Naptime, Naptime...Give it a rest, and then have a snack, jellybean

You know it's funny and wonderful how refreshed you can feel after a break from the noise of a busy life and just have time to settle down, lay out or sprawled on a bed, and drift off into a comfortable rest. We take our naps and play, and play some more. We hit the "hay" at late (and early) hours.

For my daughter, Raina, it has not always been naptime day in and day out. For that matter, I thought that when she started napping I would too. Not the case at all. But, when she sleeps...oh, the relief...you don't always need to run around to feel busy or that you had a full day.

Just recently, Raina has been wondering off to sleepyland around the late afternoon (2-2:30). She's getting older, so she's got better mileage. I'd say the efficiency rating has risen by some 200%. Her MPP, or miles per pound, improved markedly over a short period of 5 months.

And, honestly, I haven't measured her for height for quite sometime, but my weight-scale readings show a whopping...get this folks, THIRTY-SIX pounds. She's a whopper, alright. But don't tell her, Raina hates when I make verbal comments on her physical similarities to food. Oh, and it gets nasty!

• "Your belly is full of jelly"
• "Raina bear with the jelly hair"
• "Smelly cheese Green"
• "Cheesy chunk"
• "Your head is shaped like a strawberry, Raina"
• "Little on-yon" (slurred French accent)
• "You're shaped like a peanut"
• "Hey Rai, it's not my fault you have juicy buns"
• "Now, I going to squeeze the cheese" (followed by squeezing together her cheeks!)

Countless other name-calling terms have been thrown around to taunt and tease Raina. She's definitely not lacking any self-confidence, because of the fact that she rebukes every statement now made against her. Her self-esteem is rock-solid and mountain high. Now, when I make a rude statement about her, she slowly turns her head around and shouts back, "No! Quiet, you phatty!" I guess I kind of desrve it. I'm tired from all the chaos, I'm going to take a nap, then when I wake up maybe Raina will let me have a snack for being so quiet.

Tightly Held in Fear and Overly Fearful Rules

I was talking with a fella at dinner on Sunday night about a shocking incident with an Illinois middle school and one of its students. You think that a hug is okay, but in today's highly overpoliticized, hyper-commercialized media circus, where the press is no longer a genuine term, a hug can become an offense.

Hugs are customary, right? And, they are needed. Perhaps if a friend needed consoling or a genuine act of affection to lift them above their fears or worries, would it be alright to give your friend, teacher, or peer a hug? Or, for that matter, can you give a hug for the sake of giving a hug?!

My friend Jared and I were hashing out thoughts over an article published on November 6, 2007 in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about an Illinois eight-grade student named Megan Coulter, punished with two days of school detention for hugging some friends at school.

Vice Principal Randy Blakely of Mascoutah Middle School warned Coulter on a couple of occasions that any public display of affection would be in violation of school policy. I deduce from the school administration's thought: Coulter's behavior models for other students inappropriate displays of affection publicly or worse. If that is the case, I would think that they would need to examine the root cause of the action. If not, their policy should not be as severe as blanketing all students under a "blind" policy, where the punishment for a 13-year old amounts to two days of detention. Of course, he was doing his job, but could have made a better judgment call.

"Grinding," kissing, or any lewd act would be a negative slope to follow, if Megan Coulter were doing that, but according the short story, which was followed by a longer, detailed follow-up, that was not the case. I really have a problem believing a hug makes other uncomfortable, especially when girls hug girls, or even the opposite sex when it is genuine and innocent. If you ask me, the vice principal perhaps looked too hard at this one student and incident, deciding it was enough to tip the scale. Please!!! There are more important things to look out for -- a hug?

Of course, the student's family is following up with the school's board to appeal her detention and what is to me, a callous treatment of what good is left in the thoughts of this young girl. The policy needs to a little more specific and when there is a serious violation it is followed by just treatment of the offender(s).