today ben’s teacher (whom i love…she’s a wonderful teacher!) asked me to explain why i’m keeping cole at home. she asked what it feels like everyone (who is everyone, really?) is thinking. what are you doing!??! (read: what is wrong with you?)

well, i’m sure everyone is not thinking that. actually most people don’t really care. but somehow i feel the need to explain myself. justify myself. it seems like people (again, i’m not really sure what people) think that cole is deprived. i’m sheltering him all alone home in this house. turning him into a socially awkward freak of some sort. now, are you sure cole doesn’t need anything? my mom asks when she was picking up school clothes for the other two. nope, he’s pretty much good to go in his gym shorts and sandals.

which brings me to the point of this post. the list of ways i’m proving to myself (and you if you care) that cole is indeed, not deprived. in fact, he is very much the opposite.

1. he can wear whatever he wants…within reason.

2. he got to go to boulevard bread company twice last week. (go ahead…ask him why it’s better to shop at the river market than at the grocery store.)

3. he spent friday morning riding the river trail with his dad and me.

4. he is not sitting watching sponge bob because it is too hot to go out for recess.

5. he started football last week.

6. no homework…which ps, makes the THREE football practices this week seem feasible.

7. lunch. no cafeteria ladies. no plastic ziplock bags. plus he had this for lunch yesterday. which beats a pbj any day.

8. he’s 10, which my yoga instructor said just yesterday is the very best age to be. try to remember when you were 10. that was the best age. you could run barefoot everywhere. can’t you just feel your feet squeezing mud through your toes? (we were grabbing the mat with our toes to prepare to balance.) anyway, so we’re going to soak up every little moment of ten. it is not the age to sit at a desk.

9. lots of quality time with simon.

10. he got to start his own blog. yes, it is the debut of everything cole. hopefully, he will learn to type and get to journal online. so he can inform the entire world when and if he is being deprived, but come on, you’ll know he’s lying.

just for now, please don’t tell the other two.