Bragging and Bitching

I'm not one to write one of those Christmas letters to tell all my friends and family about the last year and how great everything is and how perfect my children are and why you should be jealous because my life is perfect and yours sucks, but I am going to bitch a second about my oldest son while in the process of bragging about him.

Brag: We don't like to use the term, but our child is considered "gifted" and goes to a school for the gifted. Bitch #1: It's not even close to cheap.

Brag: His teachers tell us that he is even extremely intelligent when compared to his peers in his class. He loves to read, loves math, a very good academic kid. The only time he gets in trouble is 'free time', when he's not being challenged he gets bored and hence gets in trouble. Bitch #2: This is a problem, because if he gets bored and not always challenged at a school for the gifted, can you imagine how much trouble he'd get into if he went to a 'regular' school (that would be a whole lot cheaper)!!?

So lots of thoughts through my head now.

1. Is this really just what the teachers at expensive schools tell all the parents so we'll keep paying the outrageous tuition?
   
2. Do I want a son that is smarter than me already…and he's only in kindergarten? (Don't get me started on his questions concerning the election.)
   
3. Do I need the pressure? The economy is not good. Do I sacrifice our standard of living just to pay for his school and consider it an investment?
   
4. He has a little brother. I want him to be in the same school, preferably the gifted school, or do I? Did I mention it was expensive?
   

One thing's for sure, my parents never had to struggle with this dilemma!!

What I SHOULD have said was...

You know those moments when you're busted by someone, or shocked by someone, or enraged by someone, and you just can't find the words at that moment but you dwell on them constantly to the point you wake up in the middle of the night or have dreams about what you SHOULD have said? I hate those. And in case I ever need to quickly come up with this quote that I love from the movie Billy Madison, I'm putting here so I can come get it to read aloud or copy and paste in just such an occasion:

Mr. Madison,
What you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever heard. At no point in your rambling incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought.
Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Exposed Butt

Sorry no pics.

Just found out my "gifted" kid has been so smart he's been out-smarting his parents, until now.
It seems he's been changing his "color" on the traffic light warning system at school from reds to yellows and greens, knowing reds will get him in trouble at home and at school.
Until now we've been told that he's really not that bad, that he's just social, and gets in trouble a lot for disrupting by talking. I can live with that.
But today we found out he's been lying about his color, hiding notes from the teacher that were meant for us, and just today decided to moon a girl on the playground.
(Please no chip off the old block comments yet).
I can see why some parents find it easier just to be 'friends' with their kids and not discipline, and I could surely use a manual, but looks like we've got yet another 'phase' approaching and fast. Guess I'm in for more parenting OJT (on-the-job-training) tonight. Fun Fun

Did I mention we haven't got him out of the phase of sleeping on our bedroom floor yet? There should at least be a law that they can only be in one phase at a time!!