TGIFMFPFA
I’m not someone who utters that dorky acronym very often but TGIF! I’m so glad this week is done. And can you guess what MFPFA means? Yep…my effing period finally arrived!
My daughter started her first day of first grade at a new school on Monday and she loves it, which is wonderful. Everyday after school she declares her day to have been “Awesome!” I couldn’t be happier. Of course, it’s just the first week and awesome could always turn to awful but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the positive trend continues.
This school, while academically similar to her old school which I praised last year for being “ordinary” in a land of upscale yuppieness, is different in every other way. For one thing, almost everyone personally picks up their children, meaning they park and physically escort their children from the school, which equals a parking nightmare and a lot of human chaos. Now that the first week is over, I’m going to use the car lane and hopefully I won’t be sitting in it forever, fretting about my carbon footprint, as I often do when stuck in traffic.
The first reason we opted to send her to this other neighborhood school is simply because, somewhat icky yuppie factor aside, it’s a school where parents and even grandparents are very, very involved.
At her old school, almost all kids went to some kind of aftercare because the majority of parents worked so there was no after school socializing for my social butterfly and frequently dismal turnouts for anything involving parents unless it was well after working hours. After years of knowing every student’s parent in her preschools, it was strange to not know ANYONE and we felt very disconnected from her school experience.
Now I understand people work and don’t necessarily have the ability to be at the school’s beck and call but it did, in many ways, impact this particular school in a less than positive way (for us anyway). The second reason is that the kids at her old school had a tendency to be kind of rough and somewhat unpleasant to each other.
I’ve addressed all that before so no need to rehash. It’s only relevance now is in the fact that the aforementioned things made us seek out a different school. Now, the parents are also very different at the new school (perhaps a bit…helicopterish?) and my husband has already noted the distinct lack of tattoos among them but we hope the end result will be a better school experience for TQ.
My son, 27 months, started his Mother’s Morning Out program this week, too. When I took him the first day (he goes 2 days a week), he let himself into the classroom via the half-door and never looked back. I watched him while I turned in paperwork and chit-chatted with the director and he was, per my observation, not at all sad to be there. Some of the other kids wailed and sobbed at the prospect of being left by their parents and frankly, I thought P would be among them but nope. He was too excited by all the new toys and faces to worry about me and I have to say, I was SO proud of him!
My husband took him and picked him up on Wednesday as I was dealing with an unusually unpleasant period and he had a similar report –> P went right in and started playing and was having a ball when he picked him up on the playground at noon. Yay for P!
So what am I so miserable about that I actually typed TGIF? Oh, I dunno…cramps, crankiness and the paperwork, mostly.
See, I’ve spent the better part of this week dealing with paperwork for my daughter’s peanut allergy (for the school) securing doctor’s signatures for various forms and that doesn’t even begin to touch on the amount of crap the school sends home every day!
Sign this, sign that, register for this, pay for that, join this, deadline is near, better hurry, quantities are limited, first come, first serve! I’m drowning in this stuff and frankly, it’s a harsh reminder of the parts of school I always hated.
Deadlines, reminders, paperwork, homework, signatures, payments…urrrgggghhhh!
Makes. Head. Hurt.
And? We need a new refrigerator. Oy.
I’ve got to find a way to get organized this weekend (a perpetual but always elusive goal, it seems)
AND find a new refrigerator
AND sell my husband’s old car that’s been taking up valuable driveway real estate since early July (so we can buy a damn refrigerator without charging it)
AND just generally find the motivation to start cooking, cleaning and staying organized again, which always deserts me come summertime. All tips and helpful hints on those topics are welcomed!
So what are you doing this weekend?
You know - sometimes my period would wait until “stressful” events were over to arrive…I wonder if your body was doing the same thing?
I completely understand the school thing. It was one of the reasons I kept Em in Private school as long as I could - the community of family that it created. I think schools forget that Parents need to feel grounded too - that there are Parents who WANT to be involved.
And the paperwork. Sigh. Em starts next week and I usually devote one evening to her paperwork. One full evening.
Oh, and organized? Whats that?
i get to research what demands i can make legally in reguards to my childs IEP. I’m hoping her new school is more accommodating and less a*s-like over ag reeing to and enacting the changes. I also get to do a buttload of cooking for FILs retirement party. All while i have the fun of my 1st period since the baby was born, it too is a doozy
uhh wow sorry to debbie downer your comments. I hope things do indeed look up this school year for your kiddo.
yay for effing periods! ha!
Here all schools are peanut free, so the allergy thing is a bit easier. There is still probably forms for medical stuff, but there is also some law shielding people for the administration of epipens in case of anaphalaxis, which is a plus.
And me? Misterpie and Pumpkinpie are away Thursday to Saturday, so I spent 7 solid hours on Thursday cleaning the house from top to bottom, appreciating that it will last a day or two. Then had a couple of my MBT girls over for a movie. I’m working Thursday and Friday, but will be working on more housework and making some stuff for decorating Misterpie’s new classroom on Friday night. Whee! Do I know how to live or what?
I’m fretting about school. But then we are sending the kids to grandparents for a sleep over and the hub and I are having a Night Out and a Night Alone. We’ll probably come home early and sleep but who knows…maybe it’ll be more exciting than that LOL.
I’m glad your kids have had a good start to a couple of good schools. And GL with all the selling. And buying. I love Craig’s list.
Julie
Ravin’ Picture Maven
Yay for Friday and yay for you!
Yay for periods! Congratulations on your non-pregnancy!
Weekend? It’s my last one before being back to teaching full time so I’ll be playing with my son and trying to clean my pig sty of a house.
New reader…
I get into cooking funks and the easiest way to for me cure them is to go to the drugstore pick up a new cooking magazine with lots of pictures.
My favorite organizing tool is a garbage bag.
Weekend plans? I bought a wood craft piece that I am going to paint the word breathe on and hang in my kitchen. Also, go for a long walk.
Sorry you’re feeling crappy, but I’m happy for you that you finally got your period. I know you were sweating that one out.
My kids attend a very parent-involved school. In fact, I think I spend almost two days a week up there as a volunteer. And, yes, I’m forced to admit that we live in a “icky, yuppie” type of neighborhood where most of the stay-at-home moms drive Hummers, luxury model SUVs, or imported minivans. Don’t hold that against me, ‘kay?
Going back to school sucks big time, especially if you are dealing with the whole food allergy thing. I’ve been to the doctor FOUR times this week, just for food allergy and asthma forms.
But, hey! Silver lining in all that - it gives you (and me) something to blog about!
(Ducking so you don’t smack me…)
That is one of the reasons we love Declan’s school so much - the parent’s are SO involved. We had Back To School night last night and the place was packed and it was like a rock concert.
Oh, and guess who is one of the 2 room parents this year for Declan’s class?
I am already planning the website/blog.
Oh and WHEW on your MFP.
I can so understand every point in your post. I feel your pain, this has been a very difficult first week of school over here too. I am so thankful its the weekend!
Yay Friday, and WHEW! Woot.
This weekend the kids and I are Rock n’ Romping.
This is my first day on your blog….very interesting..
I love Fridays as well, can’t get enough of them.
Dorothy from grammology.com
Found your blog by accident en route to colleague Izzy Neis’ site on kids’ social media, and woohoo, looks like you’re completely in our camp at Shaping Youth.org where we cover media and marketing’s impact on kids, pithy prose and all! (we’re a nonpartisan nonprofit)
I just checked your ‘about us’ section…I should indeed get in gear and become part of your ‘blogger chick’ hub (I’m on BlogHer too) as our readership has major MOM/family/youth cross-pollination—
Shaping Youth covers the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of media & mktg’s impact on kids. (with a unique insider perspective, and some strong counter-marketing programs to create a healthier worldview for kids)
Come visit and take a peek! (just did a round up of all of our ‘green’ links within our site too, for EcoKids, etc.) Pleasure to ‘virtually’ meet you; I’ll add you to my Google Reader!
After today? We’re probably staying home.
Congrats on your period! (how often do we get to say that?)
I blogged about this as well. Going back to school is always tough for me, as I get lost in to-do lists and permission slips and health forms…ugh (My 10 year old brought me a stack as I type this.) TGIF, for sure!
I am working this weekend…. BORING!!
However gald Aunt Flo has paid you a visit… now remember our deal right?? SHe came to see you soooo on or around September 12th… MAKE SURE SHE STAYS AWAY FROM ME!!!
I want 2 pink lines dammit.
We live in a good school district that is also icky yuppified. I already worry about how to raise my daughter not to get preoccupied with all that materialistic crap. A lot of rock-n-rompin’ perhaps?
This weekend my Mom is here and we are going to sort through little boy hand me downs. We’re going to hold up little onesies and go “aaawww” until our cheeks hurt.
So glad you asked! I only get to say this once every six months…GIRLS WEEKEND! Off to a rented villa for one precious night with the girls tomorrow night. Hangover, here I come!
*sigh of relief about the period* Phew!
Also, our refrigerator exploded earlier this week so I empathize with you. We have yet to determine if we need to replace it or if we can fix it. It’s only 1 1/2 years old. Grrrr.
Well, I’ve been naming your baby because I knew you were pregnant. Wrote you a note about it and found it left in my drafts folder. Whew.
My big girl is going to 1st grade tomorrow!! Can’t wait. We changed schools this year too. I ran into a mom from the old school who told me that one family left because they banned peanut butter because of someones allergy. Talk about that. How is life with a peanut allergy? What would you say to the people who thought it was better to change schools than change lunches for their children?
AND, love that kitty video. My kids will l-o-v-e it!
YAY for the “visitor!” I’ve been thinking of you and wondering, since I was trying not to be rude at the friends I was visiting and trying to keep my computer time to a minimum!
Thanks for the add to the bloggerchicks blogroll. I spent most of the weekend dealing with a sick teen and trying to move my blog to the new blogger so I could go nofollow. Didn’t work I give up, throws hands up in despair.
I find that having and effing mother-in-law who won’t cough up hte key to your house and makes liberal use of the effing thing whenever you leave town makes it pretty easy to stay organized.
Hey, I’ll be thinking of you while shopping for an oven!
And holy cow, I didn’t realize all of the paperwork and homework KINDERGARTENERS needs. Geez. Oh and the fundraisers…. Its like having a part time job doing all of that crap.
Bossy could hardly concentrate on the post because she was too busy mourning the end of summer.
Congrats on your EP! You might try Craig’s List for the frig…
Everyone’s kids are in school but mine! I have another week and I’m so over the fact that my living room has been turned into a huge tent with every sheet I own.
I need some serious organization. I would be willing to pay someone to do it!
I started doing Motivated Moms a while back. They have a full year’s schedule and chores for each day and week. It takes like 15-30 minutes a day to do it and it keeps everything pretty tidy.
I also like to spend my time with my daughter doing her homework or discussing about her school, classes and so on. And I hope she feels the same.