War and sickness

War in Ukraine. Russia is invading. This very quickly can turn into WWIII. Putin is cutting off his country making it more similar to North Korea than to any free world. The videos of the innocents get me every time. I can feel their fear and sadness and pain through the TV. It makes my chest so tight and my stomach in knots. I feel helpless watching from this far away.

I’m about over the sickness. My family has been getting sick on and off for months now. We get better and it’s not long, maybe a few days, before we’re back sick with something else. Two weeks ago it was the stomach flu, this week it’s a cough, sore throat, and runny nose. My youngest cried the whole trip to drop my son off at school and she put herself back to bed as soon as we got home.

I come here often to write and I often am distracted away from it. Every night when I get into bed I think, oh I should have blogged that, or I should have posted that picture. I need to be better at getting small tasks done.

After the past two weeks of challenges…

Tristyn lost his 5th tooth

This is the second tooth he has lost at school. tooth fairy is going to go broke!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

I’m realizing how unnecessary and draining worry is and I was shown an example of that last night. When I was a kid there were a LOT of worries when I watched my folks walk out that door knowing they would be speaking to my teacher. About me. ALONE. I would be a mess of nerves and anxiety the whole time they were gone. As soon as they pulled into the driveway I would watch them from the window glued to their faces searching for any hint or clue as to how the meeting went. I’m not sure why I was always so worried. I always got the “talks too much in class” checkmark and occasionally I got the “doesn’t stay in her seat” but all in all I was a pretty good, maybe a little depressed, kid.

So as hubby and I are walking into the school we noticed all these other parents walking in for their meetings too, but nearly everyone brought their kid with them. I reread all the emails and messages about this conference and never once does it say to bring your kid. Growing up, I never went to my own so I just thought that’s how it always is. Hubby said he never went to his either so I don’t know if this is a new thing or not.

We’re standing outside Tristyn’s kindergarten classroom waiting for his teacher to call us in and I’m bracing myself for the apology of not bringing him and for the report she was able to give us. I fully expected her to tell us he talks a lot, doesn’t listen the first time, gets hyper, and doesn’t sit still. I was ready for those results. What was most important to me was that he was a good person and a kind person to other people. That’s all I cared about.

Not only did my ultimate wish come true but we learned so much more. Tristyn tested top of the class and they are considering him advanced and “gifted.” He has complex and creative ideas, he’s always engaged and never daydreams, he’s the first to raise his hand and she can always count on him to help lead the class. She said he has such good manners and is so nice and kind to everyone. Here it comes…he can get a little handsy with his friend Dashel because they like to play/fight karate. She understands they were best friends before coming into school so she totally understands that. She said her biggest job at this point is to keep up with his pace.

I ugly cried in the truck. I almost lost my breath I cried so hard. My Mommy heart needed that report so much even as a reassurance that he’s ok. I want him to be happy. He is. Hard work pays off. The rewards are enormous.

What she needs are stories..

Hubby watched the kids today as I took a trip down to the library where they were holding two books for me. After I picked up my books I went and got some coffee since I had a free one on my rewards card at Dutch Bros.

The two books I got were recommended by the book worms who post on #bookTok on TicTok .

The invisible life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
The darkest minds by Alexandra Bracken

The invisible life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

I have a really swollen lymph node on the left side under my ear tonight. It’s super painful. No other symptoms. Weird.

Well the nightmare has happened

I woke up bright and early, as usual, thank you Zahkya, and I had everything ready for school yesterday. The kids were dressed, Tristyn’s snack was packed, his water bottle was clipped to his bag and ready to go. Then my husband reminded me it was late-start-Monday. Every Monday they start school an hour later to help the teachers get ready for the week. So, that’s awesome. Time to destress about getting to school .. I had an entire hour and everything was ready! Wrong. It wasn’t even 18 minutes later I got a text message from the school:

Dear students in Mrs. G’s kindergarten class. We have recieved notification that your student may have had direct contact with or may have had direct contact with or may have been exposed to someone with positive or probable COVID-19. We will need your student to stay home until Sept 7th and if they have zero symptoms your student may return to school.
District 6

Tristyn is one of two students in his class of 23 that have worn masks since day one. They wear them all day every day except at the cafeteria when they eat. A mask mandate went into effect yesterday too so now K-8 should be wearing masks. I’m hoping that Tristyn remains symptom-free and that mask helped protect him.

Now we are on virtual learning for the next week. Mrs. G made a packet that I picked up and she has videos and lessons every day on an app called Class Dojo. It’s pretty awesome to be able to keep up with videos and pictures of the kindergarten class and to be able to see what he’s doing throughout the day but now we are using it for his teacher to do videos virtually. When I told Tristyn he couldn’t go to school for a week he cried. Not the reaction I would have expected a month ago: however, I’m very excited about his excitement and enthusiasm, and motivation for school.

This school thing in a pandemic world is hard. I can’t imagine all the parents doing this for an entire year already. What a nightmare. No wonder our kids and their parents are so stressed out. I can see why now and it’s only my first day.

I just got a notification that my library book is available to pick up. I usually read all my books on my phone using the kindle app. I realize that my kids watch me and they model after me and even tho I’m not “really” on my phone, I’m reading a book using my phone. The image still doesn’t fit, it’s still an image of their Mom on a phone. So I’ve gone back to reading physical books. That way they know what I’m doing, they know I’m reading a book and it’s made a huge difference. They are less interested in their iPad’s and games and they have started picking up their books more often. A constant reminder that I’m always being watched and I need to model what I want to see in them. I love books. I love reading. I want them to love it too.

Every day is the best day

We are in our second week of school and our first full week for Tristyn. We are all trying to find a routine and I’m trying to fit all my household responsibilities in between everything. I ended up being a total wreck the whole first day of school. I think all my stress and worry dissipated when I picked Tristyn up and when I asked him how school was he responded “This was the best day of my life!” He had two more “best day of my life” days last week, each day would be better than the last in his opinion.

Then he had a rough day. He made a little boy cry by crowding him out of his square. Tristyn thought the boy would laugh but he didn’t and his teacher asked Tristyn to move away from the boy. Being called out by his teacher really touched a chord in his heart because he went to the corner and cried. He said only one boy saw him cry. He cried while telling me the story and in the big picture it really wasn’t a huge huge deal so I told him there was a way he could make everything right. He would have to apologize to the boy. So he did, as soon as he got to school. After he apologized he asked the boy to be his friend, so it all worked out in the end. He learned a social lesson and he ended up with a friend. Win-win. My Momma heart is proud.

We had to take Zahkya to karate tonight. I don’t think we’ll be doing that again. She doesn’t do good sitting still and she kept wanting to join the karate class and she would tell them to be quiet after doing their power sets. It was a good trial run.

The day before school … I’m a wreck!

I keep checking Tristyn’s backpack to make sure he has everything.

I’ve checked his school supply list a dozen times today. Yes, he has everything. We dropped off most of the items when we went to his school’s open house. He got to sit down at his desk and meet his teacher. Mrs. G is going to be awesome. I’m still a wreck.

I’ve double, triple, 10000x checked all the websites I’m supposed to be signed up to track his progress and his school lunches. Every time I check I’m reminded that I haven’t forgotten anything. He has his masks, he has his water bottle, everything has his name on it. Everything is in place. I’m still a wreck.

Tristyn couldn’t be more excited about school. His attitude is great about leaving me for a big portion of the day. One of his best friends will be in his kindergarten class and they are both so excited about that. So am I. Tristyn know’s another little boy who will be in the classroom down the hall that he knows from karate. Tristyn told me he’s not going to have a problem at all staying there for 7 hours a day. I’m so proud of him for his bravery and confidence. I’m still a wreck.

I’ve spent the last month making test drives to his school. I’ve driven around the neighborhood his school is in so I’m familiar with all the roads. I’ve made test drives using every single way I know to get to that school (there are three different roads to get in). I’ve made the drive down the drop-off lane preparing both him and myself for the actual first day of school. Replaying both verbally and physically the moment of drop off. I even took the child lock off the door so he could get out on his own.

ON. HIS. OWN.

Whoa. Just typing that out brings the gravity of what I feel to a new level. This is what I’ve prepared him for for the last 5 almost 6 years of his life. This is when he walks, on his own two feet and starts making those little decisions that will be with him the rest of his life. This is where he starts to practice that. I will miss him but I’m equally as excited to see him grow and blossom without me too.

I am such a wreck…

The first front tooth is a goner!

This happened a few days ago too. The milestones keep coming. Nothing like losing your first front tooth right before school starts. He even got “a whole buck” for that awesome tooth. This is his third tooth gone already.

School starts soon

Not only does school start soon but Tristyn got accepted into the school I wanted for him. I can’t believe we actually got in! I cried the day we got the acceptance letter. I cry a lot at these little milestones it seems. Now he can start school with his best friend and he’s excited about that. I’m excited for him. It’s going to be a super busy time for my little guy. He’ll have school 5 days a week, karate twice a week and baseball is still going for the next two weeks. I think that Zahkya is going to be lost without her brother at home and I’m not exactly sure how to prepare for that.

I’m trying out a new thing. Every day I think about coming here for updates and/or thoughts and I don’t because I think, I’ll blog about that tonight. Night comes and after the kids go to bed I’m either playing WoW or spending time with the hubby so my time for writing has been smushed. I used to exclusively write at night pre-kids but I think I might have to try switching a few things around and writing in the mornings instead. We’ll see how it goes. I tend to be a little grouchy in the morning especially pre-coffee. I’ll have to remember to write AFTER I’ve made a cup.