Our Schedule
Disclaimer: by no means am I complaining about our schedule ! We make choices!
Please try to get through the boring, first paragraph as it will lead to a little bit of funny stuff further down.
School has continued to go well for the Freund kids. They are learning, having fun and we are finding our schedule groove. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Baby is buckled up in the van as we watch #1 and Rock Star get on the bus. Then, we drive straight to preschool. Tuesday, Baby and I are home all day. Thursday, same routine as MWF except it's dance class, for Baby, instead of preschool. When I have kid free mornings I have time to do a quick grocery shop, or shower and load of laundry. I hope to use that time someday for parts of bigger projects, like painting the bathrooms. Jobs that are easiest done without little helpers! When I pick Baby up from preschool we have just enough time to get home to see Rock Star get off the bus. Then it's lunch. Sometimes we pack a picnic lunch and go to a park. After lunch clean up, it's time to do homework with Rock Star. Yes, kindergartners have homework! Usually it is to practice writing and identifying letters or basic math concepts. For example, one day we had to count how many steps it took to get from our door to the bus stop. First with normal steps, then tiny steps, then giant steps. (of course Baby wants to participate and compare- and include the dog. "How about the cats now?" she asks.) Next, time to think about dinner and more laundry. When #1 gets off the bus it's snack time. #1 does her math and spelling before she can have "Choice Time" which can be a TV show and/or playing outside. Then surprise, surprise it's mealtime again. After dinner, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we are off to #1's soccer practice. Dad is one of her coaches. It's fun for everyone. Soccer practice is at the school. We all climb into the van for one of those noisy rides. Baby and Rock Star play at the playground while I divide my attention between watching them, the practice, and if I get lucky, talking with a grown-up for a while! Later in the fall, #1's soccer will be replaced by hockey and Rock Star is thrown into the mix with practice and game times of his own. I have joked that I believe in polygamy if it means another grown up to talk to and help with the driving and laundry.
Wednesdays are tough.
If you are reading this you know me well enough to know that on one end of the continuum of organization and coordination there are the air traffic controllers, my good friends, my husband, and on the other end, there is me. (I am drawn to clever, organized people, you know why!) Anyhow, Wednesday is garbage and recycling pick up. The addition of this alone can push me over the edge of despair into hysteria and our whole team into the throws of a ragging cyclone. Guess who's the cyclone?! It's a small thing but, I have turned it into a scene from a natural disaster movie from the 1970's. Imagine "Towering Inferno" or "Earthquake". You know, running, screaming, crying, bad hair, ill fitting clothes, melodrama. Kids need to get dressed, have breakfast, brush hair, brush teeth, pack a snack, check backpacks for necessities, homework, etc. , Dad needs black socks. Who's turn is it to feed the dog? Everyone needs to get out to the pick up, the van and bus stop. But we must get the garbage/recycling to the curb! So, somewhere in there I'm freaking out and taking it out on everyone. I never remember the garbage! I never remember how stressful I make garbage day until it happens again. Most people would think "I'm not going through that again" and plan ahead, take care of it the night before or get up earlier. Maybe next week will be different. Probably not.
This past Wednesday was extra fun. No one was crying and everyone got to school and work on time. We'd missed something though. I had forgotten that #1, who needed coins for a math project, was 3 quarters short. Dad had some quarters in his pick up but we'd forgotten to get them. Dad called me on my cell to say he could arrange getting those to #1 if she needed them immediately. So, Dad called me and was surprised to hear the phone answered by someone other than me. Here's the conversation,Someone who is not me: Hello?
Dad: Hello. Who is this?
Someone who is not me: Rock Star.
In the background Dad can hear the kindergarten teacher saying something about what they should do with their snacks. Dad figures out that the boy has my cell phone at school and tells him to put it away. They hang up. Dad tries to reach me unsuccessfully on the land line. In the mean time he worries that that phone will be ringing at kindergarten all day. Maybe friends calling Mom! Oh , no. Dad calls the cell back. Dad had told Rock Star to put the phone away and leave it, but of course the boy answers.
Rock Star: Hello?
Dad: Can I talk to your teacher?
Rock Star: Okay.
Dad apologizes to Mrs. B for the phone calls and asks her to turn it off.
What kind of people provide a kindergartner with a cell phone? Not us! What's even funnier is that the phone is pink and when it rings, it rings loud and to the tune of "The Imperial March" from STARWARS. You know, the dark music each time Darth Vader is on screen?! Dand, dant dant-dant, da, da!
I had used Rock Star's back pack for our picnic lunch the day before and had slipped my cell phone into the outside pocket for safe keeping . . .
The Tooth Fairy
On Wednesday, #1 lost a tooth waiting at the school bus stop to return home. She was very excited and shared with each of us the gory details of how wiggly it was and how she had to "twist and twist". EEEW! It is especially fun to lose a tooth in the company of your peers. Her bus friends congratulated her and took turns carefully inspecting the tiny tooth. After our bedtime routine it was placed under her pillow.
The nights of Tooth Fairy visits can be challenging. It is typically hard for the child who's lost the tooth to settle down. All the excitement and anticipation of the visit! At our house it's also Baby who sometimes has trouble, and she hasn't lost a single tooth yet.
When #1 lost her first tooth it was an education into the customs and traditions of this fun, growing up stuff for Rock Star and Baby. But Baby was young, and misunderstood what was to happen. The first time we put a tooth under a pillow in our family, Baby was hysterical. She thought the Tooth Fairy would be coming for a tooth from her, too. None of them were even loose and that would hurt! Baby understands now but still is uneasy on the nights the Tooth Fairy visits.
