Tonight, in an effort to promote literacy in my family, I had Lucy and Gabe sit down to write. Lucy started to write some of her high frequency words from school then drew a picture of herself. This turned into a note for her dad. Gabe scribbled. While they worked, I decided it wouldn't hurt for me to write something, too.
In this stream-of-consciousness writing, I began to realize why the "wheels have come off" of our little bus this week. There are a lot of reasons:
It's early-out week for SEP conferences. (I haven't figured out what SEP stands for: Student Educator Parent?) The schedule is early out each day, which means that our day begins earlier every day and Lucy is in school for only 2 hours every day. Now, I start to get ready to leave the house a minimum of 1 hour before I aim to leave, so early-out for a week ends up being pretty bad. (Add to this scheduling mess a two-year-old who is accustomed to taking his nap (conveniently) when I usually drop Lucy off for school, but who will not fall asleep when I drop her off during the short schedule, and you really add to the mess.) Gabe missed his nap completely on Monday, and boy, did everyone pay! I'm surprised he didn't lose his voice with all of the screaming and crying he did when we (mostly Brian) tried to get him to bed.
Another factor this week has been Brian--there have been huge changes at work and he's trying to get his normal work done in addition to accommodating all of the changes. This all translates into longer hours, which means longer hours for me... And did you know that "we" don't like to eat without Brian? We don't. I am willing to compromise once in a while, but Lucy always waits for her daddy. This means that, even though the kids get hungry at 5pm, we wait until their favorite person (Daddy) gets home at 6, 7 or even later. On one hand, it gives me more time to get dinner and the house together, on the other hand, it means more time being a single mother. All things considered, it's probably a wash, stress wise, but it adds to the general mess.
Where the disorder is most evident is the laundry room. I keep up with laundry sometimes, but most of the time, it's one of the first things to fail. Right now, for example, we have a lot of clean laundry, it's just all piled together. ..And I am blogging. See how I am?
This brings me to my next thought:
Lucy brought home a book from school today. It's just a little paperback copy of The Magic Treehouse. We've already read almost half of it. It was a gift from her classmate, Remy, in honor of their classmate, Eliza. (I think Remy is Eliza's cousin.) On the front of the book is a large red sticker that says "Eliza's Wish" on it. I've seen this sticker before--on a book in our pediatrician's office.
The first time I read the story behind Eliza's Wish in the doctor's office, Lucy asked me why I was crying. Today, I made a connection in my poor little brain, and Lucy asked again why I was crying. Eliza is in Lucy's kindergarten class. I knew Eliza and her family were special before, but I know more now.
Follow this link to learn more about Eliza and her AMAZING family. ( And that is my excuse for blogging instead of putting away laundry.) Life is short and precious.
Short and precious!
