Monday, December 01, 2008

Our 5-day Thanksgiving break was set to end today. Except Mac was having so much trouble breathing last night I decided to call him in sick this morning. By late in the day I realize I made the right decision. His sniffles are almost completely gone. But what a day. On the 1st of December we wake to our 1st snow! Mac and Sailor are so excited! They want to go out to play. While I run around the house cleaning up and doing chores Sailor gets into his outdoor clothes. “I’m getting very hot!” he complains as I clean up his room. “No one told you to put on your coat!”
“I want to go outside, too!” Mac wails. “you can’s just leave a little kid home all alone!”
“I sure can if I am right outside the front window and you can hear me shoveling.”
“You don’t understand the life of a little child!” he cries.
“Oh, Mac, I do. But if you are home sick, sick means lying on the sofa, not playing in the snow! You have to get well and go back to school.”
Poor thing. “I will have my phone on me if you need me.”
“You will?”
“Yes, sweety, I will.”
Sailo enjoys the snow while I test out my $40 super mittens from Eherwon. They are no warmer than any other pair I have grabbed from TJMaxx for $19.99. Darn!

Sailor has gymnastics and my dad comes up to stay with Mac. “You look like you want to make your famous tuna salad,” I tell my dad, indicating the ingredients and equipment on my counter to make said tuna salad. “I look like I want to make tuna salad?” my dad asks. Sailor and I will enjoy this lunch. I never tell him it’s tuna salad. I call it GrandDad’s dip. Mac eats the leftover pizza from last night.

We read a few stories and it is time for Judo. By this time both boys are thrilled to walk in the snow. At Judo Sensei informs us that the Judo tournament on Friday has been changed to Thursday. The day my boys have French class after school. And it’s parents’ week at French and my parents are set to come. And Mac is set to start in his new 8-10-year-old class. But Sensei really wants my boys to be there. He says he will try to work it out. I say I will do the same. It is now 11:20 at night and I am no closer to working out anything because my helpers are probably as overwhelmed with holiday obligations as I am and so I am not getting much assistance.

I help my boys clean up their playroom, get out their clothes, set out breakfast dishes, pack up extra shoes to leave at the art studio, read a chapter of Pippi Longstocking and snuggle my boys as they pass out quickly on either side of me.

Next up, making next year’s calendar for my family’s holiday gift. It takes a while. Next I download photos for our holiday photo. Indeed the 2 calendars and 150 cards, even with shipping, cost less than the stamps I ordered last night to mail my holiday cards.

Meanwhile I look at an email and find that while I had believed I was to do a reading program in Mac's class every Tuesday in fact I am only on the schedule for 2 or 3 days in the next 3 months. I email back and forth with the mom in charge and we both look for an old email to clear up my misunderstanding. But in truth I don’t care much. I already have way too many things on my calendar, so much that it’s getting hard to read. So a few days less is probably a good thing. Nonetheless, I am surprised. Relieved a bit too.