My Week As A Single Mom- Day 4 Highlights

Good lord, it goes on...

• Woke up freaking out about Skye’s first day of school. Yes, it is strange to have a kid’s first day of school occur in April, but our school is rather awesome that way, and is allowing Skye to start attending now in order to prepare her for when she starts going everyday next year. It is going to take a miraculous feat of organization to have today run smoothly, though, so the freak-out commences.

• Woke up Skye at 5:30, so that she would be ready to take a nap before class. Her class runs from 11:00-1:00, so I figured that if she woke up at 5:30, then she might be ready for a bit of a snooze around 9:00. The other scenario, that could very likely happen, is that she will NOT nap and will thus be the grumpiest child who ever went to school, and her teacher will hate me forever. It could seriously go either way.

• Explained to Kaia that NO, she could not start the week off by being an uncooperative, sassy ratbag, and that she DID have to actually eat her breakfast and get her clothes on in a somewhat timely manner before we could do anything resembling leaving the house. To my utter relief, she understood this and bucked up a bit. A bit.

• Left my nanny with a list of instructions that were more precise and complicated than a recipe for making a soufflé. Not that I’ve ever made a soufflé. But that’s because the directions are too hard to understand. So, you see my point….

• Got a quick Skype-chat in with Jabiz before my first class, and read all about the great time he had at the Bob Dylan concert last night with the SUPER great group of people that he went with, and exactly how much fun it all was. I don’t think I need to tell you in too much detail about the jealousy and bitterness I was repressing and I forced my fingers to type words expressing my happiness for him, and how much he deserved it. Because I know that you understand.

• Put my organizational and physical fitness skills to the test as I ran around campus like Forrest Gump, because there was NO WAY that things like a job or classes to teach were going to make me miss Skye’s first day. I impressed even myself as I sprinted between buildings and made it back in time for my 11:00 class, albeit I made it in the form of a heaving, sweaty mess. But still.

• Speaking of taking Skye to her first day of school, did I mention The Screaming? Oh, The Screaming. Spent the next hour with my phone RIGHT ON MY DESK because I was convinced that the teacher was going to call me any second and tell me to come and pick up the wailing banshee that I’d sneakily tried to pass off as a human child.

The "Before" Picture

• Held my breath as I walked to pick up Skye after class. Saw through the door that she was NOT crying, and was happily pretending to iron with one of the teachers. Tried to take a picture to show you, but got a shot of a big old flash reflected in the glass instead (I have SERIOUSLY got to learn to take better pictures). Then tried opening the door JUST A SMIDGE so I could get the shot, but as soon as Skye spotted me, she broke into a pitiful sob and ran over to me. Was informed by the teacher that she thinks she’ll be fine.

• Carried my sobbing child to the lobby to meet the nanny, who would take her home. As luck would have it, this was during the school lunch period, as well, so when I passed Skye over to the nanny, EVERYONE (seriously, everyone- including those people who were in buildings clear across campus) got to witness the sheer magnificence of her lungs as she howled and clutched at my shirt. The positive side of this (because I am all about seeing the positive side, in case you haven’t noticed) was that those people who surely thought I was exaggerating Skye’s audio tendencies then began nodding their heads and saying, “Oh, oh yes, I see now”. At least, they did so in my mind. But I’m not quite 100% sure that it happened in real life. How could it NOT, though?

• Got an email from Kaia’s teacher informing me that on Wednesday, the class will be going to the Book Week book sale instead during their library time. She encouraged parents to come and help their kids choose books, but also said that if you cannot make it, you can still send some money and allow your child to choose for themself.

So, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it or not? But Jabiz is out of town? For a week? Did I mention that? This means that, given the fact that I have a class to teach during Kaia’s library time, I will have to just hand her a fistful of cash and hope for the best. And that the GINORMOUS Disney princess book proudly displayed in the center of the book stalls gets snatched up before then. Surely it will. Won’t it?



• Made homemade macaroni & cheese with white beans, congratulating myself on making such a healthy dinner for my kids and getting all geared up to brag about it all over Facebook. It seemed like such a great idea…until my kids would refused to touch it, that is. I have no idea why, because I thought it was delicious, but I practically needed the Jaws of Life to pry their mouths open and eat. Even Kaia, who was looking forward to her dessert of chocolate pudding all afternoon and bragged about HOW MUCH FOOD she was going to eat in order to get it. Instead, she took about four bites and declared that she did not want dessert, after all. So, you know, there’s that.

How many more days?

I'll just leave you with this:

Good night!