The Queen's Rambles

It’s already mid-September! My PTA job has been a complete time suck for the past few weeks, but the current push (membership) is winding down so I might have some time to breathe for a couple of months. People can join the PTA at any time throughout the year, but if you don’t get them signed up by the end of September there is not much chance of getting them signed up at all so I should be able to rest soon.

This week was nerve wracking because I had to give two speeches. We have so many students that our back to school nights are split into three parts. The kindy speech was back in August. The G1-2 speech was Monday and then the G3-5 speech was last night. The 3-5 speech was the hardest because they are the parents who are not going to be convinced to be new PTA members. They either join the PTA or they don’t–my speech is not going to inspire them to do anything. The former board was also in that audience, which was nerve wracking. They are fully expecting us to fall on our faces and we are not falling on our faces. They seem to want us to fail and keep throwing up obstacles at every turn. It’s a weird dynamic and I hate it. My plan is to win the lottery, move into a super mansion that has room for a very small private school and hire some tutors for the kids and their smartest friends (with non-annoying parents).

Erik is doing fine now. He is happy and healthy and having a good time at school. He is doing his homework without too much teeth pulling and generally being a pleasant fellow. I think his teacher finally has a grasp on what to do with him. For Back to School night the class was supposed to color a big cut out of themselves to tape to their chair, and then bring in t-shirts to hang over the chairs, so it would look like the child was sitting in the chair. . . with a little imagination. The teacher was telling me that Erik did not think this was a good project and told her very clearly that it was not ever going to work, the parents would never be fooled by cardboard kids and besides the parents would know that the children could not get to school by themselves and why would they come to school at night? I’m glad she was amused and not upset. She said he kept asking “Are you sure this is supposed to be fun? I don’t see how this is fun. This is not going to fool anyone. The parents are really going to think this is fun?”

That’s my boy! Mr. Logical.

Elsa is having a much tougher time of it. She’s got some kind of cough going on that doesn’t sound too great. It’s not enough to stop her from going to school or out to play, but it keeps her up at night and sounds bad when she’s crying and upset.

And she’s always crying and upset.

My happy little girl has turned into a super-sad cranky pants this week. Her best little friend, Connor, has preschool opposite of our schedule so she’s not seeing him very often. We are making it a point to get them together for park playdates in the late afternoons, but it’s just not the same as spending all day together. We used to go over to their house several afternoons a week while his little brother napped.

She doesn’t like school and does the whole kicking, screaming, tantrum thing on the way to the car. I almost wish I would have found a way to make morning preschool work because she spends all morning worrying about her afternoon preschool. Bah. At least she doesn’t tantrum at the school. She hides behind me and clings, but does end up going in without tears.

It is so interesting to see how Erik and Elsa continue to be polar opposites in every way. Erik was such a cranky pants at home and loved preschool. He wanted the social interaction and hated being alone with just me (unless I was 100% engaged with him 100% of the time–and no toys allowed!). Elsa, on the other hand, is perfectly content to play with all her little toys all by herself. She plays well with certain kids and enjoys them, but overall she sees no reason to seek out their company (Connor excepted, of course). Today she told me that she doesn’t like to play with kids and doesn’t like to learn anything so she doesn’t need to go to school.

I have a hard time trying to “teach” her anything like letters and numbers. She completely refuses to listen or engage with me. A few months ago I bought a thing called a Quiz Pen book and thought it would be way too hard for her since I didn’t think she knew her letters or numbers. I was shocked when she got almost every answer in the book right. I don’t know where she is learning things from, but she is certainly learning! That’s the one thing they both have in common–they are both very bright. But where Erik was competitive and wanted to prove that he knew it all, she keeps it under her hat. I just hope she adjusts to this new schedule soon. I miss my happy, easygoing girl. The constant crying is really wearing on my nerves.

I guess that’s all I’ve got for now. I’m hopeful that I can go back to writing here more often, but I need topics!