Whew. What a whirlwind school day we had.
We had signed the forms allowing the kids to get the free H1N1 vaccine at school, and today turned out to be the day. The preschool asked me to come in and be with Sophia, taking her home afterward to watch for any reactions. And since Chloë and Jack were getting it too, I stopped in a the main office on Friday to find out what time I should be there.
I got ready to go and arrived at the school just in time for Chloë's class to be in the gym. Not very many kids were there to receive the vax, and no other parent was there to be with their kid. That kind of surprised me. If my kid is going to be injected with something, well, I'm going to be there for them, dammit! I mean... right?!
One of the little girls next door, the daughter of our nice Japanese lady neighbor, was in the gym at the same time as Chloë, since she's a 3rd grader, too. She was looking really scared, almost like she was going to be ill. I offered to hold her hand during the shot, and she readily accepted. She and Chloë sat next to each other, and then - surprise! - they were offered the choice of the shot or the flu mist. Of course, both girls chose the mist, and it was quick and painless for both of them. I hugged two very relieved little girls, kissed Chloë good-bye, and left to go to the preschool.
Only, when I arrived back there, one of the teachers said, "You know we don't go down there until noon, right?" Um, no, I wrote down 1100! What the heck is wrong with me? Oh well, at least I needed to be there anyway for Curls.
So I had an hour wait, and it's only a five minute drive home... so I left. I stopped at Rite-Aid on the way home, to use a $2 off any Rite-Aid beauty or skin care product coupon. I got a tub of dip-in nail polish remover for 21¢! Sweet.
I was going to do laundry when I got home, but I found myself terribly unmotivated to go upstairs and do that... so I didn't. I just farted around and wasted time online until it was time to leave again, 40 or so minutes later.
I arrived at school at five after noon, so I just went straight to the gym, thinking Sophie's class would already be there. But they weren't. They were waiting for me at the class! Oops. We finally realized and made our way down there, just as they were about to give up on me. Sophie was very relieved to see her mommy there again.
Now, I think I've posted here before, but Sophie gets extremely upset about getting shots. I mean, you have to drag her kicking and screaming, holding her down the whole time. It's pretty awful. So I was grateful not to have to go through any of that, right? Wrong. Even though she was getting the up-the-nose treatment, she still freaked out when it was time to sit down and git 'er done.
She cried, she thrashed, she ran away, she hid. I retrieved her and sat her on my lap, and the nurse and I soothed her for at least ten minutes, promising her that it absolutely WOULD NOT HURT. She didn't believe us for a second, and she was terrified. After a long time of trying to calm her down enough to try just one nostril, unsuccessfully, I finally held her arms down with one of my arms, and held her face still with the other hand. She screamed and cried and shoved against me. I hated it. I hate doing that to her.
Of course, it was over in a second, and it was completely painless. But she was mad! And still scared, so she kept bawling for a good five minutes after we went out to the main area to sit and make sure she didn't react to it. I tried to hug her, I tried to hold her and talk to her, but she wouldn't have me. She turned her back to me, wiping away her tears, and there was nothing I could do to console her.
And then, in an instant, her mood changed. She suddenly realized it didn't, after all, hurt a bit, and Mommy hadn't lied to her. She was smiling and playful again, huggy and kissy, cuddling and nuzzling. Phew. That's my girl. Hopefully she'll remember that in a couple months, when it's time to get the second round!
We walked back to the preschool to get her stuff and talk to her teachers. They gave me her progress report, and she's where she should be in all areas. Her behavior in class is excellent (shocker!), and she is well-liked by kids and adults alike. Another teacher, for the other preschool class, told me that she sparkles! That she is the most social, happy, cheerful little thing, and that everyone loves her. Gee... that sounds a lot like someone else I know. Her big sister, maybe? ;)
I took Sophie home (after stopping at Rite-Aid a second time, with a second $2 coupon and getting a huge bottle of liquid soap for less than a buck), and after giving her a series of snacks (that girl is a bottomless pit, I tell ya), we played and fooled around and enjoyed our special little time together. Especially now that Rob is working nights (which should be ending in a week, yahoo!!), it's rare that I get any one-on-one time with any of the kids, so I was grateful for the little bit of time we had.
Soon, it was time to go back for Jack's vaccination. Everyone laughed when I walked back in for the third time. The vax staffers, who don't know me or my kids, kept asking, "Got any more after this?" It seems like I am at the school a lot lately, and that makes me happy. The principal and assistant principal know me and my kids well, and I have a good relationship with both them and all their teachers, as well as many other people in the school. It's a good year, and it's a good school. I'm happy to be part of it.
Anyway.
Jack came in, and he, too, was clingy and worried. I couldn't promise him the flu mist, because I just didn't know their criteria for choosing who was eligible. But it turned out he was, so of course, we picked that! So none of the kids ended up getting a shot, which is great. He was a little nervous, and it was funny, because the little boy next to him was so brave. He actually CHOSE to get a shot and loudly declared, "I like getting shots!" Jack marveled at him; I kind of did, too. Afterward, the little boy was sitting next to us while Jack was watched for a reaction, and he was asking me if Jack was scared. I said he was, and that he wasn't a big tough man like that boy. He puffed up and seemed to enjoy that very much!
Jack wanted to go home with me, but I wouldn't let him, because he was fine and needs the time at school. He's always trying to get out of school, always asking me, "Why do we need to go to school?"
While he was "recovering," I went over and talked to the gym teacher. He and Chloë have had a great mutual admiration for each other, ever since she began kindergarten. So I re-introduced myself, because I don't see him often and probably don't look like the last time he saw me! We chatted about Chloë, and he really seems to think the world of her. We talked about Jack, and he laughingly told me how Jack is not at all intimidated by the bigger kids and charges right into the pack.
After that, we talked about our Life on the Boat plan in a few years, so I could ask him - as I have asked many other people - his ideas for homeschooling the kids. Naturally, I'm concerned about their physical education when we're going to be confined to a small area. Well, he had the most positive reaction to our plans that anyone has had yet, and I was grateful for it. It's hard to constantly defend our choices with no one gung-ho about the idea. But he sure was, and expressed that that's exactly the kind of thing he would love to do, and how amazing an opportunity it will be for the kids. He even asked that, when we actually do it, I send him the blog link so he can see pictures from all our travels. Cool!
When he left to take a child back to his class - oops, I was monopolizing his time for much too long - the Special Ed teacher came over to introduce herself to me. I know the one who worked with Jack last year, but I hadn't had a chance to meet Mrs. S just yet. We talked at length about how Jack is doing, which, well, isn't too great in class, because he just can't seem to focus. He goes down to see Mrs. S with his classwork every morning, though, and gets his work done just fine without help, in a timely manner. He's having a lot of trouble still, with identifying numbers and other math-related stuff, so we're going to meet soon to amend his IEP to include more pull-out services for math and reading. Right now, he's just supposed to be getting help with writing, but he obviously needs more than that. So, we'll do whatever he needs to keep him on track. I got their report cards today, too, and he is below grade level in all areas. Except Art, which came as a surprise.
Sophie and I took our leave, arriving home just 25 minutes before the bus was due to come. The swine flu took up our entire day!
Chloë was terribly excited to show me her first quarter report card when she came home. She has a solid B average, with a B in every core subject except for her A- in Social Studies, of all things. (I say "of all things," because that is my worst subject!) Her teacher comments were lovely, expressing what a joy she is to have in class. Hm, I wonder why no one says that about Mr. Argumentative? Back to Chloë: She made honor roll, and she was given an Honor Roll certificate. Way to go, Curls!
She has a science test tomorrow, so after snack (I gave them some of Daddy's pumpkin pie, but I got permission after the fact, hee), I made them get right into their homework, so she wouldn't be up all night studying this time. Her test is on Simple Machines. She did her work, Jack did his, and I gave them pizza for dinner. I seem to be sticking a lot of frozen pizzas in the oven lately. With Rob away at night, there doesn't seem to be much point in cooking much else, that the kids won't eat.
Well, that paragraph was all over the place...
Anyway, Jack had his Cub Scouts meeting tonight, so we got him ready to go after dinner and headed over to the church. The Tigers meet in a small little room (small little?) at the back, and we arrived latish, so we kind of had to squeeeeeze our way into the room. That was enjoyable.
The first part of the meeting was spent going over the Immediate Recognition items, which include the Cub Scout Promise, the Motto, and the Sign. Rob worked with him on those things just ONE night, so I didn't really think he knew the Promise at all. Well, when the leader asked who knew it and could lead the rest of the Tigers, Jack said, "I know it!" and raised his hand. I was extremely skeptical, but he went on to reel the whole thing out, by heart! I could NOT believe it; I was beside myself. He is a smart little boy, but he Just. Won't. Work. Seriously, it was amazing to me!
So he knew the other two things and earned his Immediate Recognition badge thingy, and then he earned three beads besides. We are only behind on one activity - making a family scrapbook, which, hell, we can knock that out this weekend - and he'll be all caught up! I thought we had missed a ton of stuff lately, but apparently not. What a relief.
After that, they made pinecone bird feeders, with birdseed and peanut butter. The parents were supposed to help with the knife and peanut butter smearing, especially since we had some very prickly cones, but Jack was insistent on doing it himself.
See his little Immediate Recognition badge? It's the white thing there, with the paw print. Yay!
These are iPhone pics, so you can't tell how great his turned out. It looked mahvelous, dahlink. He can't wait to go out to the backyard with Daddy and hang it on the tree!
Lastly, another little Tiger passed out turkey cupcakes that he had made with his mother and sister. So cute! The girls were killing themselves trying to get a cupcake, so I was glad that there were enough for them to have one.
We left after that. I got the Littles ready for bed and sent them upstairs, and then Chloë and I did a bunch of review for her science test. She knows most of it, but I have a feeling that the stuff I had to re-teach her on the quick, she still won't know tomorrow. She didn't seem to really be listening.
And that, my friends, was Monday.
Fin.
P.S. Here's the picture of Chloë's reaction to the Great Wolf Lodge news on Friday:
Excited, much?
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