Tales from the Steppes

2005-08-30

3:57 p.m.
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Happiness is a work phone with caller i.d., so I know when not to answer. Or which plan to quickly grab so I don't have to go ummmmm while rebooting my brain.

However, happiness is most decidedly not a kidney stone. Feel better soon Rockrat.

Won't you let me walk you home from school
Won't you let me meet you at the pool
- Big Star

Yesterday was the first day of school for the mongols. Most significantly, the YM's first day of kindergarten. He had been stressing about this for the last few days - perhaps even weeks, it is hard to say. Fortunately, he was going on the bus with his brother and I was certain that the MM would help make sure that he got where he needed to go. This year there are ~20 kids at the bus stop in front of our house at the park. Most of them are boys, so there was a lot of noisy chaos and I think the YM forgot to be scared - he thrives in this sort of situation because he can act like a weasel on crack and get away with it. When I got home yesterday, he told me how much he likes his new teacher and how much fun he had. Major sigh of relief.

A number of my friends had started an informal pool on how many days it would be before I got the first call from the school. Not because he behaves poorly or has an attitude - he is just a little different. One of my friends even went so far as to bookmark a bunch of private schools for me on my laptop. He made it thorugh yesterday so this officially puts his summer camp counselor out of the running.

Yesterday was also the EM's first day of middle school. She found it completely confusing and got lost in the building. I explained that this was absolutely normal. I thought everything was ok until she finished telling me about her day and ended with "Please don't make me go back there." From there,it was all downhill. She has no friends, she knows no one, someone was mean to her and called her a nerd. I made soothing noises but she continued to get wound up. Finally I told her to stop acting like a chihuahua and that made her laugh and broke up her spiral of angst. So we agreed that she was to give it at least a week before she can declare that it sucks. I am reasonably confident that today will be a better day, as she has both dance and art.

The MM had a fine first day of third grade. He had a substitute so nothing much really happened. Today we go buy cleats and other soccer stuff because I am anticipating practice starting this week. The babysitter showed up at the appropriate time to pick up the EM and then the boys. What a giant giant relief that is! When I got home from work, she was sitting with the EM, watching Little House on the Prarie. The only cause for concern was when I called home earlier, the EM told me the babysitter and the boys were out back doing archery, an occasionally scary thing.