6 AM- Ryan wakes up. Soooo excited to start school at Abacus. School doesn't start till 9 am. We live about a mile and a hald from the school. LOTS of time to kill. Rebecca and Art are still sleeping. I don't go get him out of his room until 6:30, when he starts kicking on it shouting that he is the MONSTER!
7 AM- Ryan has eaten breakfast and is watching his favorite show for the second time. Rebecca is still sleeping.
8 AM- Ryan is dressed and ready for school. He is busily playing computer games, his latest obsession. Rebecca is still sleeping.
8:42 AM- Not able to wait any longer, Ryan is READY TO GO. He has his lunch box in hand, and is standing by the door, patiently waiting for me. Rebecca is STILL sleeping.
8:45 AM We arrive at school exactly the minute we are allowed to arrive without paying extra for before-care. See the blog entry below for more details. When I ask him about his day, he tells me all kinds of stuff; the games he played, the book they read, and the rules of classroom that were introduced that day: "No kicking, no pushing, no hitting, no fighting and keep you hands to youself." Great!
9-2: Rebecca "tolerates" being at home with me. A little put out that we're not going anywhere and that none of her friends are coming over.
Tuesday: Ryan's second day of school.
7:30: Ryan wakes up at a decent hour. (YEA) Alas, Art and I realize this is the last day we will both be sleeping in past 7 since Rebecca's school starts at 7:45 and we'll need to be out of the house by 7:15. Rebecca is still sleeping.
8:00: Ryan is still happily playing in his room by himself. I leave him there.
8:15: Rebecca wakes up and Ryan comes out of his room to play with her.
8:50: Rebecca comes with me to take Ryan to school. We need to park in a parking lot across the street from the school today because there are people trimming low hanging branches over the normal parking spots in preparations for Tropical Storm Fay. Ryan gets out of the car first and while I'm waiting for Rebecca to get out, Ryan turns to me and says, "Bye Mommy!" and turns to walk to school by himself. I laugh and remind him that we are all going into the school together. He laughs and tells me that he forgot. When I pick him up later and ask how his day was, he tells me that the teacher told him, "Lay you head down." He then told me she was mean because she wouldn't let him play during rest time. Uh huh, fraid of that. Otherwise, he had a great day.
9-2: Rebecca's friend Elyse comes over to play for the day. Her school doesn't start till the next day. She had been running a fever over the weekend, which is why she hadn't been able to play the day before. The girls have a GREAT time playing. I get lots of stuff done.
Wednesday: Rebecca's first day of school.
6 AM: Everyone has warned me about how bad the traffic is in the morning, and how early the parking lot gets full the first week of school. So, I wake up early to take a shower and get completely dressed and ready before waking Rebecca up.
6:25. I wake Rebecca up. I am prepared for her to drag her feet since she's been sleeping past 8. To my surprise, she pops right up.
6:35: Rebecca is dressed, has her shoes on and has let me brush and style her hair.
6:45: Rebecca has eaten breakfast and declared herself ready to go. Ugh.
6:48: Rebecca has no brushed her teeth and used the bathroom. Now, she's REALLY ready to go. Ugh.
6:52: Rebecca says goodbye to Art. Ryan is still sleeping.
6:56: We get in the car. (This is REALLY early.) I "forgot" my coffee and go back inside to retrieve it.
6:58: We leave for school. As I am leaving our neighborhood, I see the school bus coming. I could probably make it onto the road if I want to, but as I am desperate to kill time, I wait for it to pass along with the mile of traffic behind it. The drivers in the cars behind me are probably steaming. There is almost no traffic this morning.
7:07: We arrive in the school parking lot. It is 3/4 full! I ask Rebecca if she would like to sit int he parking lot for a little bit to talk since her teacher won't be ready for her till 7:15 at the earliest. (Yeah right!) We slowly walk to her classroom.
7:10: We arrive at the classroom. Surprise- her teacher isn't there. Neither are any other students. I take a picture, see below.
7:14: Her teacher, Miss Brochu arrives, and happily tells us she is ready for Rebecca to come in the class with her. Rebecca has a smile on her face that I haven't seen in a long time. She is SOOOO HAPPY to be in school. She can hardly wait for me to leave.
7: 20: I arrive back at home. Ryan is still sleeping. I start picking up my house for my housecleaner who arrives later that day.
8:00: Ryan is still sleeping. I continue to clean my house. (so much fun.)
8:30: Ryan is STILL sleeping. I wake Ryan up.
9:00: I take Ryan to school.
9:02: I do the happy dance. FINALLY! The kids are in school!!!
9-12: I do boring stuff like go the grocery store, get gas, and clean my house. Tropical Storm Fay is expected to hit later in the day. Not a fun first day- but I think to myself, tomorrow I can fun stuff.
12:10: I get in line to pick Rebecca up for school. School gets out at 12:30, but I have been forewarned about the long pick up lines. I am 10th in line.
12:35: Rebecca gets in the car. She is ecstatic. Grinning from ear to ear. I ask her about her day, and she starts to unpack her back pack and immediately bursts into tears. I gather through the sobs that she has left her science project inside.
12:36: We park the car and go inside to retrieve the science project. Tears have stopped.
12:40: Having retrieved the science project, we are back in the car to pick up Ryan. The science project is in a ziploc bag. It looks like green goo- sort of like silly putty. I ask her how she made it. She tells me, "Special sugar, water and a green vegetable to make it green." Hmm. I ask her another question about school and she tells me she doesn't want to talk about it. Darn. I only got one question answered. Usually I can get to to three...
12:45: We pick up Ryan early. I was positive he wasn't going to sleep since he got up so late. Yup- not sleeping. Teachers tell me how great he is and and all the things he loves doing. It's clear they enjoy him there.
1:30: I try again with Rebecca. I asked her if she met any new friends today. She says, yes. First her body met them, and then because her body met them first, she wasn't shy, so she met them second. OK...That's all I got.
2:30: Art's Uncle Tom comes to spend the afternoon. His meetings in Orlando were cancelled, so he drove up for a visit. We have a very fun afternoon playing together.
7:30: Art and I crawl into bed after checking the school website and noting that schools are scheduled to be open the next day. We are both asleep by 8:15.
Thursday: Both kids go to school...
6:30 AM Ryan is awake already. I wake Rebecca up. I note that we did not receive an automated phone call about schools being cancelled. I note that the storm has stalled. I note that it is not even raining.
6:45 AM Both kids are dressed and ready for school. I make a note to myself to wake Rebecca up at 6:45 from now on.
7:05 AM Rebecca and I leave for school. There is again no traffic. Argh
7:10 AM We arrive at school....There are only 2 cars in the parking lot. There are no lights on in school classrooms. I call Art to have him check the school board website to see if schools are closed. Yup. They are are. We turn around and go home. Argh. Happily, Rebecca thinks this is all very funny, and does not throw a fit about school being closed. She giggles most of the way home.
12:30 PM It is barely raining outside. The storm is still stalled on the East coast. My friend Kris calls and asks if she can come over with her girls. YES! Carol calls and asks what we're doing. I invite her and her kids to come too. YES! We have a fun play date until 5:30
5:30 PM Hard rain finally starts. Kris left around 4:30. Carol makes a run for it before the storm picks up further.
6:30 PM Power goes off and on several times. Finally stays on. Yes!
7:00 PM Both kids asleep. We note that...
Friday: School is closed again!!!!
This morning however, we all sleep till 7:45. Winds and rain are expected to be worse than yesterday. Everyone's hanging at home today. Really bumming with the knowledge we just lost two vacation days. Also bumming with the knowledge that I'm home with the kids all day...again. Looking forward to Monday!
