Angela

My son is cracking me up. Every time he wants to wheedle his way into or out of something, he says, "Teeeeeeeeeeth" in a very specific, mournful way.

His pain from his braces has diminished quite a lot, so he's doing much better. When he does this now, it's for comedic effect.

My son got his braces put on this past Friday. He was very brave and did not complain at all. It was really hard to watch him go through that.

The first day was not that bad, pain-wise, but Saturday and today have been rough. I would say it started kicking in around midday Saturday (at Science Olympiad) but I had remembered to bring painkillers and he got through it.

Today he's still got some pain, but it's mainly a "weird" feeling that is bugging him. I am hoping that by tomorrow he'll be nearly back to baseline.

He's not a big soup fan, but he's going to try some today. We'll see how that goes.

Only about 18 months of this...

I've done some crafty stuff this weekend, which feels nice.

I got a lot of knitting done at the Science Olympiad - the campus this year was a lot easier for students to navigate so I wasn't ferrying kids to their rooms. I could stay in one place and do my knitting while keeping an eye on things.

I got to the point in my Clapotis scarf where I could drop the first stitch, which is awesome. It's still looking very nice - I like the yarn and colorway a lot. But this yarn suffers from what I see a lot in yarn of this type - every now and then, I run into a spot where it's just two lengths knotted together. Not cool!

I have been clipping out the knots and rejoining the yarn with a less visible method. It's fine.

I also did some handsewing today. I have a coat that I like a lot and wear pretty much every day, and the lining had gotten torn. My son was chasing me and grabbed the back of my coat, which caused the woven upper part of the lining to come loose from the satiny part of the lining (the woven part is kind of loosely woven, and it just came apart).

I sewed further into the woven section and reattached it to the rest of the lining. It looks better than I thought it would and I hope it will hold. If I don't put it through undue stress I think it will be okay.

I wish I had taken before and after pictures. It really looked bad, to the point where I was careful about taking my coat off around people. But now you cannot tell it happened.

It would have been even better (probably stronger) if I had dug out the sewing machine and done it that way, but I'd been thinking that for weeks and just haven't done it. I decided to get it done now. I have a real problem letting the "perfect" be the enemy of the "good." But I overcame that today, and now my coat is repaired. And I have one more chore crossed off my list!

We are at Science Olympiad today, and I'm so pleased that I learned the correct lesson from last year.

Last year, the kids were all told by their coach to bring a sack lunch, but not all of them did, so the parents who were there ordered a bunch of food from a nearby restaurant, which was Cane's. We got chicken strips and a couple of "boxes" of lemonade. But Cane's didn't have plates, they would only give us little cups, and no napkins.

Our kids ended up eating on paper towels we liberated from the bathroom. I know. I KNOW!

THIS YEAR, I brought a bunch of paper plates (left from Thanksgiving), a bunch of plastic flatware that was individually packaged (our Chinese restaurant always includes them and we rarely use them), a bunch of red solo cups (also from Thanksgiving), and a fresh roll of paper towels.

I saved the day. Lunch had indeed not been organized by the coaches. One mom made an executive decision and ordered a bunch of pizzas. And then she realized we were going to have a similar situation as last year (except these bathrooms don't have paper towels).

But no! I ran out and grabbed my tote of stuff and it was all fine. Plates for everyone! Flatware if you need it! Paper towels, suitable for wiping your hands and face, or the odd spill.

We also brought a bunch of writing utensils and a calculator because they are picky about what kind of calculator you can use in each event, and I don't trust the school to remember what my kid will need for his events. Those have been put to good use, and not just by my kid.

I am also keeping a mom who couldn't be here up to date. Her son and mine have been friends since kindergarten, and they have a couple of events together today. I sent her a picture of them in their lab coats and goggles, told her he did get fed, and updated her on how his events have gone.

I have been up since 4 a.m. I'm going to be so happy to get home to my bed.