Today, my blog is focused on Bailey. We were asked if we could take Bailey to school and pick her up for the three days that our daughter would be out of town for a workshop. Of course, this was a no-brainer for us. The opportunity to have a grandchild with us for three days? WOW!
It most definitely brought back the memories of just how a Mom's day flows. 6 AM, up and at 'em. Dress, fixing that long, ever so curly hair without pulling and hurting, eating breakfast, remembering to get everything packed in the backpack and out the door. I must say that one of the most challenging parts of the whole time that she was here was that dang car seat. Our car seat belts in the rear are unique in that each of the three seat belts only click into one particular spot. The booster seat is on that spot. This required a contortionist to click. Hey! Smiley did it with lots of perseverance.
Quiet during the day, because the girls other grandmother took off from work to keep Skylar. So we each had a granddaughter to care for. Dad could not, in case you are wondering, due to working night shift hours and sleeping in the day.
Once it was time to pick Bailey up from school, the merry-go-round of activity began. On the first day of pick up, we held the car rider pick up lane hostage, so to speak, in that no car is to pass another car. We were working furiously to get the seat belt clicked in. I was making a mental note that the next days, we would park and walk over to get her so that we did not hold anyone up in the line.
The drive home was always quite entertaining just to hear Bailey's explanation of what happened during the day. She is so expressive in her tales. I was pre-warned that because she had CLUE classes and missed 2 1/2 hours of instruction in the regular classroom, she would have extra homework. And yes, for this night she did.
Once in the door, she was given a snack and was able to sit down with Smiley to watch about 15 minutes of TV, while I sorted out classwork, papers to go home to her Momma, and homework. We worked through them most of the papers, even with her grazing on goldfish crackers and carrots. Thank goodness Smiley was cooking.
Once dinner was ready, we moved the work over to the side of the table and just enjoyed conversation while eating our dinner. I really did not think that she would eat that much. She ate the whole container of macaroni and cheese and a Better Cheddar sausage. And in her words, "Hold the condiments, please!"
At this stage, she really was ready to just enjoy the rest of her evening with us playing, however, we had to get back to her homework. She was a real champ about it. I know that her Momma gets her moving on it, so Bailey knew that I was well aware of the way she had to complete her work first.
We left two math problems on line, go until the next night, because for the most part the only other homework would be to study for her spelling test and to practice sentences to determine if they were commands or statements plus a test on when to use 's. There was no problem with me helping on everything except the math. Oh my word! If any of you are parents you must be pulling out your hair. No longer is it 13 - 8 = 5. There must be a story problem to read, then it must be illustrated by drawing out in circles ten at a time (10 with a space between and 3 more). Cross out 8 circles and then count what is left.
In case you think that the problem is finished now? Wrong. Now you make the problem the way that we did when in school which is 13-8 = 5. Still you are not finished. The child must write out the problem in words. Example: there were 13 seashells and 8 of them washed away so now there are 5 seashells left.
Ta-dah! You have completed one math problem. I am so thankful that I had my 6 year old granddaughter teach me how to do math. Good golly, Ms. Molly!
Now, it is 6:50. We put everything away for tomorrow and headed for the bath. A quick bath, combing of the hair and finally our sweetie-pie could chill with us. We watched part of a TV show on the Disney channel while she ate a small dish of ice cream.
That time flew by. Now on to bed and reading time.
First she brushed those teeth and was shocked to see that we had no 3 minute timer in the bathroom. So I counted the time off for her to complete her brushing. Finally, she picked out a book and read to me. She was getting tired toward the end so she asked if I would finish it and I loved that she asked me.
When we finished, she turned on her unicorn night lamp, told Alexa to set the alarm for 6 AM and then to play her sleepy time music. Lucky for me, soft sounds do not bother me when I sleep. Smiley was sleeping out on the sofa, although we have two great beds upstairs, I think that he wanted to be downstairs with us. I stayed with for a bit and told her that I would be back after I made her lunch and got everything ready. Of course by then she was in la-la dream land. She did get to talk to her Momma on the drive home and then again right before lights out.
6 AM came and the process started all over again. The main thing that I want to convey is that this is why we have children when we are young. Oh my! It is so easy to forget exactly how much energy and planning go into young children, cooking dinner and doing homework, bath routines, etc. all add up to. I do not know how our daughter does it all plus her full time job as a Certified Behavior Analyst and her teaching English to children in China on line at 4:30-5:30 in the morning due to the time zone difference. Then again, we know that we have an amazing daughter, for sure!
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