It has not been smooth sailing these last couple of weeks with Kien being at school. For starters, no sooner are we getting into the routines and Kien gets sick and I've got to dash to get him half way through my work day. Thank goodness for having the Drs clinic across the road - we were able to get in and see someone that day, and it was confirmed he had a tummy bug. First thing the Dr asked was, "did he just start school?". Apparently its pretty common. So Jef drew the short straw with this round and stayed home for a couple of days to look after him. The weekend came and went with lots of messy loo visits, and then this week started. Kien has only finally come right probably since yesterday.
School drop offs have been hit and miss, to be honest. Tears, clinginess, the works. It's not school - he had bouts of this for drop offs at daycare too, and he adored all the teachers and loved that place. It's been rough on me (as I do the drop offs and Jef does the pickups), but this is life, and my/our job as (a) parent(s) is to ensure we teach him that its ok to cry, be upset and not want to do something, but we have to do it anyway. When he tells me he doesn't want to go to school and wants to stay home with me, I tell him I don't want to go to work and would rather stay home with him too, but the fact is that I have to go to work to earn money so we can live in our home and have food on the table and buy clothes and shoes, have toys, the TV and internet, go on holidays and everything else that we are able to have and do. I think it is sinking in, allbeit slowly.
Another challenging aspect of Kien going to school is that I have to pack his lunch every single day. We can order lunch, but we would still have to pack snacks. When he was at daycare I only had to do this every Friday, but now, every single day. Every single day. I always try to pack him a snack box that will supplement/accompany something hot in his flask, such as baked beans, pasta with mince, rice with grilled chicken, cocktail sausages - or whatever I can rummage up from the fridge that he will eat. Here's what I try to do for his snack box every day. To all the parents out there who have done this or are doing this, I salute you. To think that I've got how many more years of this?
Homework reading every night is also something to get used to. Predictable, repetitive picture books that he gets sent home with so we can work through it with him. I've been including this as part of his bedtime stories routine.
Lastly but certainly not least, he was very proud to show me his self portrait that he painted at school.
Good one, Sweet Pea. Here's hoping for a better third week.
