Yes, what goes around comes around- despite our best attempts to prevent it. Annaleef, you and I need to get together and have a vintage treasures garage sale- free up some closet space! My girls love vintage clothing and one (I have to admit) darling dress DD2 bought on eBay looked strangely familiar. My mother says I wore it to my HS graduation in the mid-seventies. Has anyone's child come home from school and announced they have to dress up for '80s day'? Frightening! My uniform for the eighties was either reverse drag (the small-man-with-a-tie outfit) or my maternity wear, which consisted of a either a long sweatshirt, leggings, scrunchy thick aerobic sox and high-top Reebocks; or oddly desexualizing pink or blue shorts sets with peter-pan collars for the summer pregnancy. My girls were horrified at my 80s wear, and for good reason.

DS just said he had a good day, not too much HW yet. He reads on the bus (had to sit way in back while DD sat right behind the driver). DD missed me a little, had her stuffed pig with her so brought him out again (all the kids brought them out at show and tell) just b4 I picked her up. But she is eager to ride the bus home tomorrow - just kept saying how tired she was (got up at 6:30), I think tomorrow when she gets home she might take a nap - for the 1st time in 5 years! She was disappointed that she didn't learn to read and write the first day. She said mostly it was just learning where to put their things. She had been worried about making friends, since she didn't go to preschool or library story hour with any kids from our town (too far away). I just kept reminding her that when she was 4 and starting preschool she didn't know anybody either. She said she made a couple of new friends, including one she met when they both had to use the bathroom ("and Mama, we have so much in common!" but she didn't say what - being 5, being nervous, and having to pee LOL?), but she forgot their names. We told her she'd see them again tomorrow, by the end of the week she'd know all their names. Bus driver seems nice, DS had a different one we loved last year, but they changed routes near the end of the school year. This one seems nice, I really never got to know her. She likes DS b/c he's so quiet, hopes it's not a problem that he will be 1st on and last off so long days. That's what we get for living at the far corner of town. I stopped to talk to her outside DD's school this noon, she's already worried about *next* year when DS's schedule will be an hour off from DD's and she'll have to pick him up *last* to get to Jr High, then run back and pick DD up 1st for 1st grade, same thing coming back home, will have to run straight from high school to our house or house to elementary school. So how did all the other new kindergartners do?

Hopefully, it will resolve itself soon, but in case it helps, here's what worked for me when DS was three. I would go and sit in the classroom. Just SIT. Not play with him or try to get him involved. Just SIT. I wouldn't carry on a conversation with him beyond 'yes' or 'no' answers, give only the quickest little cuddles -- then be BORING. I'd occasionally point out a toy or activity that I thought my son would like, but I made NO effort to go get it or get him involved in it. My goal was for my SON to get up and leave me because doing something else looked so much more fun than just sitting there with Mom. (I had told him in advance that I could stay for a little while, but not all day, so he knew I would leave and come back for him later.) Anyway, it took about 10 minutes for DS to get up and go get a toy and bring it back to me so I would play with him -- but I told him I had to go to work and couldn't play with him -- maybe someone else could? (No dice - smart kid!.) After about another 10 minutes, he finally got it and got up to play with some of the other kids. I sat there for a few more minutes to be sure he was truly involved, then gave him a quick wave on my way out the door. That was all it took!

Ellie, I looked for that song and found only a clip of it. I have an MP3 player, but should probably be ashamed to admit I've only downloaded books onto it. I gather the song is about taking a leap into something new? I can relate! :-) Sherrmann, please thank your husband for saying that reporting is a young person's job (and tell him I'm 68). It makes me feel less like a slug. More than once I've envisioned myself the way I used to be at that job: sometimes in jeans, but often in a suit and heels, camera slung over my shoulder, eager to find and write a good story. This week it's been jeans all the way, and while I've handed in a couple of minor feature stories, I'd be content if I had nothing more demanding to do than rewrite police reports. :-) Good point, Gardenspice! That makes me feel better, too. Susanjf, that sounds like me. Lots of good ideas, but I need to work on BIC (butt in chair--following through on them). Patti, I wrote a weekly column for another newspaper for two years back in the 1980s. Gave it up because the pay rate was so dismal. It hasn't gone up much since then. LOL Lynn, the paper and I have maintained a good relationship over the years, and I've done freelancing for them on occasion. A couple of years ago I did a project involving ten interconnected interviews and photographs. That was fun. At one point I was covering school board and township meetings for another newspaper, but I'm no longer interested in doing that. I've also worked as an editor from home, but I know the paper can't afford anything like that anymore. Newspapers are in financial trouble these days (like so many others). Okay, I'm going to bed now. Thanks, everyone. Goodnight!