being a big siser:

Kyra: “You’ve got MILK in your boobies mom? I’ve got milk in my sippy cup!”

I never stop being amazed (and entertained) by what comes out of kids mouths. It is one of those things that you just have to be a parent to appreciate. To read the full post, go here.