Tough Week

This has been a tough week. I’m relieved it’s almost over.

Monday and Tuesday my son wasn’t allowed at school. We were so fortunate that my in-laws were willing to take him because the 4th and 5th days of the school year are not great ones to miss. In my free moments, I spent those days researching other preschools in the area. I’m in the process of setting up tours so I can apply to a few places and at least get on some waitlists. My husband is looking into some places that are close to his work.

I spent all of Wednesday morning glancing nervously at my phone, terrified I would see the name of my son’s preschool on the screen. Thankfully they never called. Evidently things have been okay since his return. I found the chew toy dog tags that he wasn’t all that crazy about the first time biting was a problem–this time he is very excited to wear them around his neck. He still had them on at pick up and the spot on his shirt suggested he was using them a lot. I hope they help.

Wednesday afternoon I had to attend the ice-cream social at my daughter’s school as a representative of the PTA. I had dinner ready for both kids so they could eat in the car before they got an ice cream. We stayed for the requisite 45 minutes and then went home. My husband had a meeting so I had to manage bedtime alone. My daughter was upset because I wouldn’t let her watch TV (her teacher had called to let me know she had been “on red” and had to go to an “alternate setting” (another teacher’s room) because she was being so disruptive), and my son was tired after his first day back at school. Bedtime was long and arduous. Then my daughter said her stomach hurt. I didn’t think much of it until she complained it was getting worse. By 9pm she was throwing up all over the bathroom (so close to the toilet, and yet so much vomit everywhere but toilet).

My daughter and I were up all night. It was pretty awful. Luckily most of the rest of the mess was contained, or could be covered until morning with a hand towel.

I drove to work at 6am to get things ready for a sub. The traffic getting home was insane. Then I took my son to school and dropped some other kid’s homework off at my daughter’s school (why it was in my daughter’s backpack I could not ascertain) and then went home to take care of my daughter.

We watched hours and hours of Octonauts (the kids is obsessed), then some Planet Earth, then Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory since we just finished the book. I think she liked the movie. I fucking loved it (like I always do). God, Gene Wilder is a genius in that film. So many incredibly one liners. I’m sad he died. (I noticed that Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay for that movie–no wonder it’s such a wonderful adaptation.)

After the movie, when I couldn’t stand any more Octonauts, I picked up the house. It was super messy and driving me nuts, and I could just feel the stress melting away as I picked up each room. I cleaned the bathroom thoroughly and the smell of vomit is finally gone. I am so much happier when my house is somewhat organized.

My daughter passed out at 6:30pm and we haven’t heard from her since. I enjoyed the quality time with my son after she went to bed. He was also asleep relatively early (8:30pm) and I did a little creative project I’ve been considering. It involved my first foray into glue guns. I think it went rather well.

So yeah, it’s been a tough week, but it wasn’t all bad. I’ve been feeling good about how I’ve managed some of these harder issues with my kids. I appreciated the hour or so I had to think about how I wanted to handle the disruptive behavior situation with my daughter. If she had told me she’d been sent out of the room herself, it would have been a bad scene, but with an hour to think about it I knew exactly how I wanted to handle it. I’ve been proud of how my husband and I have talked to our son about biting; I think we’re toeing the line between “this is really serious and you need to stop doing it,” and “we love you always, you are a good kid,” rather dexterously.

Friday I’m back at work and my husband is home with our daughter. I’m sure we’ll lay low over the long weekend to let her recuperate (not that we had any plans anyway). I’m thankful we have three days to reboot after the various shit storms we’ve been weathering. I hope next week is much less eventful.