I can’t remember the last time I was this excited to bathed and ready to fall into my newly made bed, alone. No one else in the room, not even my husband. Oh the sweet, luscious sleep I expect to get. I can’t wait to share this night with no one.
We made it home today. Well, the kids and I did. We woke up early, got the car packed and were driving north by 7:30am. We only stopped once for me to pee (holy shit did I need to pee–it was an EPIC pee) and despite a considerable traffic jam due to one lane of the two lane highway being closed (this was right when I REALLY needed to pee), we made it home in record time (six hours). I was very pleased. We seriously rocked it.
The afternoon ended up being unexpectedly hectic when I was informed that my daughter’s doctor neglected to sign the box that said my daughter didn’t need to be tested for TB and that without a signature in that specific spot (there were signature’s elsewhere on the page but apparently they were worth nothing) my daughter would not be able to attend her first day of Kindergarten on Monday. Luckily I was told this at 3:30 and the doctor’s office closed at 4:30 so I had an hour to get us home on the bike, transfer us back into the car (which still was not unpacked) and get us to the doctor’s office with ten minutes to spare. Thank god it didn’t matter which doctor signed the very important TB box because our doctor was not there that day. And even more luckily the school’s office will be open tomorrow during the back-to-school picnic so I don’t have to stand in some horrendous line on Monday so my daughter will be allowed into class on her first day of school.
Let’s just hope the secretary takes the stupid paper tomorrow like she assured me she would as long as there was A DOCTOR’S signature in that box.
{Side question: Am I the only one who would actually go to the doctor’s office and not just forge the signature at home? My mom thought I was crazy for going back to the doctor’s office; she thought I should have just copied the signature that was elsewhere on the page on that specific line. I was too worried the secretary wouldn recognize it was a bullshit signature and refuse to accept it and my poor daughter wouldn’t get to go to her first day of school. This coming from a girl who just started high school forging her mom’s signature so they wouldn’t have a real copy of it on file.}
By the time we got back from the doctor’s office with the golden signature it was almost time for me to leave for the after care orientation meeting. My parents were kind enough to come up and watch the kids for an hour so I wouldn’t have to bring them with me. I somehow managed to get dinner ready and both of them bathed in the half hour before they showed up. I made it to the meeting, took meticulous notes, asked a few questions, chatted with a few moms, came home, ate dinner, put my daughter to bed, worked out, showered (oh my god it had been sooooo many days since I’d showered and it felt soooooo good), changed my bedsheets, grabbed my computer and got into bed to write this post. All in all it was a productive day to end our week long trip (you’ll notice I stopped using the word vacation).
I’m happy to say that the second half of the trip was much better than the first. My son eventually felt better (though his hellacious cough lingers), I got to spend some evenings with friends instead of alone, on my phone, in a dark room while my kids slept. We had a great beach day in LA and got to see the Endeavor Space Shuttle at the California Science Museum (I was totally geeking out about that). In the end, I dare say, I was glad we went (though I still don’t plan to go again next year).
And now we have two days until my daughter starts Kindergarten. She also has her first loose tooth. She is growing up… and away.
Monday morning is going to be tough. Such a huge transition for both of us. I was realizing that it will be the first morning I’ve had to wake up early for my daughter’s obligation and not my own. I am technically still on summer break until Wednesday, but my daughter’s district starts Monday so we’ll be up at 6:15am to make sure we get there on time without anyone feeling stressed or rushed (her school has an early–7:50am–start time and my daughter is sloooooow to get moving in the morning). Evidently traffic is a shit show, especially the first week, so we’ll be taking the bike. I’m glad we have it as an option.
We don’t have much planned these last 48 hours of summer, and I’m glad for that. I would definitely not recommend being away for the week before your oldest kid starts school. Coming home to packets of papers to fill out–and having missed orientation–is not ideal. Plus the whole missing signature fiasco would have been a lot less stressful if I had a few days to figure it out. I have plenty to do in the next few days to get us both ready for her big day–and big week. I really hope she’s happy at her school.
And with that I’m going to sign off. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Thanks for the smile. I would have gotten the MD signature too. Glad it all worked and hope last night you 3 all slept well and today and tomorrow are peaceful and easy, that the laundry and put-away after the trip are easily completed and that life is good! Hurrah for the bike and your good decision to get it. And even more cheers that she starts school before you do! Makes it easier than the reverse.
I was SOOOO thankful to learn that her school started before mine. It really did make all the difference. So, so thankful for that.
School starts Monday for us. Orientation turned out to be a potluck with no instruction at all, though eventually DH made his way to DC1’s new classroom and luckily his new teacher was there and she explained some stuff for him. Also we found out that school is only a half day one day a week every week(!)
Re: doctor’s signature, when we were at a horrible daycare, the receptionist (a horrible woman and a huge bully) actually accused me of forging a doctor’s signature (we had not!) and called the doctor’s office. And on top of that, even though the doctor’s office confirmed that they had signed the form saying the rash was not contagious (eczema), she wouldn’t let my daughter go back to school anyway! Since my DH was out of town, I ended up having to pay a huge amount of cash to get a student to watch her at the last minute while I taught on top of all the work time I’d missed taking her to the doctor’s office the day before.
I cannot believe that woman at the daycare. How awful. I’m sorry you had to deal with that.
Hijack alert!
How in the name of Holy Ever Loving Light do you guys put clothes on your children??!! I was looking today for pjs for 4th birthday gift for a girl child who is tall and now wears size 6. Was at Sears, Disney, Justice, Macy’s, McCalous (non big box sells Carters), Kohls and Target. Wanted simply cotton jersey material. All were covered in movie franchise pictures. Some sheer negligees in polyester worth of X-rated movie fame but most were some synthetic that is supposed to look like a cotton jersey but feels like third world chemical nastiness. And, almost no stock present. Do children just go naked to bed these days? And all the chemicals!!! No wonder today there are so many children with sensory sensitivities … even a 19th century orphan wouldn’t like this stuff on their skin. The rate of infertility due to chemical exposures in youth clothing is going to be astronomical in 20 years!!!! Maybe it is a plot on the part of the 1% to exterminate the poor and complete the removal of a middle class. (I assume the 1% offspring wear only natural linen woven by temple maidens and washed into soft gauziness.) But truly……. No cotton jersey???! What are your children wearing to bed?
HOW DO YOU GUYS MANAGE??????????????
plain white t-shirts and shorts (just like daddy and mommy)
I think there’s some legal thing about children’s sleepwear needing to be fire retardant.
Thanks to those of you who gave me good advice re children’s nightwear. And much appreciation for not chastising me for the hijack.
Old navy and children’s place sell cotton pjs sets, super cute. I stock up online when on sale 40% off (3 pairs summer, 3 pairs winter) and they get handed down to younger brother.
This is where I get all my kids pjs, but they don’t have those cotton pj sets in the “kids” section. The “kids” section of stores is way shittier than the toddler/little kid section.
Yeah. It’s harder here because it’s cold, but not cold enough to turn on the heat (we try not to, at least). I like to sleep in yoga pants and a soft tshirt. I think that will be my daughter’s preferred pjs when she grows out of the princess nightgowns.
My kid sleeps in his clothes — sometimes not all of them, but not infrequently, everything he’ll be wearing tomorrow (minus shoes). Perhaps for this reason (but perhaps not) he prefers pants with elastic waists and soft pockets to jeans. This practice (sleep in your clothes) dramatically simplifies our mornings.
I kept him in season-appropriate onesies for my own convenience for most of the first 2 years of his life, so I figure he’s rebelling against that. But really, why not sleep in your clothes?
We did this for a few years with my daughter. I wish we still could but her uniform makes it a little harder. She also LOVES her nightgowns and would be sad not to be able to wear them at night. Sleeping in her clothes got us through some hard years though. Leggings and a shirt for the win!
Welcome home! I’m glad your trip improved. The high-school forgery amused me, I got quite good at signing “my mom’s” signature in high school (but then, our handwriting is quite similar anyway), but the pre-emptive approach never occurred to me. Brilliant.
To be fair, I didn’t do it because I wanted to get out of trouble, I did it because I was always horrible at remembering to get signatures so this way I could just do it at the last minute without issue. I did all sorts of awesome shit in high school, now that I think of it. I got amazing grades, but I wasn’t a “good” student.
Wow. It NEVER would have occurred to me to forge my mom’s signature, let alone to start high school that way. I’d have gone the doctor route too. It is actually a fear of mine that someone is going to think I’m forging my OWN signature now because of the nerve disease I have my signature seldom looks the same twice- it’s a good day when I can manage to hold a pen at all so whatever it looks like that’s it.
I was mostly worried it wouldn’t look convincing enough, so I totally understand your concern!
I would’ve forged it. Especially if it was for a negative finding and as inane as “doesn’t have TB risk factors” (i.e. if my kid had an illness and needed a medication, I would get a signature, but to say she is disease-free, I’d forge it!) I’m not really into jumping through hoops for beaurocratic nonsense. I’ve forged my parents signature at their request but your pre-emptive strike is pretty genius!
It has been so long since I’ve forged a signature, I was worried I’d botch it. And I don’t know the secretary well enough to know if she is the kind of person to “scrutinize” or “let it slide.” If I hadn’t been able to get it signed at the doctor’s office I would have forged it, but luckily I didn’t have to.
So how was the first day of school?
Just curious, why didn’t your daughter get/need the TB test? When I taught at a California community college a few years ago, even I had to get the TB test for that.
LOL, I totally would have gone to the doctor’s office to get the signature as well, for the exact reason you stated. I also forged my Mom’s signature all the way through high school (and my Dad’s) with scary accuracy!