Odds and Ends

-I have finally been invited to join the local book group! After we moved here last May, I was anxious to get involved and make new friends. I joined the card swap, enrolled Layla in ballet, became involved in our preschool, and went to every enrichment activity I could. The only thing I couldn't just "join" was the book group. It's very exclusive! They limit it to 12 members and you can only get in if someone moves. My first thought was to just start my own, but I didn't want to compete in any way. The leader of the book group was my visiting teacher, so every time she would visit, I would literally submit my verbal resume hoping they would make an exception for me. Finally, yesterday at church I was cornered and formally invited to join! I am so excited and feel totally elementary school! I am glad the cool kids finally let me play...

-Layla cut her own hair in her Primary class yesterday.  We came home from church, ate lunch, and as we listened to Layla rehash her Primary lesson, I noticed she had a small chunk of bangs. I asked her if she had cut her hair and immediately she burst into tears, buried her head in my lap and sobbed. I could barely coax the details out of her. Apparently she acted alone and out of her teacher's sight. I really couldn't chastise or punish her because she was just beside herself. I couldn't even pry her off my lap to look at her face. Finally I had to reassure her that I wasn't angry, but that she was never allowed to do that again. She readily agreed that she would never do it again and continued with the apologies.  Hopefully, she will act this way when she is a teenager. When she breaks curfew or ditches school, she will be terribly ashamed, profusely apologize, and ground herself. That will make my job easier.

-We are going to the zoo this Thursday with Layla's preschool. Apparently, its a free day at the zoo, so most mothers decided to chance the weather to save some money. The high is supposed to be around 30, so we will see how it goes. A zoo trip in January...

-On a better note, LOST season 4 premieres this Thursday. Although only 8 of the promised 16 episodes are finished, I am still so excited. It's like Christmas in January!