School Days and Slacker Ways

I always used to hate it when people would talk about how busy they are. You know, complaining but with a little brag mixed in. As in: my life is so complete, I just don’t have time to hang out with you... Well, fall has arrived and things have been a little nuts around here, what with my firstborn heading off to real school, my foray into soccermomdom, swim class and a few little activities for the little girl. Plus trying to get to the gym (I call it that for the sake of brevity but I think of it more as the anti-gym because it’s so low key) a few days a week. When I think about it, we don’t even really do that much. The real problem is that we so often have to travel from our tiny town to bigger exurban outposts 20-30 minutes away for classes, groceries etc. Not so terribly far to travel, but it adds up when one has to make the trip multiple times a week. It’s all a little overwhelming for an underachiever like myself. I’ve barely had time to think in weeks, much less put anything down on paper. Thoughts for this space fly through my head like so many brown marmorated stinkbugs and then (unlike the stinkbugs) disappear. Truly though I can’t complain. While I’m a little sleep deprived lately, I’m fundamentally a morning person so our new early sched suits me. And there’s been an unprecedentedly high level of harmony in the household: the kids are busy and engaged, and the ever lovin’ and I, it seems, are just too tired to fight. (PS: I will never be too busy to hang out with friends…)

So the boy seems to be off to a good start in his academic career. For the record, I didn’t cry when he got on the bus or at all that first day. It snuck up on me a few days later though, alone at the computer just thinking about stuff. I think we live in the last place in America where kids still go to kindergarten half day. We were zoned for afternoon class, but I switched him into morning session (mostly so he wouldn’t have to eat lunch at 10:30), which I think has been a good decision overall. However, he’s a sleepy Leo so the 6:30 wake up time has been rough on him. But he seems happy to be there, and I can tell there’s a lot of learning going on. The teacher has been up front about the fact that because of a new focus on the three Rs, there’s not a lot of time for play in half day K. (In case you hadn’t heard, kindergarten is the new first grade) The half day thing is probably good in Hank’s case since he’s young in his class and still needs to rest. But the lack of unstructured time is hard on my boy who really just likes to play. He came home the other day and said, “I don’t like kindergarten-- we don’t do anything fun.” But most days he comes home beaming about his accomplishments in class. I’ve heard for years that five is an amazing age, and I’d have to say that so far it has lived up to they hype. But there’s some interesting Jekyll and Hyde stuff going on. He’s often sweet, full of delightful observations and know-it-all pronouncements. Loves Winnie the Pooh (we’ve just started reading it again for the 11th or 12th time) and Alice in Wonderland (which we’ve been listening to on CD in the car). Then he’ll turn around and say something utterly salty that makes me want to box his ears (I got that from Alice. But I guess people don’t really do that to their kids anymore do they…). I’ve had to holler at him countless times for scrapping on the playground. He’s sometimes upset about leaving his sister to go to school but gets super frustrated and annoyed when she tries to horn in on his independent play. Coco, who was blessed (or cursed) with an end-of year birthday, missed the cut off for our local preschool and so has been blessed (or cursed) with one more year of full on mama time. And (for the most part) I love it. She has her difficult moments but overall is in a glorious place as we head towards three and is a pleasure to hang out with. Carla and I have worked out a beautiful childcare swap. On Marvelous Mondays, we get adorable Isabel who loves imaginary play and gets my wild child to settle down and play with dolls. And on Wonderful Wednesdays I’m solo (sola?) for four fabulous hours. So far I’ve been totally unoriginal and used my newfound free time for yoga class and errands… but oh man the possibilities!

I have to say that the lunch/snack thing is stressing me out a little. Hank goes to lunch club at the community center after school twice a week (which is how I get my long morning on Wednesdays). I’ve been working hard to get in stuff that’s high protein, high fiber, low sugar, low sodium and appealing, but it’s not easy. The fruits and vegetables always seem to come home at the end of the day. I even bought a Spiderman soup container and tried to send in some homemade chicken soup. That was a total flop, of course. I think soup just requires too much concentration. And then there’s the milk thing… So they give them milk at snack time, which had me a little freaked out because I’ve gone out of my way to give these kids nothing but organic milk their whole lives. Of course, one can opt out, but he wants to have a carton of milk with his little friends. So I decided not to be a control freak and let him have the milk. The annoying thing is, they still offer chocolate milk which of course he would choose every day if left to his own devices. I can make peace with the hormones but I really want to avoid a sugar trip in the middle of class. So we worked out a compromise by which he has regular milk or water (usually water from what I understand) four days a week and chocolate milk on Fridays. Ideal solution? Probably not, but it’s the best I could come up with.

In an attempt to be an upstanding/involved parent, I went ahead and joined the PTO. Unfortunately, once a slacker always a slacker: I’ve already missed the first meeting because I was exhausted (sigh) and totally blew off the school fundraiser involving overpriced wrapping paper and gifts. I just can’t bring myself to solicit friends and family with this stuff. I mean at least Girl Scout Cookies are something I can get behind (when and if that day should come…). I considered just ordering a few things myself, but I’d rather just write them a check than buy a bunch of crap I don’t need.

Anyway, this week’s highlight: Hank has discovered dodge ball. So unbelievably cute that he asked Christian and me if we knew how to play, as if it had just been invented. But I swear this game was made for my boy. I mean running around and throwing stuff at people--what’s not to love?