After the Easter bunny stuff was finished the kids played around a bit and I did some laundry.
We had the kids do school for an hour, which nearly killed us all. Both kids were just irritating. Millie seems to think she gets an opinion about everything I request of her. It may be that all of this is starting to get to us all. We have to figure out a good schedule, and I’m afraid doing school on Sunday is a bad idea.
We had an amazing Easter lunch of ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans and rolls. It was yummy. We played dominoes after lunch and then pretty much lazed around for the rest of the day.
Around 6 pethe regular routine for our distance learning started up again. I got a message from a parent about how she felt I wasn’t working hard enough, which instantly stressed me out. Then when I started thinking about it, I remembered the patterns of the child and decided it wasn’t me she was irritated with, it was him. Of course taking the responsibility off of him and putting the blame on me is easier. I messaged her to let her know that all of the information she was seeking was, in fact, in the assignments he was receiving. I think sent my communication to my team leader and the learning support teacher who supports my lessons. I tried to wash my hands of it, but things like that really get to me sometimes.
I woke up Monday with a stiff neck. A new pillow would probably do the trick. I got an email from Claudia, my learning support teacher, telling me not to worry about this parent. She went on to say that back in October they had a meeting with the mother to explain to her that her son had some learning difficulties. The mother totally rejected any help the school was offering and said that the school wasn’t working hard enough for him. It made me feel better knowing this was her pattern, but it made me sad for the child.
We got up Monday morning and started our day as we usually do, approving assignments and getting things sorted for the following school day. The kids did their school work and then we went to the park for a while. When we got home from the park, we took a drive south of town just to get out of the house. Jack and Millie were obnoxious in the car and I wanted to tape their mouths shut. Neither of them know to stop once I shout at them. As kids, if my parents ever got mad at me and yelled at me, I wouldn’t speak again until I knew things had settled down. They just don’t stop.
We had decided to order dinner from Chipotle and we picked it up on our way back to the house. We hadn’t eaten Chipotle since we returned to Arizona. Usually that is our first stop when our plane lands. It was a treat to have food from a restaurant.
Once dinner was over, I put Millie to bed. Jack followed shortly after and then we started our nightly school. Because I had a neck ache all day, I decided not to sit at my computer for the evening, rather on the sofa. There wasn’t much for me to do in the evening, so I watched Netflix and then went to bed around 2 am.
Tuesday morning I got up to walk with Sue again. She brought me some yummy grapefruit from her tree. On our walks, we pretty much solve all of the world problems. Someone has to. We talked about being connected during this time in our lives. I introduced her to Zoom. I told her once I was home I would send her a tutorial about how to conduct a Zoom Meeting in order to stay connected to family.
So when I got home, she and I had a Zoom Meeting. She reported back to me that she had several members in her family in a Zoom Meeting that evening for an hour and a half. She seemed so pleased. I know that being social during this time is so difficult, but thank goodness for technology that allows us to connect. It’s vital for our emotional well-being.
Before I had the Zoom Meeting with Sue, I had to handle Millie in meltdown mode. When I had first arrived home from my walk, she was in a state. I dealt
with it, in a not so good way, and then decided we needed a set schedule each day. I sat down and wrote one out for the kids, which is sure to change, but we needed some sort of set routine. We have eased into this whole distance learning thing, and are learning as we go. Who knew this would be such a challenge and last for so long. So we wrote things down and decided we would do our best to stick to it. It would begin on Wednesday.
The kids did their learning and then we discovered Millie wasn’t feeling well. She was cranky as a result. I called the doctor as she had a low grade fever. However, the doctor just said to watch her for a few days and contact them if she got more symptoms. So we fed her Tylenol and kept an eye on her.
The kids entertained themselves for some of the day. We decided to watch National Treasure as a family. It was really good. It was the first time Jack had seen it and he was really impressed. We had dinner and played Mexican Train and a round of Uno. Then Millie went to bed and said she felt she was going to throw up. I put a trash bin by her bed just in case. She had a low grade fever most of the day, so we decided to watch her closely for the evening. Jack followed at 8:30 pm and then I took a shower.
I had a team meeting and expressed my concern about what this mother had said to me about me not working hard enough to help her son. Everyone told me that she was queen of blaming others rather than holding her son accountable. That made me feel a ton better. The evening went as most evenings do these days, long and boring.
Wednesday morning I was up around 8 am. Millie had come in to tell me her head hurt at 7:15, but then I went back to sleep. Once I was up and dressed, I approved assignments and Stuart and I decided to go to the pharmacy to get some more children’s Tylenol for Millie.
The kids had attempted their morning schooling, well not Millie. She had a meltdown and ended up spending most of the day in her room. I am so not equipped for this little girl. Lord help me! She was allowed to come out of her room to eat lunch and then we eased up a bit as the day went home, but took away the park visit and game night, which seemed to bug her a bit. Jack didn’t like it for her at all. He started to cry because he can’t stand to see her in trouble. It’s kind of sweet.
Wednesday night was simple enough. With it being the last night of our work week, it’s always a relief when the night starts. I usually get my next week of work solidified during my work hours on Wednesday evening. It’s a good feeling knowing when you wake up on Thursday morning that your weekend starts.
Thursday we got up and went to Costco. I had signed up for a membership but my payment didn’t go through for some reason so I spent a bit of time at member services while Stuart walked around the store, getting some of our necessities. Once I had our membership card I joined Stuart in the shopping efforts.
When we left Costco we went to Riggs Elementary to collect text books for the kids. We then swung by Vicki’s house to drop off the Star Wars gear we had borrowed from her. I also picked up some nail products from her. It was a nice little outing that ended with us getting home after lunch. It was fine as we had decided I would make enchiladas that evening and we would all be on our own for lunch. Stuart and I had a sneaky hot dog at Costco.
Once we were home, we decided to go look at a few houses. My friend Melinda Reynolds is a real estate agent and she booked us appointments to see three different houses. The first two houses had a great deal of work that needed to be done, but the third house was ready to move in to and was gorgeous. The kitchen was the room that Stuart loved the most. It had a basement and the most amazing padding under the carpet. It does baffle me how excited I get about carpet and counter space. Sign of my age? I suppose so. The basement had an area for the kids and a home theatre. It really was a nice place. But, we have no jobs and I’m pretty sure we don’t have the credit at this moment to seal the deal. So we will keep dreaming and looking around at houses. It’s fun and a distraction from the virus.
When we got home it was time for dinner. The kids had stayed home with Pop and we had called him to put the oven on on our way back from the last house. I had prepared the enchiladas before we left so they just had to go into the oven. It was an easy dinner, and it was delicious. After dinner we played Uno and then it was time for a good night s sleep. Stuart and I stayed up talking until nearly midnight, but it was nice to just talk about our future plans, the potential of buying a new house and the email I received that told me they had made recommendations to the superintendent for the Assistant Principal jobs and I wasn’t on the list. Bummer! There is a perfect job out there somewhere. I just know we will both land where we are meant to be.
After an 8 hour sleep, I was more tired than I normally am. It was so weird. I didn’t really want to get out of bed. I definitely lazed around most of the morning. My mom searched the Internet for corn hole games and other new things that might keep all of us entertained. We finally settled on a game called Spikeball. We ordered it from Target and then went to pick it up. I also snagged some bubbles while we were in Target.
The kids played when we got it home. It was fun. It started to heat up after lunch so we didn’t play a lot. Jack seemed a bit down on Friday because he didn’t want to go to the park and he didn’t want to go for a bike ride with Stuart and Millie. I laid in his room with him and watched television for a bit. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was, but I felt he was sad. I can’t imagine what is going through his head during these difficult times. We have totally uprooted both kids. He was told he would start school when he got here and would make a lot of new friends, and now he can’t even do that. It makes me sad for him, but this too shall pass. I just hope he will tell me when things bother him. It’s the only way for me to support him I think.
Friday evening we had a battle of wills with Miss Millie.......again. We always battle with her in regards to trying new foods. This was one of those nights. I am happy to report that in the end, team ‘adult’ won this battle. She’s a stubborn and very clever little girl. After her fight about food was over, we played two hands of UNO and then Millie went to bed. Jack followed an hour later and I sat on the back porch while everyone else was in the living room. I’m not sure what I expected of the weather at this time of year, but spring in Arizona is much cooler than I remember. I guess it has been 7 years since I’ve been here in the spring, but I thought it heated up a lot earlier than the middle of April. I’m not complaining, trust me, as it is now it is hitting 100 degrees every day in Al Ain and next week the high will be 107. So I will take a high of 87 degrees. This will not last, as it is still the desert.
Saturday morning I woke just before 8 am so Millie could Zoom with her friend Islay from the UAE. Her first statement to Islay made me a bit sad. She said, ‘Islay, I’m living with my grandparents now and I don’t have any friends.’ I nearly cried. Surely all children are feeling this way to a certain extent, right? Such a confusing and lonely time, and not limited to the adults, or people living alone. At any rate, she had a lengthy conversation and showed Islay every square inch of the house.
Stuart, Millie and I went on a bike ride around the neighborhood while Jack played Fortnight. When we got back we had fish, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies for lunch. Stuart and I started in on our work for the evening. After about an hour, we went outside to play our new game, Spikeball.
It’s kind of a funny and fun game. Seems the only people that really move around during the game are Jack and Millie.
After about an hour of playing, we headed to the park. Stuart stayed at the house to continue working. He joined us at the end of our park play.
The kids showered and then ate dinner. Jack and I ended up doing a tiktok to entertain the family. It was quite funny. My brother Russ started it with Emily, so Jack and I decided to copy them. My body doesn’t move as well as it used to, I have discovered.
There were no games on Saturday evening, just relaxing and porch sitting. The kids went to bed with very little fuss and Stuart and I decided to do school from the bed. It’s not as exciting as it sounds. We propped up the laptop, starting watching West Wing from the beginning and viewed questions into the late hours. I ended up deciding to call it a night around midnight. I figure whatever needed approving at that point could wait until the morning.
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