Monday, January 5, 2009

Mac did not want to go to school this morning. “I’m not going!” he cried from under his pillow. Both boys wanted me to return to bed and snuggle. I felt so bad making Mac get up and go! Sailor, on the other hand, figured out that his new class at the park district is actually preschool and he told us this and he actually seemed very proud to be going to school! Will wonders never cease? I guess taking a year off school was a good plan for him! He was exhausted tho -- gymnastics, preschool and Judo all today!

I was the only mom who stayed at the park district while the children were in class. 2½ hours of reading time. Enjoyable but physically uncomfortable. I was about halfway thru the duration of the class and beginning to think perhaps I was overreacting and being way too overprotective. It’s a public building, true, but, “We’ve never had a problem,” the director assured me. I am actually considering running home to do some housework when a homeless man wanders in and goes straight to the men’s room in the basement, which is right next to the room Sailor is in. He is down there so long I begin to imagine he must have slipped by me while I was deeply engrossed in this strange novel I am reading, called Saul and Patsy that rings a little too true to my own thought processes. But indeed he finally emerges, having apparently washed up and redressed. And I am reconvicted that I belong right where I sit!

After class Sailor says he had a bad day! All 2 hours of it. Becuz of lunch, which he didn't want to eat all of. I think he had a great time, actually.


January 7, 2009

So I am having a really, really crummy day today. I pick up Mac and we trudge thru snow many long blocks to get to his piano lesson and Sailor's new viloin lesson. We walk into the Old Town school and guess what unfriendly face is there?! A mom I had to kick out of playgroup when Hayden was about 19,months old, and who practically ruined my birthday that year (that day!) by calling me names?! UGH!!! Her little girl is pretty and there is a little brother, about 3. There were so many people there that it was easy to be too distracted to see her. But I try to go in the office and there she is then I am going to go into the bathroom and I could hear them in there! I am sure she will never say a word to me but if she does I will pretend I don't remember her: "So many people came thru our playgroup and I just don't have a great memory from those early mommy days!" Or better yet, a totally dumb, "Your daughter is really pretty. What's her name?" might just suffice!

In the evening I am recapping my day to a friend over IM:
had to shovel snow before school, so was wiped out before we even got moving... had to put air in the tires of Sailor's stroller so had to push that thru the snow (not fun)... Alderman's office would not help me with the parking ticket that they gave me misinformation to contest with back in August, so have to probably take Sailor out of the class I was dropping him off at when I got the ticket, so that I can afford to pay the ticket... came home to an irritating email from Mac and Sailor's father, which really pushed me over... pushed Sailor in the stroler thru the snow to get Mac from school and get to piano (Mac) and violin (Sailor)... long walk but ok... got to music lessons to find 17,000 people in waiting area, no where to sit, take off or hang wet snow gear (and yes, my kids were fully bundled including boots and snow pants)... shall I go on? Are you mortified yet? then I see this woman who I had a HUGE fight with about 6 years ago when I had to kick her and her daughter out of Mac's playgroup and she called me all sorts of terrible names and it was my birthday! She is there in the lobby with her kids... and of course I look like crap from being out in the snow all day... and she is really not someone I want to see AT ALL ...
and then, the coup de grace... Sailor's new violin teacher (he just started the lessons today) totally chewed me out for not having a small enought violin... she went on and on and on...
and she was so LOUD I wanted to tell her we were not deaf! and then she told me I had to stay in the classroom and she suggetsed I might want to take notes and I told her I had left my bag downstairs cuz I hadn't planned on sitting in on the lesson... so I texted my sister and she actually said to me, "SuperMommy, if you are not going to pay attention, you might as well go back downstairs." I told her I was totally paying attention. So the witch had the nerve to ask me to show her what she had just shown Sailor. Which I did! Ha!
Then she told me that if we don't have the right violin in 2 weeks we should not come back...
and that if we indeed were not planning to come back I should let her know asap becuz she doesn't want to waste her time, as she has other students waiting for lessons...


Thursday, January 8, 2009

So far this year sucks.

I made a late-in-the-day decision to pull my boys out of French class. It was a heart wrenching decision but at 7:23 pm we are fed, Mac’s homework is done, his backpack is packed up for tomorrow (I think), they are bathed, they had playtime aplenty and we are ready to have stories. I wish we could drop out of all our activities. I would love to drop the piano/violin fiasco on Wednesdays. And I could do without Judo at the moment too.

Meanwhile as the boys are in the bath I change into pajamas. “I can see your boobies,” Mac says. “They’re pretty,” Sailor says. Nice.

Story time.