Well, today was another co-cop day, so I had 3 whole hours to myself this morning.

The morning started at 5:30, which is what I get for letting Henry nap late yesterday. Half comatose from the early hour, I caved and let Henry watch Chicken Run for the 67th time while I made him a grapefruit. Okay, okay, I didn't make it, but I halved it and paintakingly traced each little line of the pulpy membrane, making juicy and deliscious little grapefruit triangles for the little man to slurp up. I can only let him have it every other day lest his backside erupt with crazy diaper rash from the acidity, so he loves grapefruit mornings. He ate the whole thing and then stole half of my measly little granola bar and ate that too. In my weakened and tired state, I couldn't fend him off. Bully.

After he drew a "J" on the Magna Doodle (why yes, he is a genius, thank you for asking) and tried to erase it for 15 minutes to no avail, we realized that his beloved Magna Doodle was broken. I'm sure it had nothing to do with him jumping up and down on it and hitting it repeatedly with his guitar. Our conversation follows:

Henry: "J. J. Erase it"
Me: "Oh, baby I think it's broken"
Henry: "It broken"
(sad sad frown)
Me: "I'm sorry"
Henry: " Don't worry. It's okay. Daddy will help"
Me: *is dead from the cute*

Needless to say, we dropped Kyle off at school and went directly to Target to buy a new Magna Doodle. It is one of the only toys he plays with every single day and he loves to practice writing letters on it (he is up to about 10 letters now, woo!) so I felt like I wanted to replace it. I think we'll just have to have stricter rules about appropriate Magna Doodle behavior this time around.

After Target, I went to drop Henry off at mama Fyffe's house for co-op. I had cunningly constructed my morning so that I would not ahve to return home, all the way across town, until after I picked him up at noon. Then I realized I had forgotten my phone. Doh! Luckily Liz, the other mama watching the kids, offered to lend me hers while I was gone, in case of an emergency. I went to Barnes and Noble to study.

I started studying math and then gave up before my head exploded. I need someone there who knows the stuff to walk me through it. Studying it by myself is like trying to learn to knit online. Words on paper don't convey the whole idea-to me anyway. As the grande mocha kicked in, I decided to hit the bathroom before starting a verbal practice test. I took the phone just in case. I was already to the bathroom before I realized I had no pockets. Perched on the toilet, trying not to let my bum touch the grody seat while simultaniously trying not to let the borrowed cell phone fall into the toilet, I looked down and saw the unwavering eye of the camera function of Liz's phone looking up at me. God help them if, in my compromised state, I hit the button that takes a picture. And if I did, please let them never ever tell me.

I managed to eke out 2 practice tests and hovered right around the 85-90% range. I think that I could improve my score by a few % points just by not drinking a grande mocha before trying to concentrate. That was a really stupid idea. My fingers are still shaking from all of that caffiene. My vice-less mama body isn't used to that kind of assault any more. I think I am going to ask Kyle to sit down with me tonight and go through some of the math. I need to figure out a way to make it stick in my head, because I am just not wired that way. Just when I think I grasp a concept, it flows right out of my brain.

Ah well.