The tadpoles in Aliya’s classroom are thriving now that we’ve changed to tap water and I’m helping keep the tank clean. Several of them have grown back legs, which may not seem that exciting except that they are the only tadpoles in the first grade that are metamorphosing (yes, that is a word). The other classes have been borrowing tadpoles from Aliya’s class to study.

I brought in a magnifying cosmetics mirror (do NOT look into one of those!) and it works really well to see the underside of the tadpoles and whether they’re growing legs or whether it’s another poop false-alarm.

The next problem is going to be that there may not be enough weeks left in the school year to allow them to complete their transformation. The other problem is what to do with any that make it to the end of the school year since I really don’t want to kill my babies. (If you missed my earlier post, they can’t be released into the wild because they might not be indigenous to Massachusetts and I’d be responsible for disturbing the local ecosystem.) I’m thinking about using them for breeding stock to supply next year’s first grade classrooms with their eggs. Budgets are tight, ya know.

We went to a really fun cookout over the weekend – the first one of the season. Adlani’s soccer coach and his family hosted a boatload of kids and their families. The kids had a blast just running around or hanging in the hammock, and the grown-ups had a fabulous time eating, drinking, and chatting. There were several kids who will be heading off to kindergarten with Adlani, and a few who will be going to Blocks with Norah in the fall. I was flashing forward 10 years to when these same kids start asking each other to dances, but at least I’ll know their families and we’ll have some cute pics from when they first met. 😉

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The video below reminded me of an early-summer day in 1998, when I was walking Rosie (the best dog ever) and I found a litter of kittens in distress. There was a house in my neighborhood that always had about 20 cats in the yard, and the kittens were in the weeds near the house. The mother cat had been hit by a car. The kittens were mewing SO LOUD and were SO DISGUSTING – all wormy and blech. They were about a week old and one had already died when I found them.

I went to the house across the street and asked for some paper towels to wrap the kittens in. The guy gave me an old t-shirt and I stuck the kittens in it like a mini Santa sack and carried them home. OK. Now what? First, I had to de-grossify them so I gave them a quick bath. Then I started calling animal shelters that I thoroughly expected would welcome them with open arms. Ben (AKA Mr. Sensitive) was there to witness my phone calls. I think he said something like, “Don’t expect me to get involved.”

I’m a problem-solver.
The Problem: 4 extremely noisy starving kitties.
The Solution: Find someone to feed them.

NOT so fast. Each shelter I called said that they couldn’t take in kitties that young. Well, what the heck was I supposed to do with them? Drown them to put them out of their misery? When the woman at the third shelter said “no”, she added, “even the no-kill shelters won’t take them so it’s a waste of your time to call.” So, I did what any frustrated problem-solver holding 4 lives in her hands would do…I started crying. Mr. Sensitive thought I had finally lost my mind completely, because in Morocco cats are viewed about the same as rats.

When I started to cry and prepared to hang up the phone, the woman said, “Let me tell you how to take care of them. First, you have to help them go to the bathroom.” Oy. Mother cats do that by licking their babies’ butts. Uh-uh. The woman told me how to help them without any licking and it quickly became obvious why the kitties were in such distress. Then I sent Ben to Petco to buy baby kitty formula…who knew there was such a thing? It took some time to figure out how to get them to eat – they wouldn’t take a bottle – but for the next 5 weeks I fed them day and night. I took them to the office with me and kept them in the conference room. One died the first night but the others grew into ankle-biting furniture-scratchers.

Then it was time for us to leave for our vacation in Morocco, so I coerced my brothers into watching them for 2 weeks (the kitties were able to poop on their own by then). Brady & Monica ended up adopting one they named Monkey (they still have him) and Elijah and his friend each adopted another. Problem solved!

Here are some other problem-solving mommies: ..
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In a quick poll of my friends who are mothers, I learned that the number one item on almost everyone’s Mothers Day wish list was a day off from motherhood. I feel a little guilty about this (since all of the TV mommies of my past would rather be home making cookies with their adorable offspring than anywhere else on earth), but at least I’m not the only one.

Some of you are reading this and thinking that I’m obviously a Bad Mommy, which means that you either haven’t experienced the joys of everyday life with an extremely emotional 7-year-old, a superhero-obsessed 4-year-old, and a 2-year-old who thinks she’s entering kindergarten…or it was so long ago the memories of wanting to run away from home have faded.

Although I may occasionally have Bad Mommy moments, I’m not all bad. I know this because for the first time, I received GIFTS from all 3 kids for Mothers Day. Just in case today arrived and there were no presents under the Mothers Day shrub for me, I decided to make a weekend of it and I gave myself a whole slew of gifts.

• I went to Adlani’s soccer game on Saturday morning and I talked to my friends for most of the game. I didn’t constantly call out words of encouragement and sometimes I didn’t even pay attention. I trusted that Ben could effectively watch Aliya and Norah with his peripheral vision while he kicked a ball with some random kid who happened to be in the area (probably being ignored by his mother too).
• I went to BJ’s alone (a rare treat) and got caught in a total downpour while I was loading the stuff into the car, so I went to Ben & Jerry’s to console myself. I did a few other errands alone too, during which I didn’t yell, make “the mad face”, threaten anyone under my breath, or drag anyone by the arm as they dangled boneless. I didn’t have to return any shoplifted merchandise or apologize to other shoppers because my child was screeching like a deranged primate since I wouldn’t buy him a bag of gummy tarantulas. I almost felt like a normal human being.
• I went to the library and borrowed 3 books from the kiosks of best sellers beside the entrance. I didn’t search the stacks for something that would qualify as “literature” and I didn’t go to the children’s area. One of the books that called out to me is entitled, “I Was Told There’d Be Cake”, and one of the stand-out lines from the book is, “People are less quick to applaud as you grow older. Life starts out with everyone clapping when you take a poo and goes downhill from there.”
• I went to Starbucks and then to the car wash to have my car cleaned inside and out. The attendant told me that it would be an hour and a half, and I didn’t care one bit. I had my provisions from Starbucks, my books from the library, and the Brick Breaker game on my Blackberry to challenge me in case I got bored with only myself for company.
• I had breakfast in bed while reading People Magazine about how Kirstie Alley gained 83 pounds, which made me feel better about the 7 pounds I re-gained during the holidays and have since re-lost.
• I went to Zumba Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning, and then wore my extremely sweaty, stinky clothes to the events that followed.
• I updated the blog with all of the stuff that’s been swimming around in my head for the last couple of weeks so I can start fresh and try not to fall behind.
• I made homemade mac & cheese and drank a bottle of wine (in 2 sittings). Did I mention that I went to Zumba 3 times to balance out all of the previously-mentioned food rewards?
• I watched all of the shows I had saved on the DVR this week, including a real (happy) tear-jerker episode of Oprah about Harpo Hook-Ups.
• I didn’t go to Free Swim at the Y, or to a G-rated movie, or the mall, the playground, a birthday party, or to McDonalds, and I didn’t sleep with anyone (literally or figuratively). I did go to Chuck E. Cheese Friday night but I only had 1 kid with me who ran wild while I socialized.

Here are photos of my gifts…even Ben wrote me a letter but I think he may have bought it on the internet.

Norah is so proud of the heart she painted for me.

Adlani is sooooo not into arts and crafts but he made this beautiful work of art for me and he was so proud of it. He said that he put the cat on it so we could always remember Lily.

Aliya had a plan to set up a massage station in one room, a manicure/pedicure station in another room, and a makeover station in another room. I told her that what I really wanted was a card with a letter from her. Her card says: Happy Mothersday Mommy. My mom is the best mom on erth. I love my mom more then enithing in the world! Dear Mom i realy think that your trieng hard to maike us happy and its werking. I aprishiatit wen you taick us plaises and saprise us weire wier going. I think your the best mom a girl cold have. Rock on Mom! Love, Aliya.

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I could add a few lines to this poem that are based on my own reality, but I’ll refrain from spoiling it.

by Mary Rita Schilke Korzan

I saw tears come from your eyes