out of town ramblings
Oh, hi! I haven’t been around in a while have I? Well, I had company over the weekend and now I’m back in Maine, this time at my sister’s place near the coast. I wanted to visit before the summer’s over, and the timing was good so I could see my nephew (he’s at my sister’s for a couple of days too) before he heads to his new Air Force assignment in England later this week for who knows how long. It was also our last chance to get to the beach before school starts up. It was a perfect day for it yesterday, sunny and hot, and the ocean was so much warmer than my last visit. This is Maine though – the ocean is never that warm!
The boy officially starts kindergarten next Thursday. It’s so hard to believe. We’re all excited for it, but his nerves have been getting to him a bit the last couple of weeks. Can you say cranky and bad attitude? I can. I’ve been practicing a lot lately. As in “change your attitude!” and “why are you so cranky?!”
The only thing I’m nervous about regarding school is the bus. Besides the usual “Oh my god, my baby is going to be on the same bus as 4th graders” but also where the bus stop is. We got the bus schedule and found out that no they don’t automatically pick up kindergartners at their houses. Yikes.
We live in a pretty rural neighborhood so I thought that was a normal assumption. However. His bus stop is actually at the bottom of our road dead end road. There are no sidewalks on either our road or the road it connects with. It’s a very scary corner. There are lots of speeding cars whizzing by, and there have been two hit and runs in that spot in the last two months, both at night, but still!!
Needless to say, I sent a letter requesting a bus stop change to our driveway. He’s the only kid on that bus from our street so I imagine it will happen, but probably not in time for next week. I think I’ll be driving him in myself for a while.
What I am looking forward to most is having my mornings all to myself so I can blog get my work done a little easier. The boy and I have had a really great summer together, better than I expected, but he does get a bit bored with me on the computer so much. I think we’re both ready for a new routine, and he’s definitely ready for a new challange.
So what about you all, are you ready for school to start or sad that summer’s almost over?
a kindergartener
My boy officially becomes a kindergartner in a couple of hours.
I just dropped him off for his last day of preschool. I’m not really sad about it or anything like that. I just can’t believe how fast the time has gone. He’s no longer a cute squishy cuddly baby. He’s a tall knobby-kneed cuddly boy. A very energetic boy, that I have to entertain all summer long. Help me.
In the madness of this week…besides my vehicle issues, did I mention we have overnight guests tonight too? (One of my many brothers and his brood from down south.) I’ve been cleaning like a madwoman AND I had to cook yesterday for DH’s work today. It’s Hot Dog Day. Every Friday all summer one person in the office is responsible for a meal for everyone and they have a hot dog steamer – hence Hot Dog Day. It’s a little weird, I know. (I made crock-pot baked beans, remind me to give you the recipe soon!) I digress, as usual. In the insanity, I completely forgot something very important. Teacher gifts.
Oops.
I got there this morning to find some of the other moms had brought them in. I knew I had to do it, I just hadn’t remembered to get it done. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to do it, I just happen to have the memory of a snail. I have adored his teachers this year and so has he. His only sadness about leaving preschool is that his very favorite teacher won’t be moving on to K with him.
Anyway, I resorted to the only thing I could think of on the drive home. Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards. It helped that it was on the way home. I’m pathetic.
So tell me, what did you give for end of year present to your kid’s teachers this year? (Or did you skip it?) Or, what would you give if you had to? And, how much did/would you spend?
And what can I do to fix my crappy memory?