Crazy balloon lady

Back in June Brendan and I had gone out for a walk and when we had gotten to our corner there was an open house sign with balloons attached. Brendan went over and tapped one of the balloons. He didn't do anything else, just tapped it. One of the owners of the house, an older woman, had been sitting in her car to direct people to the house, and she got out and started screaming at him to stop touching the balloon. Now, mind you he wasn't even doing anything but tapping it, but it's a freaking balloon, what on earth would make you scream at a 4 year old. I was livid. I yelled back at her, that all he was doing was touching it and how dare she talk to a 4 year old like that. She then had the nerve to say that one of the balloons was popped, implying Brendan had popped it. There were 2 orange balloons when Brendan walked over and apparently there was a popped white balloon attached. I was steaning. And then she'd had the nerve to say to him, not even to me, to him, that he also left a fast food cup on the ground. I was spitting nails at that point. We'd walked by that corner several times and the cup has been there for days. I yelled at her, first she had better now speak directly to my child again, and then that the cup had been there for days, which she'd know if she actually cleaned her property. And I went off on her about how I'd never seen anything so bad, how dare she ever talk to a child like that, what a horrible person she was. Brendan was crying from her screaming at him, and I thought she must have started to feel bad because she said she was sorry and told her she damn well should be sorry because there was nothing lower than making a small child cry. I picked him up and started to walk away and told him loudly so she could hear that he'd done nothing wrong and that the woman had yelled because she was a mean, nasty person. I was just so pissed off that this woman made my child cry, but thankfully in a couple of blocks he was fine and we had that really long walk after.

Brendan and I had another encounter with the crazy balloon lady today. The house had been for sale for a few months before the encounter back in June and is still for sale. Every weekend they do the open house, but this woman is just so offensive that I think she just scares people off. Today Brendan was riding his scooter and we were going past the sign with the balloons and they were blowing in the wind and were in his way, I lifted them so he could pass by and as soon as I touched them, she screamed "What are you doing touching my balloons?". I turned to her and said "What" and she screamed the same thing again. A man had been talking to her, I guess who had been to look at the house and started looking at her like she'd grown a third head. I said to her "What are you kidding?" I also said "Hmmm, I must be the balloon thief? Or maybe I'm the balloon inspector? Or maybe I just want to move your balloons that are blocking the sidewalk so my child can go by." The man started laughing and so did Brendan (since she'd made him cry the last time I was really glad he wasn't upset). She started to say "Oh I think you took it wrong, I was thinking maybe the balloon hit your head" and said "I don't think so since you screamed who touched my balloon?". And then as we were starting to go by she kept saying that I took what she said the wrong way and I told her "No, I think I took it exactly the right way since at the beginning of the summer you accused my child of breaking one of your balloons." She got so red with that and wouldn't look at us. And then I said "I feel really sorry for you to have such a sad life that you're obsessed with people touching balloons" and we went by. Before we were out of her hearing Brendan said "What's wrong with that crazy balloon lady?" Yeah, what is wrong with this woman? I told Brendan that some people have really sad lives and no one to love them so they act mean and crazy and he told me it's sad when no one loves you but you shouldn't be mean, which I thought was pretty insightful of him.

I'm tempted next weekend to bring her a whole bunch of balloons so she can really have something to obsess over and maybe stop terrorizing the people looking at the house and maybe someone will finally buy it and get her out of there, lol.

Laurie Berkner!!!!!

We saw Laurie Berkner yesterday. He had been so badly behaved on Saturday, just really defiant and crazy. I was keeping my fx for Sunday, and he was just an angel. Well, not an angel, but really well-behaved. I'm glad he got all the nastiness out of his system yesterday. He was so patient in the theater. We got there a half hour early and then the show started 20 minutes late and he never fussed. It was a really good show. He was such a good age for this. Alot of the kids were younger and were running off in all directions and not even paying attention half the time, but he was enthralled. Midway through the first song he said to me "She's really here" with almost awe on his face. He was really looking forward to hearing his two favorite songs, I Know a Chicken and I'm Gonna Catch You, and the show was almost over and she hadn't played them. I was starting to get a little upset because I knew he'd cry if she didn't play them, but then they were the last 2 songs she did, whew!! And during the last song they released bubbles and he was just in heaven.

Think he had a good time?

Columbus Day and what little boys are made of

Per Brendan -

We celebrate Columbus Day because a man named Christopher Columbus sailed 3 ships - to Ohio to go to the capital. And the ships are called the Nina, the Panda and Santa Maria.


My dad gave us this 3 lb bag of dark chocolate M&Ms he got at BJs (he loves dark chocolate and thought he'd enjoy the M&Ms but didn't like them for some reason). I was going to take them to work but Brendan and I are both hooked on them. He made a beeline for them as soon as we got home today and I said to him "What are you made of M&Ms?". He told me he wasn't made of M&Ms and knocked on his head and said "That's wood. And I'm also made of plants. And testicles." That's my boy, wood, plants and testicles.

Teacher update and yummy homework

I'm feeling alot better about his teacher. I think that she needs to learn how to communicate better, well communicate altogether, lol, but that otherwise she seems like a good teacher and Brendan is very happy in school.

She never responded to the note that I sent after the meeting. And I had placed the Chicka Chicka song that Brendan had written out in in his folder so she could give it to the music teacher. In the mornings when she drops Brendan off, my mom had been chatting with the various teachers who hang out in the lobby helping the kids get to their rooms. She'd spoken to the music teacher and told her how much he liked singing in her class and she said yes, that he's a very enthusiastic singer (is that teacherese for sings loudly but off-key, lol) and my mom mentioned how he had loved the song so much he came home and wrote it out and it was clear that Brendan's teacher hadn't shown her the song since she knew nothing about it. The song had disappeared from the folder so I was wondering what she did with it if she didn't show it to the music teacher and of course there was no response. The music teacher is also the library teacher and he had library and had said that he read about dinosaurs to the teacher, but again I have no idea if that's true or not since he invents so many stories.

But then my mom saw the computer teacher the next morning and she said to my mom "He's so smart". Since he'd only been in the computer room once to see the room (they start really going next week) my mom wasn't sure how she knew Brendan. But the teacher Mrs. C said she had heard Brendan read when she had stopped by his classroom and his teacher had pulled her over and said "You have to listen to this" and had Brendan read a whole long passage to her. And apparently at the time he had been sitting writing on a paper all sorts of things about the solar system and she said "such big words, and he was spelling them by himself". He's also apparently read since then for the teaching assistant and to some other kids, I think. So his teacher really does know his abilities, and is showing them off to other teachers, but hasn't said a word since that meeting on the 14th where she only commented about his behavior. It's very interesting. We have individual conferences in December. I'm really curious as to what she'll say then.

The important thing though is that Brendan seems to be really happy there. My dad even commented on it the other day, that Brendan just seems so much happier since he started school. My mom says he that as soon as they get to school he just leaves her and bounds right down the hall. I love knowing that he's so happy at school.

Last week, Brendan got a homework assignment that he had to do with a grandparent or other older person about what recipe reminds him the most of that person and why, with the recipe and pictures of him and his special person. My mom is not a cook at all and there were literally no recipes that she could think of so she decided to make cupcakes with him and pretend they've done it before, lol. They made them this morning and he had a great time. He picked out the cake mix and frosting and they also got some M&Ms, mini-marshmallows and sprinkles. He did alot of the mixing and did all the frosting and decorating himself. The recipes will all be bound together and made into a book. My mom is sure that most of the other grandmas will be sending in these elaborate recipes and was a little embarassed. It's so cute how seriously she was taking the homework. The cupcakes may not have been that elaborate but clearly a certain somebody enjoyed them.