A Day

Jonah walked into my bedroom at 6:45 to announce that we were out of milk. There were probably a couple of orphan waffles in the freezer. Not enough to fill the kids’ bellies. So, we went to the bagel store at 7:30. Hurrah. Everybody likes a change in routines.

8:25 – Ian ran into his summer school classroom and barely waved good-bye. His summer school program is in the next town over with the best teacher in the whole world. She always has a project all set up for the kids at their desks, so there’s no waiting around time. The kids just dive into work. Ian loves that.

Jonah loves it, too. I’m physically restraining him from pushing aside Ian and doing the project himself. The project is something dumb like putting pegs in a board, but Mrs. R. somehow magically makes it fun. Those talents can’t be taught in school. Some people got it. Others don’t.

8:45 — Jonah gets deposited at the town camp. The town runs their own recreation program. It’s not great, but it’s cheap and full day, so no one is complaining. They’ve got the local glassy-eyed teenagers as counselors, who are more concerned with making kissy face with each other than teaching the kids corny songs.

I want the corny songs for Jonah. He’s got to learn those hippie classics like “If I Had A Hammer” and “Kumbaya.” Do they still do that or was that just a 70s camp thing? When he’s a little older, maybe we’ll pay for a camp that does that stuff. Because it’s a tragedy if your kid doesn’t have the exact same childhood as yourself.

9:00 — I’m charging about. It’s amazing how much more energy I have when I take the time to eat some breakfast myself. Note to myself — Remember to eat.

Called the gutter guys. Responded to e-mail. Showered.

I sent the resume off for a job that won’t be available until Fall 2007. Gotta love that this 15 month lead time for academic jobs. I rarely know what I’m doing next week. How can I get my head around Fall 2007?

This afternoon, I’ve got to call the daycare people. I think we’re going to sign up Ian for two days a week. Ian’s childcare arrangements have been weighing on me for months. We tried two different setups in the past 4 months, both of which failed for unbloggable reasons. Each time, it took me so much start up energy that returning to the drawing board was excruciating.

I had ruled out daycare at first, because his school told me that he wasn’t up for it. [Angry sentences deleted.] They’re wrong. He’s happy as a clam at his new summer school.

We checked out the daycare yesterday. He clutched my arm tightly until the daycare room filled up with kids marching in from the playground. Ian ran over to a kid that he knew from school and then inspected the book shelves and fish tank. After we left, he was very quiet thinking about what was to come. He sat in the middle of my mom’s backyard absentmindedly fiddling with the grass. He still doesn’t have enough words to ask me the questions that I knew were running through his head.

Ian will be bussed to the daycare for three hours after his morning school. That will give me five hours to myself twice a week. I’ll pick him at 3:00 or 4:00. I have to pay for two whole days even though we’ll only use it for 7 hours a week, but he’ll be around other kids, no one will ever cancel on me at the last minute, it’s a child-friendly environment, and it will be run by grown-ups who understand that I need to work.

This is hard for me. I really don’t want to do the daycare thing. Ian’s going through such a cute stage that I don’t want to leave him. I want to keep him on my lap administering big kisses on his cheeks all afternoon. But it’s time for me to work a little more and more strategically. All this working on weekends and vacation time is a pain. I can have more of that time back to play with the kids and Steve.

Anyhow, this is a rambling post with no conclusions or unifying theme. Just an update on my life.