48 Pencils and 36 Crayons

The bittersweet end of summer is rapidly approaching.  I feel refreshed from not having worked for two months and I'm full of new memories of time spent with the girls.  While I realize that summer can't last forever, I want to hang onto the peacefulness for as long as possible.  So, I decided to make a list of fall chores and try to get them done before school starts.  

At the top of my list was "school supplies."  This is always one of my favorites and I've blogged about it before.  I enlisted help from the girls.  The girls had already received new backpacks from their grandmother, so they were willing to recycle other supplies.  We went through our box of leftover supplies and pulled out as much as possible.  Then, we began with Lacey's Second Grade List.  Each second grader is expected to produce 48 #2 pencils (sharpened.)  Even if we weren't raising kids in the age of technology, doesn't 48 sound a little excessive?  Can you imagine how many hours a day a kid would have to write in order to consume 48 pencils during the year?  And, all 48 must be sharpened in advance.  According to Cassie, teachers don't like kids to sharpen pencils during class.  Oh, now I get it.  A kid uses a pencil until it has no point left, then grabs another pencil.  I'm a teacher too.  I know that kids sharpen pencils to interrupt, to distract, to entertain, and to stall.  That's why we have a few minutes designated at the beginning of class for pencil sharpening.  The invention of the electric pencil sharpener has really simplified the task.  48 sharpened pencils!!  Picture this - it's the first day of school and there's a busload of second graders, armed with 48 sharpened pencils apiece! 

Next on the list, "1 Box of Crayons (No more than 36)."  This is another one of my all-time favorites.  When this was first a requirement for Cassie, we gallantly headed to Target, list in hand.  We discovered that crayons come in boxes of 8, 16, 24, 48, 64 and 96.  We could not find a box of 36.  Of course, I recommended we go with the 24-count box.  But, knowing that she could have up to 36, Cassie wouldn't agree.  If you were a kid, wouldn't you hold out for the extra 12 colors?  Every day, when you had to reach in your desk and pull out that box of crayons to do another boring assignment, wouldn't 36 be much more exciting than 24?  Back then, I ambitiously visited several other stores, in search of a box of 36 crayons.  At sometime, somewhere, crayons must have come in boxes of 36.  I've yet to discover where that is.  Yet teachers continue to tantalize kids with that "No more than 36."  It just isn't fair.  And, poor Lacey doesn't have the English or the background knowledge to understand why I won't buy her a box of 36 crayons.  Look below to see what happened.

Cassie helping Lacey search for the box of 36 crayons.

Butterbeer

In my life, resilience usually trumps perfection.  But, yesterday's visit to Universal's Islands of Adventure Park  had been nearly perfect.  The only things that the kids really wanted to do were to see our friend Miss Laura, and to visit The Harry Potter theme park.   So, by 9:00 a.m., all goals had been met.  We found Miss Laura and her granddaughters in time to experience Hogwarts Castle with them.  And, even though Cassie had kept her eyes shut for most of the ride, she had sat next to Miss Laura while doing so!  

By mid-afternoon, the kids were getting weary.  We decided to go back to the hotel, let the kids swim, and return to Universal to have dinner at Margaritaville.  Yes, this part of the day would be for me.  I'd only been listening to Radio Margaritaville  for the past month in anticipation of our visit. On our way to the park's exit, we stopped at the restaurant to make a 6:45 p.m. dinner reservation.  We could probably avoid the expected thunderstorm and still have a little time to site see after dinner .

And then it happened.  Cassie touched my arm and quietly asked, "Are we still going to have time to get some Butterbeer?"  For anyone who doesn't know, Butterbeer is what Harry Potter and his friends drink.  For days, Cassie and her friends had been exchanging text messages about Butterbeer. Had she tasted it yet?  Was it as good as everyone claimed?  Did she get a picture of it?  Could she buy any to bring home for them to taste?

I inhaled, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. "I thought you and Daddy were going to get Butterbeer while I was taking Lacey to the bathroom?"

"Daddy said the line was too long," she replied.

The line was too long??!!  It took me nearly 20 minutes to respond to Lacey's emergency alert.  I had to weave my way all the way through Harry Potter's World and stop twice for directions.  I had to wait in line to get into the bathroom, wait for Lacey and then push my way back through the throngs enjoying Harry's world.  So, I don't think the line at the Butterbeer cart could have been TOO LONG!!   But, of course, I didn't say any of that.

"Let's see if there's somewhere else we can buy it," I smiled.  No, I'm not stupid. I knew the answer already.  But, I at least wanted to show my kid that I was willing to try.

After consulting with two characters on stilts, we backtracked to Guest Services and learned that the absolute only place to purchase Butter Beer was with Harry.  I knew there was no way we were going to walk all the way back there.  I tried another approach. We had purchased two-day passes to the parks.  What options did we have?  Well, the happy park employee explained, we could come and go as many times as we wanted each day as long as we visited the same park. However, we could only visit one park. That meant that if we didn't get Butterbeer today, we either wouldn't get any, or we would have to visit the same park both days.

"Don't worry," I assured Cassie. We'll get some Butterbeer when we come back for dinner. "

Around 5:30 p.m., a horizontal wind began moving the curtains in our hotel room and thunderclouds rolled past. I called the restaurant and changed our reservation to 7:45 p.m.   We checked the weather channel on TV and online as Cassie paced.

Eventually, I began Googling "Butterbeer."  Surely there had to be some other place to buy the stuff.  "Hey," I called to Cassie.  "I found a receipe for Butterbee.  We could make it at home!"

"How would we know if the recipe was right unless we tasted the real thing first?" she wisely asked.

Meanwhile, Les and I debated whether we really needed this Butterbeer.  Hadn't the kids had enough excitement?  As the rain continued and the sky got darker I suggested that we could drive to Universal and Les and Lacey could wait while Cassie and I ran through the park.  It was too windy for umbrellas, but we did have the ponchos. . . Les agreed, without pointing out that I was insane.  Having him wait in the restaurant wasn't even an option because all members of the party must be present for the reservation to be honored.   I saw Margaritaville slipping away.

We called the kids into the room and explained the plan.  It occurred to me that maybe I should turn this into some kind of lesson.  "You know," I started, "Someday you guys will be grown up with kids of your own.  And, you'll probably remember this day.  And, ah, well, . . . I hope you remember how much fun we had."

We ran to the car with our jackets covering our heads.  En route to the park, we saw a gorgeous double rainbow as the sun reappeared.  We parked and made our way through Dr. Seuss' world and back to Harry's, as a light rain fell.  Lacey struggled to keep up and understand what was happening, while Cassie beamed with excitement.  And, finally, we were in line at the Butterbeer cart, purchasing two souvenir mugs in spite of Lacey's doubts.   

 A quick time check revealed 12 minutes until our dinner reservation.  And, believe it or not, we did make it to Margaritaville.  Our table was about 10 feet from the Radio Margaritaville DJ and about eight feet from the stage.  And, although I really wanted to stay for the music, when everyone was finished eating I suggested we go back to the hotel. 

"Not yet, Mom," Cassie said.  "We want to stay and hear some music."

"Aren't you too tired?" I asked.

"Sure, I'm tired," Cassie said, "But, you got us Butterbeer."  Lacey nodded.

The girls didn't need to have a lesson.  And, they will remember. They'll remember the same way I remember how my Mom drove into Chicago to have my favorite doll repaired. And, they'll remember the same way I remember how my Mom drove me to Denver during an ice storm when I had a photography job.  In fact, why was I worried about what the kids will remember when they grow up?  They already understand. 

The Olympic Spirit

Ordinarily, I don't spend much time watching TV.  And, I am fairly strict about how much time the kids  spend numbing their minds in front of the set.  But, we've spent a substantial amount of time watching the Olympics.  I had no idea how much Lacey could learn from watching.  For example, she has been learning about world geography.  We let the girls stay up to watch the opening ceremony.  Lacey was fascinated with the parade of nations, primarily because she still has difficulty comprehending the scope of the world.  Although she knows the names of the continents and can locate them on a map, she really doesn't understand how immense the world is.  She was thrilled to discover that there are so many countries with so many different people.


The geography lesson continued as we watched the different sports.  


Lacey:  What's "MEX?"
Cassie:  That's Mexico - you know, the country that's south of the United States.
Lacey:  Oh, yeah. They speak Gladis' language there.
Lacey:  What's "RUS?"
Cassie:  That's Russia - one of the biggest countries in the world.  
Lacey:  Even bigger than Virginia?
Cassie:  LACEY!!  I keep telling you that Virginia's not a country!


Lacey also had her first exposure to nationalism.


Lacey:  Why is that guy jumping up and down?
Cassie:  Because he's a coach and his diver just did well.
Lacey:  Is he going to jump up and down for the U.S. guy?
Cassie:  Of course not!! You only cheer for your own country.
Lacey:  Does that mean that we should clap for the U.S. guy?
Cassie:  Well, I guess we should clap for the ones from China too.


Lacey also had some lessons in style.  I walked into the room while she was watching the men's platform diving team competition.


Lacey:  Mommy, why are those boys diving in their underwear?
Me:   Actually, those are just very small swimming suits.
Lacey:  Do their moms know the boys are wearing their underwear on TV?
Me:  Well, those are their moms waving the American flags and yelling.
Lacey:  Then I guess they're proud that their sons are wearing underwear?
Me:  Yeah, I guess so.


The Olympics also offer valuable lessons in team spirit and hard work.  We have struggled to help Lacey understand that being the first one finished with an activity isn't necessarily the best and that there's value in taking her time and doing something well.  During the gymnastics competition she kept asking me why the girls kept hugging each other.  She finally began to understand that they were working as a team.  Lacey got very excited watching the gymnastics.  "Look how high that girl can fly," she kept yelling.  Then, Cassie walked into the room.


Lacey:  Cassie, look what that girl can do on the bars.  Do you want to be in the Olympics?
Cassie:  No.
Lacey:  Why - you don't like to travel?
Cassie:  No.  I'm just not good at any of the sports.
Lacey:  What about Taekwondo?
Cassie:  Taekwondo isn't an Olympic sport.  It originated in Korea and could only be an Olympic sport if Korea were the host nation and chose to make it a sport.
Lacey:  Maybe you could ride a horse?
Cassie:  You know, you're really lucky that you live in the U.S. now.
Lacey:  Why?
Cassie:  I've heard that in other countries there are spies that look for kids who might be good at gymnastics.  They hang out on playgrounds, watching kids play.  If they had seen you on the playground, they might have kidnapped you and forced you to become a gymnast.
Lacey:  Wow!