I'm too tired to even write in complete sentences. I'm thinking about setting the alarm on my phone and simply letting my head fall right onto the keyboard and sleeping right here! Wow! The sheer anticipation of today's excitement just wears you out. So, here's how the last 24 hours unfolded...
8:00 p.m. - I put Annie down to sleep but she had other ideas and decided to read to herself. I have to admit that I just sat next to the monitor in my room and listened for a bit. It's enchanting. The book starts off, "Once upon a time..." and then she rambles on in some foreign language and when she comes to the end, she sighs and says, "And they all be happy. The end!" At that point, she slams the book shut and giggles. This was cute the first, second, and even third times she did it but by 9:00, I had to intervene. She wasn't happy.
9:30 p.m. - Dasha is caught eating a glue stick. The whole thing. Not a nibble. Not a little lick. The whole dang thing! I didn't have patience to try and reason with her so I simply asked her if she'd like some paper to go with the glue for a bed time snack.
9:45 p.m. - Grant decided that he wants to spill his soul. Really? I'm beginning to think that all of his emotions are directly linked to his ability to procrastinate. He doesn't seem to want to get all up close and personal until I'm demanding that he go to sleep.
10:00 p.m. - Annie decided that sleep is not part of her plan for the night. I hear her glow worm toy playing music which also means that it's little light is glowing. Then, I hear her begin to read another book. Ugh. Once again, I was the evil troll and took her books away and put her back to bed.
10:30 p.m. - I'm ironing my clothes when Grant comes back to my room to say his stomach hurts. If this had been Dasha, I wouldn't have thought twice. Heck, glue would make anyone's stomach a little icky. Grant's tummy ache was 50% nerves and 50% procrastination. I told him to take a Tums.
11:00 p.m. - I crawled in bed and thought I was done for the night. I'd even taken book bags to the van and loaded everything I could so we wouldn't have any chance of drama and could get out of the house by 6:15 a.m. Ha.
11:30 p.m. - Grant is back. I'm not sure what I told him but the ending was him in my bed. He's not a good bed buddy. He was exhausted and nervous so he spent all night talking and fighting battles in his sleep. I was ready to shove him off the side of the bed and let him fight the dust bunnies instead of those imaginary evils!
12:15 a.m. - Thump! Annie fell out of the bed - again! She's had this bed for several months now and this hasn't been a problem. What in the world? Obviously, she didn't just fall out and say, "Gee, let me quietly crawl back into my bed!" The minute she hit the floor (8 inches down), she started wailing like a siren! Really? It took me quite a while to calm her down and get her back to bed.
5:30 a.m. - Everyone was up and getting ready - expect Annie. She refused to get up and kept wrapping her blanket around herself and saying, "I seepy. I wanna seep!" Perfect. Just the battle I wanted to do.
6:20 a.m. - Everyone was loaded up and ready to roll. On the way to school, I questioned Dasha about her bedtime snack and she said she felt fine. Hmmm... I swear that she's a goat!
So, enough with all of the details. I know. Basically, I got everyone dropped off where they needed to be and made it to my classroom by 7:00. My students arrived and were all so sweet. Some had that "deer in headlights" look for the majority of the day, though. Third grade is the delineating grade between primary and upper. Third graders live upstairs so this was a really big deal to some kids. However, they were all troopers and made it through the day unscathed. Most of us were exhausted by lunch time, though, and wanted to have nap time. I need to see when kindergarteners nap so I can crash their party and get a little siesta, too!
The big kids rode the bus back to my school this afternoon so that didn't put them with me until almost 4:30. They were really zapped! When I finally wrangled everyone to the van, the glue stick eater rambled on about what a marvelous day she had while Grant stoically sat and held back tears. Honestly, I didn't even try to open his flood gates because of my own exhaustion and after picking Annie up, she decided to scream all the way across town that she didn't want to sit in her seat anymore. I just didn't have time to hear any negativity. Don't worry, when we got home, I did question Grant about his day and he just blew up and said that he didn't know anyone in any of his classes. I don't know what to tell him other than he'll get to make new friends. Poor baby. I feel like he thinks life just stinks right now.
Thank goodness, some old family friends dropped dinner off. I didn't realize what a life saver that would be! The kids gorged themselves and I watched happily knowing that I wouldn't have to clean up pots or pans and that I hadn't had to cook! What a blessing! My dream is that one day, I'll have the luxury of paying forward all of the wonderful things that have been done for us over the last few months and I'll definitely remember meals for teachers on the first day of school! Whew!
After dinner, I started signing county forms for the big kids. I seriously don't know how many times I signed my name and, heck, honestly, I don't even know what I signed. The only things that really stuck out were one line to sign if your child could watch a PG-13 movie at school. Um, NO! They can't watch them at home (usually). The other form was about sex ed. Geez. At what point do I check, "yes," on Dasha's form? Grant knows it all so I'm not too worried about him but Dasha still plays with Polly Pockets and Barbies and prefers to watch Dora over some other age appropriate things. However, she's got all of the "makings" of a real woman. Ugh. Decisions, decisions. For today, I went with NO. Maybe I'll tell her about sex in about ten years. Maybe.
So, that leads me up to 10:15. I'm exhausted. Everyone is upstairs and in bed. I don't hear Annie reading or her springs squeaking so I'm assuming she's asleep, too! I really like the few years that we had the first day of school on Friday and then we had the weekend to recuperate and could start fresh on Monday with "real school" and not "let's all be happy and get to know one another" kind of stuff!
With exhaustion, I'm learning that my emotions are like a roller coaster. Yesterday, I did work some of the counselor's notebook so I still feel a little banged up from that, too. The commentary was about how Peter wanted Jesus to rescue him. When assistance was offered, Peter headed toward Jesus to get out of the waves but once Jesus had him, He walked him right back to the row boat. Jesus met the disciples in their situation. He didn't remove them from it. Crap. This isn't the kind of stuff I want to think about or even put into practice. I don't like this situation and I surely don't want to be stuck here. I want a magic lamp with a genie that will just zap me into some Disney fairy tale (one without a wicked witch, please). But, the point of the lesson was simply that as our faith turns dreams of deliverance into acts of obedience, God fulfills His promises. However much I disliked the reality of this lesson, it struck a chord with me and I've really sort of rested in this all day today. I got thrown a couple of curve balls this afternoon that could have really sent me over the edge but I managed to keep my mouth shut (wonder of all wonders) and know that I'm not the judge nor jury and that the only thing that matters right now is my obedience. That is SO hard to embrace sometimes! Striking back and throwing our assumptions and daggers is much easier. Once again, I find myself thinking about having to let God rewrite part of the story of my life that I'd already filled in. I don't like the feeling of that eraser on the pages but I know it's for my best.
That being said, I'm going to bed! I'm not spelling checking this or rereading it. It is what it is and I'm tired.
Good night, all!
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