Common Mom

So last Friday, on my day off, my coworker calls my cell. We had layoffs - again. We lost one writer. So now our tiny little team is even tinier . . . in the past month, we’ve gone from 5 to 3. At one time, there were 12 of us! I feel so bad for S . . . she is a single mother of a teenager and just lost her job. In fact, 3 of the 5 people we lost in this office are the only source of income in their homes. Scary stuff.

We couldn’t get all of our work done as it was . . . now we have 2 fewer people. And us writers are perfectionists by nature. It is SOOOOO difficult to take the “Do what you can with what you have” approach when you want to do everything the RIGHT way - not the MAKE DUE way.

Anyway - I’m still here . . . doing what I do . . . and kind of feeling like crap for still being here when others aren’t.

See, it’s not that awful. If it had been pretty much anywhere else on his leg, no stitches and no restrictions. But it just happened to be on the bendy party of his knee right where he SHOULD HAVE been wearing knee pads. Have I mentioned that I’m a little upset with him for not wearing his knee pads?

So while he’s limping around school without being able to bend his knee, I’m heading to the course with Hubby, MIL, and FIL for a fun morning of golf A great day to play hookie from work . . . OK OK, I’d never do that . . . I actually took the day off . . . but it’s still a great day out.

Happy Friday!

So Dude and Princess were outside playing today. Princess was in the Dora Jeep and Dude was on his rollerblades. They were racing down the driveway. Dude wiped out at the bottom . . .

Excuse the blurry photo - Dude wasn’t real receptive to moving in to better light for me while we headed to the Jeep to go to the Urgent Care

And WHY did we go to the urgent care for some road rash? Well, you see that cut on top - it’s deep, and wide, and right on the bendy part of his knee. Every time I cleaned it, it would gush again. So, off we went.

After doc stuck a needle right into the wound, 6 TIMES, to numb it, the nurse came in and cleaned it all up really well. Then doc came back and put 5 stitches in the top cut, and one in the one below it. Good Times - Good Times.

This is what he gets to wear to school for the next week. Why for an entire week? Because the road rash is NASTY and doc wants to make sure he doesn’t get dirt in the nonstitched part. Also, as a reminder to not bend his knee - at all - for 5 DAYS!!! Um ya - what (pause for dramatic effect) EVER! He’s a 7 year old boy - not gonna happen. Anyhoo . . . he’s way bummed because he can’t swim until the stitches come out next Friday . . . which means he’ll miss a week of lessons at school as well as free swim. He also can’t play the first week of baseball, which he’s been DYING to do - for the past 3 years (this is his first season). AND, he can’t go golfing with Dad and G’pa on Father’s Day now He’ll still get to ride along, but he’s way bummed.

Being the ever wonderful mother that I am, I told him that I was sorry that he hurt his knee and would miss all of those things, BUT if he’d just worn his knee pads roller blading like I’ve told him to FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS, this wouldn’t have happened. Road rash - yes. Stitches - no.

So Dude got his first stitches today. They’re blue. He wouldn’t let me take the bandage off to take a picture. Maybe tomorrow

So, how eventful was your Wednesday evening?

Remember when you were a kid and you could literally run all day long without getting tired? Sure you’d get home and crash at bedtime, but the next day you were right back at it . . . all. day. long. No ill side effects, other than the occasional skinned knee or black eye.

When you become an adult, however, your body seems to say “Whoa there Nelly. Slow down a bit or I’ll show you!” You can go hiking for an afternoon or on a long bike ride or run around with the kids, but about 3 hours in to it your body is screaming for you to take a rest and relax. And for some reason, you’re totally wiped by the time 4:00 p.m. rolls around and it’s time to make dinner, get the kids bathed, and get them to bed.

I’m an active person - I play volleyball and softball and golf, I swim and ride bike and hike, I play with the kids. The trouble is, I don’t do all of these activities year round. And every year, when it’s the season for a sport, I go gungho and play hard and have fun. My muscles, however, don’t seem to have as much fun. With each new season comes new muscle soreness. How is it that after golfing for 15 years, my lower back and forearms seem to forget that they’re used for this sport and SCREAM at me the next day?! That after playing softball 7 months out of the year for the past 25 years (yes, I’m that old) my arm STILL kills me after the first couple of games of a season? Shouldn’t my muscles remember that they LIKE to do these things and WANT to do these things? And that I like to do these things? And that doing these things is GOOD for them and will keep them healthy for many years?

To my Mom and Dad . . . I apologize for laughing at you every summer, on that one day when all the adults would go water skiing, and be sore and immobile for a week after. I now understand what you meant when you said “You laugh now. But just wait until you get older. You’ll see how it is.”

Apparently, I am now older.

Today’s the day - summer camp starts. And even though Princess and Dude are going to summer camp at the same school they’ve been at for the past 4 1/2 years, it’s all pretty new and exciting!

For me, it’s new and exciting because it means I have until 4:30 to pick them up every day, instead of having to bolt from work at 3:00 so I can get Princess and meet Dude at home after the bus drops him off. It means I have just one drop off in the morning . . . both kids to the same place . . . no getting ready to go to the bus with Dude then coming home, finishing getting Princess ready, then taking her to school before I head to work. It means that Hubby and I can spend more time together on my Wednesdays off if he’s home. No rushing to fit in a movie in a tiny amount of time - no rushing around the golf course - no using all of our time getting groceries or running errands. That extra 1 1/2 hours is amazing! And finally, it means that I can sleep in an extra 45 minutes! Not that that will actually happen - that whole internal clock and stuff - but the kids can sleep in and they NEED it. Especially in the summer, they have so much fun and are so busy playing that they just crash at night. So ya - I’m WAY excited!

For Dude, it’s new and exciting because he gets to see some of his old friends from Montessori. We live in a different district than the Montessori school is in, so many of his friends that he had up through 1st grade went to different schools than he did. He loves his new school and friends that he made this year, and we kept in touch with the others, but he’s so excited to see them every day again! He’s also happy that he doesn’t have to get up so early.

For Princess, it’s new and exciting because she is moving on up - yup, today she heads in to the Kindergarten room! She’s so excited! I’m excited, and sad . . . I mean, my baby is in Kindergarten! She is so ready to move up . . . she was the oldest in her preschool class by 6 months, she no longer takes the required nap, and she was doing so well in her schoolwork. She also was ready to go on field trips with the bigger kids and be able to participate in the sports clinics they offer this summer. So yay - she’s so excited that she can hardly contain herslef

For both of them, it’s new and exciting because of all the wonderful things they get to do. Throughout the summer they are participating in a number of different “clinics” at the school . . . golf, soccer, cheerleading. They also have a pool there, so they get to have swimming lessons 4 days a week every week! They learned a lot last year in those lessons, and this year the instructors are even better (we took private lessons with them previously) so we’re expecting great things And finally, there is at least 1 and sometimes 2 field trips per week for them to go on. We signed them up for all but a couple of them. It’s so awesome that they get to have so much fun all summer with their friends. It costs money, of course . . . but when we figured what it would cost for them to go to a number of different Y camps and sports camps and day camps and stuff, it was totally worth it. It’s not that much more for them to be able to stay at the same school all summer with the same schedule. And, it’s TOTALLY worth it for me to not have to figure all that stuff out and figure out where they can be while I’m at work . . . what a stress! It’s so worth it for me to just have them at one place and pick and choose what I want to sign them up for while they’re there. Next year will be a different story - Dude won’t go there for summer camp, so I’ll have to do all the scheduling and driving and bluck bluck bluck . . . so I’m taking advantage of one last stress free summer camp schedule

How about you - what do you do with your kids in the summer?

It’s Girls’ Night Out tonight! Woo hoo!

I’m meeting the girls for a drink and quick bite after work, then heading to the theater to see SATC Makes Monday a little more tolerable in the office.

On an unrelated but slightly related note . . . Hubby and I got a sitter Friday and headed to a movie. We weren’t crazy about any of the movies out there, but wanted to go to one. So we headed out to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall . . . and ended up seeing Indiana Jones 4. We mixed up the theaters and Forgetting Sarah Marshall wasn’t showing at the theater we ended up going to . . . dumb asses!!! Anyhoo . . . Indiana Jones 4 was exactly what I expected - a movie meant for 1984 showing in 2008 It was funny, goofy, unreal, not that bad - but mostly required no thought whatsoever on our part, which was nice after a fairly hectic week. Despite all the nasty reviews, it was entertaining. It’s all about expectations, people!

One year ago, when my son was 6 3/4 years old, he finished his dinner and went to his room to “pack” for the sleepover at his buddy’s house. He came out with his Spiderman sleeping bag and a backpack slung over his shoulder. He gave me a hug and a kiss and said “Well, I’m off to Hayden’s house. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Me: “Hang on. Lemme get Princess and some shoes and we’ll walk you down there.”
Dude: “That’s OK. I don’t need you to.”

I wanted to cry out “You do too still need me!!!”

Instead, I gave him a kiss and a hug and cried as he walked down the street alone to his first sleepover.

Today was Dude’s last day of 2nd grade. The day when he has his end of school party in class. The day when he gives his wonderful teacher a gift. The day when he almost cries because he really wants Mr. Krich to be his teach next year. The day he brings home all of his “stuff” from school. The day he graduates from 2nd grade and joins the ranks of 3rd grade.

A 3rd grader. Already. I think I’m going to cry.

It’s spring, which means another fox family has claimed the den under our neighbor’s driveway. These little guys are the reason I still feel the need to wash my hands every five minutes! Mama brings back squirrels while the babies keep the rodents in check. It’s not easy for these little guys to stay alive when there are mountain lions running around!

 

Today I get to chaperone Dude’s class field trip. We’re going to the money museum “and we get a real piece of old money when we leave!!!” It’s just too exciting for words, really.

What I’m happy about is that when I told him last week that I was going to chaperone, he hugged me and said “Oh yay! I’m so glad you get to come with! I like having you go on the field trips with us!”

Then we stopped at the bus stop to drop him off at the bus. When I went for a hug and a kiss, just like every other day, he rolled his eyes at me and half-heartedly gave me a hug. I can only assume it’s because Cameron, the pretty little blonde from his class, was already at the bus stop.

At least he still wants me around some of the time! I’ll take what I can get while I can still get it