Martinez Family Journal

I caught Drew viewing my emails from Gloria, who sends some awfully funny ones to us. Drew knows this and appreciates when I sit him down (and Matty too!) and let them enjoy a certain few, carefully selected ones for their enjoyment. Well, I walked away from the computer and Drew forgot and kept looking at  them. I found out and chastized him for looking....for there are some naughty ones in there. I told him 'not that one' when I realized he was about to view an X rated one. He replied 'Mom, I have heard an awful lot of sex jokes in my day!'  I chuckled for I do not know where he got that phrase 'in my day' from......he is only twelve!

I was just getting ready for bed and remembered that it had rained for about 2 minutes yesterday and I forgot to tell John.  What a shame, he would have liked to hear about it. But he is out walking Rory now.  I never ever would have believed in a million years while growing up in central NY that rain would become important to me later in my life. It is just that it has not rained for months now, it seems. I cannot remember the last rain except that it was in the fall, and it lasted all day and I enjoyed it quite a bit, as one does desert rains. It was one of those relaxing days when I spent on the couch in the family room just gazing up at the cloudy sky, marveling at it rain and making it smell so good and fresh and clean outside. But yesterday was nice too, even for those two precious two minutes of rainfall, or sprinkling that I felt.  The two boys and I were walking into the theatre on Jefferson to meet the Gonzales', and it was close to the time we were supposed to meet them inside, so we had to go inside. I felt badly having to turn away from the first rain in months. Sad. Very sad. I know my friends in college in South Bend, IN, where it rains a lot and every day is cloudy, would have committed me if they could see what I have turned out to be. A rain loving person. That was unheard of in South Bend. You definitely were insane in IN if you liked rain.

This was a really funny one! I find it hysterical when the kids attempt to discipline each other and to see how indignant they get when one another does something wrong. Their reaction sometimes is as if the other child did something heinously wrong.  

Matty had been sent to bed ten minutes ago when I looked up to find him silently standing behind my sofa.   I asked him what was wrong and he replied 'I am homesick'.   He believes feeling sick while one is at home is homesickness; his stomach ached.  So I laid in his bed with him for a while.  I told him I loved him and he grabbed me with both arms and held me tight to him and said 'don't ever leave me, ever'.  not too long after Drew came to bed in the lofts and he urged me to leave, saying 'I will watch over Matty, Mom; you can go' ~ he likes to be left in charge of Matty whenever possible, he is a really good kid that way.  He rather likes gaining responsibility.  So I left despite Matty's protests.  

Hope Christian is aiming to exemplify the fruits of the spirit this school year, with a different fruit each month. December's was 'joy'. Matty's teacher Mrs. Snyder took me aside the other day before Christmas vacation. She was so excited to tell me something. She told me that an amazing thing happened in her eyes during show and tell in Matty's K full day class. Whenever a student exemplifies purely the fruit of that particular month, their name is sent to the principal's office. (I do not know what the principal does with it from there. Perhaps the student's name is announced by loudspeaker ina the classrooms or something.) Well, she said that Matty and another student Ryan together exemplified 'joy' purely that day and she was sooo proud of them. The other student, Ryan, son of a new second grade teacher, Sherri Roche, was without a show and tell item to tell about. He had forgotten. So Matty found out and said 'well, you play with legos, right? and he said 'right' and Matty asked him to show and tell his legos with him simultaneously. Matty is so into legos, perhaps even more so than Drew at that age, and loves the Star Wars and Indiana Jones ones especially. So she was so animated as she told this to me, apparently it was pretty special to see just how they carried it off, taking turns talking and so on, and they both took equal part. They sound like good buddies. I was delighted to hear this.