(no subject)
My children are seven years apart. Not through any sort of planning, fiscal or otherwise, but just how it turned out.
But somehow they are both applying to colleges this year--this month. Son took some time off to do other things for a while-- and before we knew it it had become 5 years. I am ok with that. We have enjoyed his company, and he is certainly more ready to make use of his schooling than someone sub-20.
Daughter is 17. She has a class at school where she is graded on her progress and organization in applying to colleges. she has to make her application through the school, on their timetable, or she will fail the class. I am sure that this is a good motivator for many kids-- it might have even helped me at that age. But in her case it has mostly served to crank up her stress.
But this month has been terribly stressful. Even through the state system we have to pay a fee for each application sent. And there are so many questions, ranging from puzzling to intrusive to insulting. we were on the beach today walking Sabir, daughter called from school she had 5 minutes before the application timed her out and she needed to know our net worth, the date of our marriage and her father's FAFSA pin number.Mike ended up sprinting back from the beach to get that last one. He was not in time. But she can do it all again on Tuesday. (Monday is a school holiday-- MLK day.)And son finished his today. Now all he has to do is get his recommendations and his test scores. He has done and sent the essay already. Good essay I think. He has made no attempt to downplay the time he has spent away from school. He has written instead about things he did in the meantime-- Occupy Wallsteet, EMT school, computer programming, his recent binge reading of Wittgenstein. I think he will be interesting as a candidate. I hope so anyway.
So it will soon be over, like a bitter horse drench.
Sabir is a great stress reliever. He is a pure delight. What a sweet funny clever little dog he is... today we took him to the horseshoe crab beach for the first time. No crabs visible today. I am looking forward to seeing them back this spring though. He had no interest in swimming, or in gulls, and only passing interest in a muskrat we saw. There does not seem to be any bird dog, or hunting dog in there. But he does have some unusual habits. If I am walking with someone else and lag behind at all, he comes and nips my heels to make me close up with them. If he is walking with a small group, and he sees a bigger group he wants to defect, or better still join the groups together. The other residents of my neighbourhood are not terribly cooperative with this. He has no aggression in him at all. But he wants to push all the people into bunches with cohesive edges.
Sabir has a collection of dog toys now, some came home with him, some things he liked around the house that we have ceded to him. (His favourite is a pair of husbands old crocs.) He keeps all the toys on his dog blanket, at the foot of the couch. If you hand him something he takes it there to play with. He is tidy, which is really weird in a dog.
House-training is going well. We are down to about one pee accident a day, and those are usually our fault for not moving fast enough. Not bad for having had him only 2 weeks, and living four stories up. he wants to please, and he is not into the willful stage that will come later
But somehow they are both applying to colleges this year--this month. Son took some time off to do other things for a while-- and before we knew it it had become 5 years. I am ok with that. We have enjoyed his company, and he is certainly more ready to make use of his schooling than someone sub-20.
Daughter is 17. She has a class at school where she is graded on her progress and organization in applying to colleges. she has to make her application through the school, on their timetable, or she will fail the class. I am sure that this is a good motivator for many kids-- it might have even helped me at that age. But in her case it has mostly served to crank up her stress.
But this month has been terribly stressful. Even through the state system we have to pay a fee for each application sent. And there are so many questions, ranging from puzzling to intrusive to insulting. we were on the beach today walking Sabir, daughter called from school she had 5 minutes before the application timed her out and she needed to know our net worth, the date of our marriage and her father's FAFSA pin number.Mike ended up sprinting back from the beach to get that last one. He was not in time. But she can do it all again on Tuesday. (Monday is a school holiday-- MLK day.)And son finished his today. Now all he has to do is get his recommendations and his test scores. He has done and sent the essay already. Good essay I think. He has made no attempt to downplay the time he has spent away from school. He has written instead about things he did in the meantime-- Occupy Wallsteet, EMT school, computer programming, his recent binge reading of Wittgenstein. I think he will be interesting as a candidate. I hope so anyway.
So it will soon be over, like a bitter horse drench.
Sabir is a great stress reliever. He is a pure delight. What a sweet funny clever little dog he is... today we took him to the horseshoe crab beach for the first time. No crabs visible today. I am looking forward to seeing them back this spring though. He had no interest in swimming, or in gulls, and only passing interest in a muskrat we saw. There does not seem to be any bird dog, or hunting dog in there. But he does have some unusual habits. If I am walking with someone else and lag behind at all, he comes and nips my heels to make me close up with them. If he is walking with a small group, and he sees a bigger group he wants to defect, or better still join the groups together. The other residents of my neighbourhood are not terribly cooperative with this. He has no aggression in him at all. But he wants to push all the people into bunches with cohesive edges.
Sabir has a collection of dog toys now, some came home with him, some things he liked around the house that we have ceded to him. (His favourite is a pair of husbands old crocs.) He keeps all the toys on his dog blanket, at the foot of the couch. If you hand him something he takes it there to play with. He is tidy, which is really weird in a dog.
House-training is going well. We are down to about one pee accident a day, and those are usually our fault for not moving fast enough. Not bad for having had him only 2 weeks, and living four stories up. he wants to please, and he is not into the willful stage that will come later