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Well I did take the Moosh to school today, but only until lunchtime. He's still not a big fan of the nap, so I had four lovely hours all to myself and then I picked him up and we had a nice afternoon together.
This is kind of a pseudo-post to finalize the NaBloPoMo, which has been super fun this year. I'll be keeping up the daily or near-daily posting into the future, though.
I ended up taking tonight off from work because I had one last vacation day that had to be used before the end of the year (say nothing of my 3 WEEKS of vacation I have in addition to that "one last day" - I have more than 4 weeks of vacation that MUST be used next year, yikes) mainly because I didn't sleep on Monday and I have been running half empty since then.
This is the part of the story where I must tell you that I am becoming That Mother. Because, yes, I will be sending my child to school all day tomorrow even though I have the day off. I never thought I would be That Mother, but there you go. I am justifying my transition to That Motherness with the following:
Those are all good, reasonable justifications for taking him to school for 6.5 hours tomorrow. And yet, I have The Guilt. I can't explain it, I really DO need the time to myself, but I feel horrible at the very thought.
That's not stopping me, mind you!
My sister C is in a long term relationship with her boyfriend J. They met four years ago while C was living in Australia. J is finishing his term in the Australian army, then they will be moving in together.
Their ultimate goal is for both of them to move back to Australia and live there permanently. Unfortunately C was deported from Australia due to visa issues while she was attending college there. She is currently on a three year ban from entering Australia and of course this will affect her ability to immigrate there long term. Spousal visas are notoriously hard to get in Australia and if they are denied there is no appeal process.
The interim plan is for J to move here to the US. He's going back to Australia to work for 6 months and then he wants to move here to live with C. During the entire Thanksgiving visit C and J were waxing rhapsodic about this mythical work visa that J was going to get so he could move here. In 6 months. With no job offer. To complicate things further, J does not have a college degree. They might as well have been planning for J to immigrate to the US on the back of a unicorn.
Every time they started talking I had to refrain from poking myself in the eye with the nearest sharp instrument. I have no idea why C is so against getting married, but bottom line, that is J's ticket to living and working here. It's just not going to happen any other way. People have tried to get around it, and they always end up getting married because it is the sure thing. Thing is, it's none of my business. I don't want them to get married if they don't want to get married. However, the reality of the situation is that he does not have any legal status here without her, and vice versa for her in Australia.
Having been through the whole marriage based visa hell with R back in the day, I was ambivalent about ruining their starry-eyed dreams In the end though, I just couldn't hold back any longer. I encouraged them to go ahead and apply for a fiance visa for J before he left to go back to Australia. They take 8 or so months to process, and I didn't want them to be relying on a mythical visa when they could rely on an actual visa. I pointed out that they didn't even have to use the thing, it was flexible, and he could come in and then leave again if that's what he wanted to do... but they needed to apply for it.
I hope it makes a difference for them in the long run.
Rudy Giuliani is pro-choice. I wonder what would happen if he won the nomination and we had a dual pro-choice Presidential campaign. What would happen to that massive voting bloc that is the religious wrong right?
Interesting times ahead, methinks.
Well I am happy to report that I am cautiously optimistic about the Reggio school. The teacher I dropped him off with this morning handled things really well and got me out the door without either me or the Moosh dissolving into tears. I didn't sleep a wink today, I was so worried about the whole situation, but when I went to pick him up he was playing happily with another kid and didn't even notice I was in the room for almost three minutes. His classroom teacher said that he had done really well. He'd eaten all of his lunch (!!!! - he never ate lunch at the other school), participated in activities, rested on his mat without a fuss, and as I said, was playing happily when I got there.
The teacher, Ms. P., said that she was really pleased that he fit so well into the classroom. Apparently this group of children had been together for a long time and she said that it really makes for a laid-back classroom atmosphere.
The Moosh was a little closemouthed about school but later I did get out of him that he had fun. He hasn't so much as mentioned his other school once since I told him he didn't have to go back. Boo. Boo on bad school.
There will be no more not-sleeping-a-wink in the future. I am 30 minutes into my shift and I am practically asleep on my keyboard. Not to mention, I was a royal bitch to the Moosh all evening because I was so tired. No more of that, thank you very much.
Onwards and upwards!
Wow. R was supposed to work all day today but ended up staying home. Initially I was seriously pissed off, but seeing as how he and the Moosh just LEFT the house to go to Home Depot (otherwise known as "the vortex" - who knows how long they'll be gone) I am now home. Alone. It's quite thrilling, actually. I could:
1. Dance naked.
2. Watch porn.
3. Go to bed and read for 2 hours.
4. Go food shopping BY MYSELF.
5. Go out to lunch BY MYSELF and read for 2 hours.
6. Watch an R-rated movie on the big TV.
7. Do nothing.
It's amazing. I'm all tingly.
After being held captive by my family for the last three days, we have FINALLY returned to the house to do more than sleep.
I've spent the last two hours planning meals, making shopping lists, doing laundry, and washing dishes. As I sit right now the dishwasher and the washing machine are making a dueling symphony of pings and hums. It's pretty neat, actually.
We are going up to my parents' house ONE LAST TIME for lunch to say goodbye to my sister C and her fiance J. But then we will be home sweet home for the rest of the weekend.
Night shift works well for me - great actually - as long as I get at least 6 hours of sleep. If I get 6 hours of sleep, my day is like any other and I don't need caffeine to stay awake at work, and I'm alert on my drive home. However, inevitably, the sleep schedule does get interrupted from time to time.
This whole week has been a sleep schedule cock up. On Monday I stayed up late to deal with day care shit. Tuesday was the same. Wednesday I had to drive the Moosh up to my mom's house so she could watch him. Today I had to do the same, but the noise was unbelievable while I was trying to "sleep" so it was a joke. Tomorrow I have to go to my parents yet again. Urgh. Ugh.
Not that I don't love my family, or that I don't appreciate their help in watching the Moosh, but still. I'm tired. And just think, in 4 weeks, I get to do this for two weeks straight!
So sleepy.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I am feeling kind of blah these days. I'm having a lot of digestion issues, becuase all I've been eating is junk for the last two weeks, and I haven't been able to do T-Tapp for months becuase of various circumstances. That's going to have to change! I can't live like this. Next week I'm going to start eating 5 servings of fruits/vegetables a day and at least doing BWO+.
Maybe this can be my Thanksgiving resolution.
I fired the day care Monday morning.
Last Tuesday I spoke to the Moosh's teacher about letting him off his mat after the requisite hour of "rest."
On Tuesday she forgot to tell the nap supervisor to let him up after an hour. On Wednesday they did let him up after an hour. On Thursday I got up early and did a surprise visit to see if they were keeping up with the policy.
When I walked in the room not only was he not up at the table doing quiet activities, he didn't even have an alternate activity available on his mat. The nap aides were non-plussed when I asked him why he was still on his mat and told me to take my complaints to the director. I did, and there were apologies all around, but quite honestly I was tired of apologies and wanted to see something more along the lines of actions. Friday he was only there until lunchtime, and that afternoon we visited the local Reggio Emilia preschool as part of my ongoing search for a new school.
I was impressed by the Reggio school... especially the small classes and the mature teachers. I told the director that I would need to see a real class in action before I committed to anything, and she said she understood, so she took my information and we went on our way. That evening I was talking to my mom and she said that she had a piano student that had attended the Reggio school and that her mother was an early childhood professor at one of the universities. She emailed the mom for more information about the school.
On Saturday I told the Moosh that he would have to go to school on Monday and he had a total and unadulterated meltdown. He begged me (again) not to make him go back. I called my mom and asked her if her student's parent had gotten back to her yet, and she said that she had, and had confirmed that the school was excellent, especially the teacher that had the older 4s class that the Moosh would be in. I decided to pull him out of the day care that day.
First thing Monday morning I called the Reggio school and told them I wanted the Moosh to attend. I told the director that I wanted him out of the other school and she graciously offered to start the Moosh the Monday after Thanksgiving so that we wouldn't have to take him back to the old school or have to take time off.
After I picked up the paperwork for the Reggio school I went to the day care and told them he wouldn't be coming back. They were smart enough to let me out of the "two week notice" portion of the contract because I was prepared to fight. However, I will still be reporting them to the NAEYC and the corporate headquarters... in my opinion they give the NAEYC a bad name.
My sister and her fiancee watched the Moosh yesterday, he already had an all day playdate scheduled with my friend for today, and my mom will watch him for the rest of the week, so he'll get a full week break before he starts at the Reggio school.
I am really hopeful that this environment will be right for him. I am optimistic because:
So I am hopeful. I really want the Moosh to have a good experience.
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