Last week, it was one of those weeks when you want to shout: “Please world STOP!!! I’m going down!!!!!”.
Starting of the School year, nothing new, everybody does the same, but I am starting to get …. let’s say…. a little bit stressed….
I’m thinking: “Mmm…. is it just me?….. all the other mommies and daddies are doing the same so… is it just me????….”
Jon, my elder boy (6), is starting in a new school, he is starting the 1st year of Primary, since the old school only had the “Preschool” (3 to 6).
This new school is one of these huge schools, 5 classes per level, new friends and new teachers (who still don’t know the disaster we are…).
In the old school, they already knew our family, and even I “failed” some exams when my son came back with the year “califications” and it said:
* Brings school materials on time> It can be “better”
…mmmmm I think the calification was for me….)).
Alex, my small one (4) is still in Pre-School which fortunately is quite close to the other one but because it’s being refurbished, now they are in another different school.
The mess starts when they come in and out at different times from different schools with 15 min difference to each other. Now we are in “adaptation” time (the boys, my helper, and me), but before we can “adapt”, the second day of school, I have to travel all the rest of the week to the UK.
My husband has also had a very complicated couple of weeks and he doesn’t have the “organization” very clear but I need to leave everything crystal clear in paper so that “the team” (our philipino helper, my mom, my dad, my mother in law, my sister in law (thankyou thankyou thankyou “my team”) have very clear when each boyvneeds to be left and picked up and from where, what is lunch and dinner, which books to take each day and extra complication, we have to take Jon to the doctor, taking him out from school before lunch on the 1st day of school…
The night before I’m travelling, I finally finish a “Project plan” with all the data required and I stick it to the fridge. Phewwww I am a little bit less stressed, at least it’s not just me and my head, now all “the team” knows what I know!
Aaaallllriiiiight, I am in the UK, and for ONCE I haven’t had any issues with my lugagge (at least on my way here).
I’m going to have a very busy and stressy day. I wake up, get ready it’s 8a.m. here, 9a.m. there. Jon starts school at 9,15 and I get worried, mmmmm las night I didn’t remind my husband that he had to prepare the note for the teacher saying “Grandma will pick me up at 12 to go to the doctor”, BUT I left everything in the “Project Plan” under “Comments”, and although I am sure that he has “remembered”, I want to “confirm” because in the first meeting at the new school they insisted A LOT on bringing a note to the teacher…
Mmmmm I’m going to send a message to my philiphino helper to confirm…. When she finally answers…”Hi, did Jon take the note to school today?” the answer is loud and clear “Which paper????” (Aaaahhhhhh!)
I contact then my hubby and ask him (I’m so sure of knowing the answer): “did you write the note for the teacher last night, RIGHT??” Answer: “Yeeees” (Well, I was wrong-minded this time)… but I insist just in case…: “And… did you tell our philiphino helper that Jon had to take the note with him and give it to the teacher?” The answer is loud and clear: “mmmmmmm no…..” (Aaaaahhhhhh)
Well, I phone the school (they are going to start knowing us, record, 2nd day) to tell them that my mom will go and pick Jon up at 12. Now, the reception lady (not very happily I must say) insists that I have to take the note to the teacher…. well, if he had brought the note to the teacher, would I be calling the school???? Finally she replies that she will “try” to reach the level coordinator and ask him to inform the teacher…. and the rest is destiny and I don´t want to think about it anymore, if Jon is not in reception waiting when my mom appears, I will have to listen to my mom for the rest of my life….!
An hour later, I get a message from my Philipino helper: “How do I cook “Fish in melon sauce?” Me: “Excuse Me????? Melon sauce?” (Obviously my org chart was not very clear, but I remember I wrote down: “Tuesday lunch: Green beans. Fish in sauce. Melon.”). Well, let´s leave her alone maybe she invents something new!
Finally I think the first morning has gone by without any more complications, but not, at lunch time I get another message from my Philipino helper: “Alex doesn´t want to go home. He doesn´t want to walk and is sitting down in the floor”, now I am a very resolutive mommy, so I do (from 1000kms away) what any other mommy would do (I think), obviously, phone and convince him!
Anyway…
