Publication Date: Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Guest Opinion: Two weeks down and (only) 40 more to go ...
Guest Opinion: Two weeks down and (only) 40 more to go ...
(September 15, 2004) by Linda Lui
Two weeks into the new school year and I am already running ragged.
The few pots of flowers in our yard are withered from lack of water, reflecting my neglect of anything not connected to any of our three different schools this year, two after school child-care programs, one part-time job for Mom and a Mynah Bird in one Papaya Tree (the Hawaiian version of A Partridge-in-a-Pear-Tree).
It didn't help that we spent a weekend in Reno for my mother-in-law's birthday and returned at bedtime the night before the first day of school. I hadn't gone grocery shopping beforehand and found myself facing the dilemma of packing lunches for my three kids with very little food in the house. No bread. No cold cuts.
But wait, we do have frozen waffles. And peanut butter and jam! Simple. Yet as I was preparing my simple offering the next morning, I realized that although that would work for my older son, Alex, at Barron Park School, my daughter, Jamie, had a classmate at preschool who was allergic to peanuts. No problem. Soybean butter from Trader Joe's.
But wait. Matthew's Young Fives class is part of Preschool Family which strictly prohibits any and all nuts. (The school uses only snack crackers that are produced in nut-free facilities.)
Well, what's wrong with an Eggo waffle with just jam? It's white flour and lots of sugar, but if I stick in a bag of baby carrots I can rationalize that it's "part" of a semi-well balanced meal. I absolutely know Matthew-who-hates-vegetables will not touch the carrots, but it's 6:30 a.m. and I really don't feel like dealing with his nutrition issues at the moment.
Then I remember his first day is an open house and he won't be eating lunch there, so none of this really matters and my mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Day One. We saw Alex to his classroom at Barron Park and it was really warm and wonderful to see familiar faces at the first day of school ceremony on Tuesday morning. Then off to buy a flower to plant at Matthew's school.
All went well until I escorted him to what I thought would be his first day at Albert L. Schultz's after-school program. I hadn't received the paperwork that had been sent but I brought the all-important Physician's Report and Emergency info and I figured I could fill out the rest there.
Then, the Bomb. Their program doesn't start for another two and a half weeks!! I felt a sense of panic -- I work two days a week and to cancel a day means calling up seven patients to reschedule their dental cleaning appointments that they've had for six months. (A free toothbrush to the first to correctly guess what I do!)
My lightheadedness was mitigated when the director came out and said they could accommodate my child-care needs beginning the following week. Whew! My husband, Abraham, said he could cover Wednesday and I was able to arrange a play date with another student for Thursday, so I was able to make it through the first week.
Next revelation: the Jewish Community Center observes Jewish holidays! Now why couldn't I have thought of this six months ago instead of just weeks before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? It's surprises like this that make me the obsessive-compulsive person that I am!
Then I tried to arrange some drop-in hours for Alex at Barron Park Kids' Club, as Ihave some full work days the following week. "Sorry" says the dashing new director, politely. "Our drop-in care doesn't begin until the third week of school." Bad data, bad.
In the the first week of school for Matthew's class, we also had our first evening parent meeting and our first day of working with the children. (Palo Alto's outstanding Young Fives program involves a lot of parent participation, including working in the classroom once a week and attending a couple of evening parent meetings a month.)
I really couldn't handle any more stimulation in Week One. I blamed the heat, but the real reason we skipped Barron Park's back-to-school potluck was: Too pooped to pot.
Week Two was more of the same, with the second Young Fives parent meeting and work day, Jamie's 2-year-old physical and transition to a new preschool -- plus celebrating her second birthday in the middle of it all, just in case we felt like partying.
If I could morph Woody Allen's words on life: Being a parent of young children is full of stress, frustration, worry, exhaustion and fatigue -- and it's all over, much too quickly! (Or so I've heard.)
Linda Lui is a Palo Alto resident and mother of three young children, and contributes articles to the Barron Park Association newsletter. She can be e-mailed at lindalui@earthlink.net.
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