Tuesdays With Just Me

So Daddy, friends and family, you can all let out a collective sigh of relief. This post will not be a rant or a rave. Yesterday was a great day. Just what we all needed. They all actually woke up on their own and in good moods. I was feeling brave and let Nathan ride his scooter and Hannah ride her bike to school which they absolutely loved. It was hard not to repeat this morning with the sun shining, but today is Tuesday and today Sarah went to school. (More about today later...let's just focus on yesterday). Hannah was a delight yesterday and Sarah equally pleasant with the exception of a tiny meltdown in the store eliciting lots of stares and head shakes. The same meltdown would have been met with at least a few sympathetic looks or comments elsewhere, but here things are just not that way. Anyway, we moved on and the rest of the day was pretty nice. I did get a call from the school nurse as we were waiting outside the school to pick up Nathan. It seems that once again he has chosen picture week to scrape his face near his eye. He is fine. It doesn't look good and he was a little "cross with" the boy who pushed another boy who then caused him to fall. He had forgiven one of the boys as of yesterday and was working on forgiving the other one. This morning with his hooded sweatshirt on I couldn't help but start humming the theme song to Rocky. He doesn't consider himself tough because he is the one who ends up with all of the visible injuries. I say, it is quite the contrary.

After school they had some friends over to play, then dinner and bed. Very good day. AND the sun was out (2 days in a row now!) so BONUS!

Today started off well. I spent 45 minutes preparing 3 school bags with lunches, snacks and drinks, not including the time I spent last night putting in the clothes and diapers. I actually like this time because it is quiet and I can think. The kids were pretty good this morning. The girls were fighting a bit and then the big kids were fighting, but we handled it and moved on. We drove to school which is a tad challenging right now with the construction going on down the street. At random times both lanes are blocked and I don't know until I reach the guy who points the other direction. Not the best system, especially when there is someone behind us who has to back up in order for us to back up, but doesn't seem to get that he needs to back up. Despite that and another road block near the school--a really loud machine in a truck that we had to walk underneath terrifying Hannah--we made it on time. We dropped off Rocky, I mean Nathan, first. Hannah had gotten a bit crabby with me on the way to school and refused to say "Goodbye to Mummy" as her teacher directed her to, but that is not all that uncommon. Then on to Sarah's school. She was happily oblivious this being the first time I was actually leaving her there so she went to the teacher fairly easily and didn't cry at all as I left. I'm no rookie and I know next week there will be clinging and screaming the moment she recognizes the place. After a morning of time just for me, I went to pick her up and that is when the guilt really kicked in. She was sitting in the sand wearing a coat I didn't recognize (at first I thought they had lost her!) with her back to me. I talked with her teachers who said she had cried some, but she was not too sad for her first day. When she saw me, she pointed to the parking lot and said, "GO!" I'm not sure if she meant "Hey! Mean Mommy, what is the big idea leaving me here? Get out of here now!" or if it was the kinder version, "I'm really tired and I'd like to go now please". Judging by the tone of her voice, I'd have to go with first one. She was gasping the way kids do after they've exhausted themselves from crying and she looked very, very tired. She didn't eat much while there, but I gave her some of her snack on the way home. She fell asleep on the drive home and she is still sleeping now. (About the coat, the teachers asked her if it was her coat and apparently she said, "Yes". I find that strange since she always says "No", but...)

I fully expected this to be hard on both of us, but we'll give it a try for a while. This is not my first time to have to drop off a crying, clinging toddler, but it is the first time that I am not dropping off before heading to work or sleep after work. There is a lot of guilt and I know she'll be fine and it is okay, but the guilt is still there.

So, in the big picture, this week is going much, much better than the weekend. I took a picture of their allowance chart so you can see how things are going. (The green ones are Nathan's and the pink ones are Hannahs...there are some half smileys and some missing for a reason). They have to get at least 3 smiley faces in order to get their allowance, but it can be taken away at any time at Mommy and Daddy's discretion. (Hey, they are smart. If they figure out they can just be good 3 days and then do whatever they want for the rest of the week, complete backfire). We're working on teaching them to be helpful and a little bit about the value of money at the same time. If nothing else, it has opened up a lot of good conversations with Nathan. Hannah is a bit young yet, but she just would not have being left out.

I hear Sarah calling. At least she's still talking to me. Just kidding!

(I wanted to get a good picture of Sarah swinging from the bar above. She was very proud of herself, but given the fact that I had just gotten a call from the school nurse about one of my children being injured on that very playground, I decided it was better to put the camera down and keep my hands free. The video is of Sarah and I chatting this afternoon. We were having a much better conversation about where was Daddy and "Lanla"--Hannah--until I brought out the camera and I seriously confused her when I said "bye bye" without going anywhere...as soon as I turned it off, she waved).