The hard business of mothering

Yesterday was the Emperor's 6th birthday. It had extra resonance for me, seeing as he was born on a Tuesday, and he's passed the kid milestone of Starting School. I may have gotten a little weepy on my husband last night.

School is continuing to be a challenge for him. He got 8 stars Monday and 12 out of 14 stars yesterday, mainly because he was the Big Cheese for the day because of his birthday. Then he got written up in the after-school program for hitting a kid. *sigh* But then he was awesome at the capoeira Halloween party, so he came full circle.

( Birthday party! )

( Geek cake emergency! )

( I built a light saber - can I be a Jedi now? )

( Nature kicks nurture's ass )

My parents are visiting this weekend, so I'm fighting off panic mode when I glare at the crap stacks around my house. There is so much paperwork and assorted stuff coming home from kindergarten that I'm getting really annoyed, especially since a lot of it is time-sensitive documents that need feedback and/or signatures from us. I'd shove it all in my to-do pile, but that's already precariously tall and something I avoid for weeks on end. His school should not be giving us homework! At least I have a menu and some activities planned - more grownup points for me! I plan on being partially fueled by candy to power my way through cleaning and prepping the next several days.

Really, how is October almost over? Didn't we just start September last week?