Where Have I Been? Nowhere, That's Where.

I wish to heaven I had something fun and exciting to write about from my life at the moment, but I don't. I just don't.  I guess it can be reported now officially that I am the "managing editor for copy and production," (hmm. Time to update the resume, too.) and that I have a staff of 10-ish, depending on the day, the number of temps, etc.

I spent the past 2 weeks spending huge amounts of time at the office trying to make sure everything was going to work and that we weren't going to get snowed under with work or cross-training or demands from other upheaved departments, that the people I'm responsible for weren't completely panicked and/or worried and/or adrift in a new procedure.

(No, no, not a bit of it. They were, in fact, all fine and didn't seem to need me at all though I was glad I could be there for the time I was. More than fine, they were perfectly fine. Until this week, when I resumed leaving at 4 p.m. and hell started breaking loose at 4:42. Natch. But even that seems minimal compared to what could have been.)

Not Your Average Blogger headed out the second week on his own family voyage; he and his 3 siblings scattered some family ashes at the Grand Canyon. It is a testament to how bad a wife I am that I haven't yet moved his photos out of the camera and onto the computer.

Meanwhile, my parents -- blessed, insane, and impossible-to-repay people that they are -- stayed at my house and acted not just as my parents, fixing my house in myriad ways and feeding me dinner at 10 and 11 at night, they also acted as the YP's parents while his real parents selfishly disappeared into the ether. I can't say enough about my parents. I don't know of another mom out there who shows up and says, "Jesus Christ, it is Sunday. Let's just use today to get drunk and I will clean your gutters tomorrow. I don't need you to help with that." I don't know of another dad who looks at a hand-drawn map with illegible names scribbled by boxes representing buildings and says, "Oh, sure, I can use this to find the kid's school and pick him up from aftercare. No problem! Are you sure you don't want me to just get him when school is out?" They did a fantastic job with everything -- the gutters, the yard, the YP; he was in bed on time, he looked chipper in the mornings, he didn't get dead and he did get fed. He attended all his extracurriculars. To all in-home appearances, he seemed on a pretty even keel.

But apparently he also had "holy crap my life is out of control" issues, since at the end of the second week his teacher emailed to ask if "anything was going on at home," because he was angrier and more impatient at things going wrong in the classroom, and he was also a bit more grabby and physical with the kids at aftercare.  Not hitting; he's not a bully. Just grabbing their hands to get their attention, hugging them til both parties fell over, grabbing their faces and asking for eye contact, etc.

Uh, whoops.  Guess I shoulda seen that coming and given the authorities a warning.  But hey, it was the end of the week! Everything would be back to normal starting Saturday!

More or less.  "Back to normal" is also an adjustment, no?

Monday was Columbus Day.  NYAB spent the morning making money on the stock market while I watched Fringe on Hulu, (yeah yeah, productivity is overrated,) and in the afternoon we went to Field Day at the school to help out.  We were assigned to the football toss station, where kids K-2 tried to throw Nerf footballs through hula hoops that had been duct taped to small basketball poles.  It was surprisingly entertaining and a good amount of exercise of chasing-bending-throwing.

It was also interesting to watch the kids.  I'd guess we had maybe 20 kids through the course of the afternoon at our hoop, and the bell curve was hilariously spot on, not just in terms of ability, but in terms of attitude. There were maybe 3 kids who actually looked like they were having fun and enjoying it and getting something out of it. There were 3 more who were having fun mostly because it just meant they didn't have to sit at their desks and think about the alphabet.  There were about six on the other end who looked miserable at having to be up and around and socializing and throwing things. The other 14? As one of my favorite comedians says about kids today -- "they were all disaffected! It was like Berlin in 1929!" The vast majority had this sort of look that said, "You want me to do what? Huh. OK ... why are we bothering with this, exactly?"

One kid made 12 perfect spirals through the hoop. Sense of accomplishment? Acceptance of accolades?

Nope. Didn't. Smile. Once. 

I was happy to note that our own YP seemed to be having a good time and understood what he was supposed to be getting out of the day, even though he was pretty much spang-center in terms of ability. He chased the ball and helped the adults, he laughed and encouraged the other kids in line, he helped herd them all to the next station they were supposed to go to after ours.

And then we went to pick him up 3 hours later from afterschool care (hey, we're paying for it, why not?) and he'd won himself a 1-day suspension from aftercare. For clutching at another kid's arms and ending up in a tussle when the other kid (quite reasonably, I daresay,) tried to wrestle free.

Well, there was much recrimination and punishment and discussions about how Mama Has to Take Time Off Work and Boy Will You Be Sorry Because Dude Believe Me You'd Rather Be Good and Have Fun at Aftercare Than What You Have in Store for You at Home on the Day You Are Suspended. 

Which is today. Which is why I have time to write this.

Of course, yesterday I went to pick him up, and the same kid who had wrestled free from him on Monday had gotten mad about being in trouble for something else and when Thomas made some comment along the lines of "Shh, you'll just get in more trouble if you get mad," this kid had thrown him to the floor and busted his lip, netting that kid a one-day suspension. After that little revelation -- and seeing the kid in question, who outweighs him by a good 20 lbs and is at least 2 years older -- we had another discussion about Kids You Stay Away From and Do Yourself a Favor, Don't Let Unhappy People Make You Unhappy.

But he's still in for it when he gets home today.  Perhaps I'll make him throw footballs through hula hoops for 3 hours. 

Comments

[cosmiccamper]

How nice of your parents to do all that for you, although when it's for your kid, they, like you obviously don't mind!

And congrats on your promotion!

So what does your hubby invest in when he's playing the stock market?

[ardentdelerium]

thank you for that link, I hadn't seen any of his standup, only his Shaun of the Dead bit.

although he's wrong about 10 year olds and migraines (I get the joke, but still. I was having them at 3 and 4)