The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

There was a lot of discussion yesterday after school. A lot of it had to do with me getting Kyle up to speed as to why Brenley was grounded from her iPad for the day. A full day.  (And I wasn't about to go through the play-one-parent-off-the-other game!)

Anywhoo... Brenley pipes up,

"Yeah! Well you treat me differently than the other kids in class!"

"No, I don't. When you're not paying attention or up and about out of your seat, I call you out on it just as I would anyone else in the class... Would you have done that last year?"

"... no..."

"The year before that? .... the year before THAT?!..."

Brenley retorted with the utmost disdain,

"... well, it's not my fault this is the year the butterfly decided to break free from her cocoon!"

To which, Kyle and I both rolled our eyes...
"Spare me!" Kyle said.

Then I noticed a snapchat coming in on the ipad & I may have threatened to read it, which totally put vinegar in Brenley's wounds and she stormed off to her room and slammed the door.

Little Mr. I-Love-When-My-Sister-Is-In-Trouble starts to sing from side stage:

"Butterfly fly away..."

Then as we're laughing, Madden says,

"WHA? Butterflies fly out of their racoons!"

Oh we laughed!

What it's like having your daughter in your class (or in Brenley's case, having your mother as your teacher)

What it's like having your daughter in your class:

1) Friday: after being pissed at me & not talking to me all morning, she comes up to me at lunch & says, "I'm speaking to you right now as my teacher, not my mother..."

2) Today in math class: me: "Pretend this hundreds chart was continued beyond that bottom row, what do you think the next number in the pattern would be?" 

Brenley... hand waving like a mad woman, "Um, well, first of all, it wouldn't just be a hundred chart anymore, it would be a 'MORE than hundred chart' AND the next number in the pattern would be 102"

me: "For the record, I liked it better when you were in grade primary & didn't speak in class from September til after March Break... but yes, you're right"

3)Today on the drive home: "Um, hello?!?! You really pissed me off in class today. I had my hand up for the right answer every time & you didn't ask me once... HMPH"

Have to share this "charming" story...

So, after dance class this evening, Brenley pipes up from the backseat,

"Can I tell you the most disgusting thing in my life that happened today?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Well, we were in class today and P. [the little guy who sits behind her] and I were playing this game where we pretend to give one another high fives. So, I pretended to lick my hand to give him a high five. Then he actually licked his and gave me one! It was disgusting!... THEN... I licked my other hand and asked him if he could see the sparkles... and he said to me, 'No. I don't, but I do see them in your eyes.' It was the grossest thing EVER in my life. I thought I was going to gag right there!"

[Parental note: aside from the fact that I almost died from the hand licking -- GAG -- I then almost died from laughter. Smooth one, kid. Cassanova!]

Moving to PEI

So, Brenley has been telling us recently that she's going to go to PEI for school after she graduates.
Tonight, after being sent to her room for the night for throwing something at her brother, she was more than a little perturbed.

After a lengthy conversation with her father, she asks:

"When can I move out of this house? Mom says that when I'm 17 I can move to PEI."

"Oh yeah... are you going to go to Holland College or the Agriculture College over there?"

"I dunno, but Katherine [her friend] says there's a lot of break-ins over there."

lol

Who won this episode of "tradesies"?

We were asking Brenley today if she enjoyed her lunch at school.

Well, I didn't really eat a whole lot of it..."

me: "Is that cuz you weren't feeling well?"

No, not really. I just didn't like it that much (It was roast beef & potatoes). But it's ok, cuz Grace and I traded.

"What did you trade?" I asked, thinking she gave Grace her roast beef?!

Well, you know those round meat things that sometimes can be really spicy but these ones weren't?

"You mean Salami?"

Yeah. that.

"So, what did you trade her in return?"

oh, a couple of rocket candy.

LOL. Here's hoping Grace wasn't too hungry this evening!

ooops... sorry...

I didn't realize it's been so long since I posted anything here on Brenley's blog.
Where do I begin after all this time? We'll do some bullets...

School

• School has started. She loves it. She has her best friend, Katherine, whom she has known since forever since they had the same babysitter.
• Her favourite parts of school are colouring in the morning in the cafeteria with all the students before classes begin; gym; music; Gaelic; and time spent outside for recess!
• She thinks that her classmate, Orianna, has the "best laugh, the best curly hair, and the best way to think".
• She doesn't speak to anyone in school except for her friends and Miss MacMillan and Meaghan. It's because she's "too shy". That is, she won't speak to her teacher. (I'm thinking about renting her for weekends....)
• She loves to get the bus, on the rare occasion that I can't drive her.
• I won't say she has a crush on two brothers in grades higher than her... lol... but if I have to answer any more questions about them I'll scream!!

Defining Moment

• A big moment for Brenley happened during the Celtic Colours Festival. She finally got to meet the girl she's named after, Brenley MacEachern of Madison Violet. She was very shy (of course) but sooooo pumped to meet her. She held her guitar, hung out with her for a little while, sat in awe during her soundcheck ("I can't believe I'm named after a girl that can sing so good!"), and even learned a handshake from "big Brenley". She's pretty proud.

So... with all of that, I've got to be more dedicated to writing her funny stuff down. But, actually, when I think of it... she talks a lot less since she started school... now that she's so shy. Let's hope that moves along and the holy-shit-I-can't-believe-she-said-that Brenley comes back soon!

Countdown...

You may want to know how badly this girl anticipates things. We're on constant countdowns here:

"How many more sleeps til....

1. ...Smare a makin' home videos?" -- that makes me laugh out loud whenever she says it. It's her version of saying 'America's Funniest Home Videos'
2. ... swimming?" She goes to swimming lessons every Saturday morning and has mastered swimming with the flutter board (even though she fell off it one day & nearly drowned; which she thought was cool?!?!), going down the slide, and even jumping off the diving board (I nearly die each time!).
3. ... Easter?" She was going to be able to take her stud earrings out on Easter,  but one of the backs fell off & went down the tub drain, so we've already moved on to "big girl earrings". However, the countdown is still on because then she'll be able to buy more earrings!!!
4. ... I go to school, Mamaidh?" I keep putting this one off. It's too many sleeps!!!!!!! So now we're gearing up simply for her start at Readiness to Learn, which is a 10 session half-day preschool program for rural area kids.

So, we're always counting sleeps here. In fact, she gets so excited sometimes that tonight after supper she asked,

"Is it tomorrow yet?"

Please don't wish your life away, girly!