How Are You Improving Your Quality Of Life?

With back to school upon us, it seems like September is the "new January" when it comes to reflection and making life changes.  I was listening to the radio today where the djs were talking about how September is update your resume month and college savings month (eep!) and self improvement month and more.

So it's really appropriate that the #VlogMom prompt this week from Jessica McFadden of A Parent in America is:

What are you doing differently this school year to improve your family's quality of life?

So tell me... what are you doing?  I obviously need some tips!

Wait, It's Back To School Already?

The wee ones are back in school.  I don't have a migraine.  Do you know what this combination means on a Thursday?  It means I'm finally putting up another #VlogMom post.  Appropriately, the topic this week is about back to school.

Jo-Lynne Shane from Musings of a Housewife asks:  Are your kids ready to head back to school?  What does your Back To School routine look like?  What is your biggest challenge? (Ha! I talked about my biggest challenge already yesterday!)  What are you most looking forward to?

So how about you?  Tell me about your back to school, and then go visit the other VlogMoms!

Special Needs Teacher Introduction Letter

We start school tomorrow.  Mister Man is in a new school - one he attended for a just a few weeks last year.  The teachers there don't know him, and with his special needs, there are strategies that will help the teacher - and him - if both know them from the start.

So what's a mom to do?  I put together a little book about Mister Man.  It's four half sheets of paper, stapled together, that includes both pictures and text.  It tells a little about him - his strengths and weaknesses, along with things that we know help him.  The point of it all is to make a quick and easy introduction for the teacher - not reports that she has to wade through, but instead a portrait of an actual child.

I am bringing a copy for his teacher, as well as one for the social worker and the specials teachers - especially gym - so that they can better understand and work with him.  It's short and doesn't include everything, but it's a decent primer.  And next year?  I'll just update it with new skills and learnings, and his new teacher will have one, too.

***

Dear Mrs. B,
My name is Mister Man, and I am so excited to be in your class this year. I attended New School for just a couple weeks at the end of last year, as I attended Old Catholic School before that. I know many of the rules of New School, but not all of them, so please help me remember!

My mom says that I’m a really sweet kid, which has its pluses and minuses. I always want to help someone or stick up for them, but I don’t always do it in the best way. My heart is in the right place, though.

I love to learn, and I can’t wait for school to start. I am a “fact kid” and it’s so much fun to share what I know – or what I think I know. That’s the problem. I don’t always know everything I think I do, which can sometimes be hard in group situations where not everyone has my opinion.

Reading is one of my favorite things to do. In fact, if I have free time, that’s what I usually do. In the past, teachers have rewarded me with reading time when I finish my work, but unfortunately a lot of times that means that I rush through my work and don’t give it my best effort. If we’re reading in class, I get really wrapped up in it and sometimes get curious about what’s coming next, so I forget to stop when I’m supposed to, or I’ll page ahead when you’re talking to see what I can learn. Feel free to take away my book to keep me on task. It helps me remember to do what I’m supposed to.

Organization isn’t my strong suit. Sometimes, I forget to write down my assignments in my assignment notebook, or I don’t write down enough information to figure out what I am supposed to do when I get home. If you can check briefly to ensure I got down the important things, I’d really appreciate it – although I’m working hard on getting better at this!

I sometimes struggle with impatience, too. Remind me that you’re the teacher, and I’ll remember that you’re in charge and that this isn’t something where I always know what’s coming next or what the right answer is. It’s more because I’m so excited than any actual disrespect, so please understand that. I like to do things my way, which I know I can’t always do.

Because I think I know what’s coming next, sometimes I don’t actually read the directions on my assignments or read all the parts of a problem. Sometimes having me highlight the directions or labeling them 1, 2, 3 for steps helps. Or have me keep my paper upside down while you give instructions, so I’m not tempted to start working before I know what I’m really supposed to do.

Math is a lot of fun, and I like to do computations in my head. I don’t tend to show my work as often as I should, and sometimes that means I get problems wrong when I know the answer. I’m working on slowing down and showing my work, but sometimes I don’t think I need to. And as much as I love the concepts of math and enjoy them, doing quick computations and then writing them down (a la Rocket Math) is hard for me because I struggle with my fine motor coordination and the connection from my brain to my hand.

And yes, I do have issues with fine motor. I know how to hold a pencil, although I need a reminder to “hold my pencil the right way” – which really improves my writing. I haven’t quite decided that neat handwriting or even capital letters make much of a difference, so I have to be reminded to write “small and tight” but I absolutely can do much better handwriting than I will usually show you. Keep pushing me.

I love to be challenged and engaged. When I’m learning something new, I’m happy and focused on that. Sometimes I get down on myself and frustrated when I don’t know things, but I’ve learned a lot about how to keep working hard and have positive results in the end. Sometimes, I need a reminder about that.

Socially, I struggle sometimes. I’m not quite on par with the rest of the third graders, but I’ve made huge strides. I want to be their friends, but sometimes in play, I don’t know where that line is and so don’t know when to stop. I don’t have that instinct. I do know that when someone is bothering me, I’m supposed to walk away and then tell an adult if they still don’t stop.

I tend to talk louder than I should, although a pinching motion with your fingers reminds me to turn the volume down. I also forget to look at people when I’m talking, and I rock back and forth when standing. Reminding me of “eyes” and “rocking” helps me realize what I’m doing. I also jump up and down when I’m excited, but I’m trying to remember to stop that. Every once in awhile, I’ll chew on my shirt, too. Usually that’s because I’m anxious about something. Remind me that I’m doing it, and I’ll stop. My mom thanks you!

I’m also not super coordinated, part of my issues with motor planning and fine motor skills. Gym is hard for me. I run awkwardly and slowly, and my hand eye coordination leaves a bit to be desired. For that reason, I don’t love sports, which sets me apart from my peers. I do Tae Kwon Do, though, and I love it. I know that it’s not ok to demonstrate it in school, however.

I’m learning still to deal with frustration and failure, as I know a lot of my friends are, too. I’m getting better at it. Before, I wouldn’t want to even try something if I thought I would fail, but now I usually will try at least three times before I get frustrated – and sometimes even longer than that!

If I don’t answer you right away or am in my own world, touching me on the shoulder and saying my name reminds me to stay in the classroom instead of thinking deep thoughts. It’s the best way to get my attention. 

I’m excited to be at New School and in your class this year, and I can’t wait for it to start. Please be patient with me, and when I’ve done something wrong, if you can explain what I did that was wrong, that will help me, as I don’t always know why I got in trouble, just that I did something I wasn’t supposed to do. 

Sincerely, Mister Man, 3rd Grade

I've Got To Start Some Traditions...

I am giving away a $25 Target Gift Card and a whole bunch of back to school type stuff here.

If you're up with Disney Princesses, I'm also giving away a family four pack of tickets to Disney on Ice in Chicago for the Wednesday September 8 performance here.

I have a new Seventh Generation prize pack filled with cleaning supplies for your back to school needs that I'm giving away here.

***

I'll explain why I need traditions in another post, but let's just have this one show something I did with the wee ones last week that I think is going to become a part of our back to school tradition. Because I suppose that should be more than making them stand on the stoop and smile into the sun, right?

Needless to say, we headed off to Build-A-Bear, since I'd heard that they had the Sanrio pets debuting and were giving out cute little backpack clips for those who made the pets. Since Little Miss has a Keroppi backpack, I figured this was win-win all the way around. We headed into the store, and Mister Man was ohhhhh-so-proud to show Little Miss what to do.

Unfortunately, that dream of Sanrio pets was apparently mine alone.  Neither of the wee ones wanted to do Keroppi. Or Hello Kitty. Or Chococat.  Or Melody.  I have no idea why, but since this was for them, I allowed them to choose any animal in the store they wanted.  Oddly, they both chose the cheapest option (with no input from me whatsoever), the $10 Cub bear.

Mister Man also chose a karate uniform for his bear, which I thought was sweet since he's now so into his tae kwon do.  He had a hard time deciding initially since there was no Princess Leia costume yet, but once he was this one, he was hooked.

Little Miss wasted no time in finding the Toy Story costumes and picked out her Buzz Lightyear outfit in a heartbeat.  Did I mention the 9 times in fourteen nights they watched Toy Story while they were in Florida?

Once the animals and outfits were chosed, it was off to the stuffer.  They were so pleased to help stuff their bears and do the little heart pledge and warmup.  I love how Build A Bear makes the children really a part of creating their pet.

From there, it was time to clean the bears.  Not surprisingly, Little Miss was wayyyyyy more into making sure her bear was perfect.

Mister Man did his, too, but he was so excited to get to the next stage that he ran off to it before I could get to the bath.  I made him come back and "fake pose" for a picture.  He was so thrilled to be making a bear of his own choosing that he took a decent picture our first shot.  Phew!

After that, it was time to get the bears dressed - an important thing that the wee ones wanted to do on their own.  Well, at least until Mister Man couldn't get the black belt off the karate costume (it was sewn on, but he wanted to put on the orange belt because he is an orange belt) and Little Miss couldn't do the shoes on her own!

Meet Karate Chops, the newest addition to our menagerie.  He is a defensive warrior who helps protect Mister Man's room from invasion but never uses his karate moves to purposefully hurt anyone.

Little Miss (and yes, we got her hair cut immediately before Build A Bear, which explains the new bangs and the fact that she has a really cute ponytail) was really proud of how well she could dress her bear.  The hard thing for her was having to take everything off to put on Buzz's pants first. (PS Build A Bear, I love how you have the little straps to go over the arms to help keep pants up - genius!)

And meet Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger protecting the universe from the evil emperor Zurg - who we hope never comes anywhere near our house.

The coolest part about this is that Mister Man went through the registration process entirely by himself.  Granted, it took him some time to type in all the info required, but he did it.  And I love that he did it and didn't ask for help.  We had nowhere we needed to be, so I let him have his time to do it, and he was so proud.  I need to remember to continue to back off and let him try!

Once we were done, we had a new family photo with our new friends.  Note that Karate Chops is doing a karate kick in the photo.  He was "showing off his defensive moves" according to Mister Man.  Little Miss, on the other hand, was just excited to get home and introduce Buzz to Snowy.

In the past week, I can't count how many times I've been asked when we're going back to Build A Bear. This is the first time I've allowed them such freedom in the store, and they are smitten. I've recently instituted a new reward system (yes, a post will come on that soon) where one of the things they can earn is a Date with Mommy. I have a feeling this is going to be one of the requested dates.

Or maybe I should just save it as a special back to school tradition. What a great way for them to remember every year and what they were super interested in at the time. Nahhhhh, we'll be back sooner than next August!

(And no, I was not paid or compensated for this post at all, nor did anyone ask me to write it. This was purely inspired by our fun trip to Build A Bear and my desire to create fun and lasting traditions for the wee ones.)

The Best Laid Plans...

If you're up with Disney Princesses, I'm also giving away a family four pack of tickets to Disney on Ice in Chicago for the Wednesday September 8 performance here.

I'm giving away our new favorite book - Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten here.

I have a new giveaway up for a Monopoly board game here.

***

Today was to have been Little Miss's first day of kindergarten. I have been really looking forward to this day because I love seeing how she's growing up. She walked into Mister Man's classroom last winter and announced that she was going to have his teacher for kindergarten this year. She was so proud and so confident, and I loved it.

We shopped for her uniform - somewhat unsuccessfully, but we had enough to get by for awhile. She loved going school supply shopping and packing her bag to take to meet the teacher on Monday in preperation for her day today. I even booked a massage for tomorrow afternoon, once she and Mister Man were both in school for a full day.

I was excited to have - for the first time ever - both wee ones in the same school at the same time. No more rushing from place to place and having slightly different schedules. No more trying to figure out which PTO I was going to do what for and feeling like I never really had a complete home at either school. And no panicking that I'd miss pickup or the bus for one child or the other because of a commitment to the first child.

In the middle of Mister Man's meet the teacher on Monday afternoon, I received a call from a number I somewhat recognized but couldn't quite put my finger on. Since the meet the teacher for him was essentially just unloading our supplies with no welcome from the teacher or orientation or anything, I answered it.

Hello, is this Michelle? questioned a voice I didn't recognize.

Ummmm, yes.

Great this is (name of the person). Little Miss has been accepted into the dual language program, as we just had a family drop out. Are you still interested in it?

Oh.

OH!

I dropped my bag and panicked. Wellll yes, we're still interested. It's a great program with the opportunity for her to be completely bilingual. And I would no longer have to pay private school tuition. And the schools are close enough that I could drop Little Miss off. And the daily schedules are different enough that no one would be late.

But there goes my easy little one school situation. And the friends that I have already made from the parents of kids that fill Little Miss's class. And the separation of the wee ones.

Figuring out school has never been easy with us.

But how do you turn down the opportunity for Little Miss? We'd tried to get Mister Man into the program last year and failed. We'd been told this spring that we hadn't won our way into it again. Until Monday.

She, of course, had been set on attending school with Mister Man, and he was so eager to be the big brother and show her the ropes. He was with me when I went to the office to tell them we were likely withdrawing Little Miss before school even started. And he was really sad. I hadn't realized how excited he was to be in school with her - and it was truly her that he was sad for.

I picked her up from my friend's house (I love my babysitting co-op, have I ever mentioned that?) and broke the news to her - with as positive a spin as I could. And thankfully, she was excited.

So I've spent the last few days registering her for the program and transferring her medical forms. We had another meet the teacher event today, and I practiced driving from one school to another. I found a friend from Little Miss's two year old preschool who was in the program and set up a playdate for today so she'd have a friend going into school.

And I canceled my massage for tomorrow.

Little Miss doesn't start until Monday. And she gets out of school an hour before Mister Man.

But that's ok. This is a great program, and Little Miss is looking forward to it. We've since found out that her second best friend from the last two years of preschool will be in her class. And I think a little separation will be good for them. Mister Man will be able to focus on his class and his friends instead of looking out for Little Miss and hanging with her all the time - and his social needs that. And Little Miss won't have to worry about following Mister Man and always being in his shadow - the younger sister of the brilliant older brother.

And me? I'm replanning my days. And getting involved in a second PTO. And figuring out what school supplies and uniforms I haven't taken tags off so that I can start to return them next week. And I refuse to panic about not knowing anything about a potential bus schedule until Friday at the earliest with school starting Monday.

It does get easier, right?

Annnnnd They're Off!

If you're up with Disney Princesses, I'm also giving away a family four pack of tickets to Disney on Ice in Chicago for the Wednesday September 8 performance here.

I'm giving away our new favorite book - Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten here.

I have a new giveaway up for a Monopoly board game here.

***

Yesterday, we had meet the teacher day. Mister Man was able to go to his classroom to drop off all his supplies and well, meet his teachers. I was able to find out that there were eighteen students in his first grade class - including more girls than last year. We both got to see that he knows many of the kids in his class and is friends with many of them already.

Phew.

But today was the big day. We had to be up and out the door on time, and we added a new friend to our carpool. Somehow, it all worked out, and I even had time to get a few pictures of Mister Man for our annual first day of school montage.

Unfortunately, it was really sunny today, so he couldn't open his eyes all the way. I feel your pain, son, I feel your pain.

When we got to school, I asked that they wait by the entrance so I could take our traditional in front of school pictures, too. He obliged nicely - I was so proud.

And of course our new carpool buddy wanted to be in the picture with him, too. And so did Little Miss (who was to have started kindergarten tomorrow but now won't - and that's tomorrow's post). I absoluately love this picture - and only partly because they are all so happy to be together that they are voluntarily holding hands. Seriously, how sweet are they?

Once we got past the pictures, I was chopped liver. Mister Man and his friend almost ran to get to their classrooms (they sadly aren't in the same class this year). When Mister Man came back out to put his backpack in his cubby, I asked for a good-bye hug, which he granted and then sprinted back into the classroom.

His friend was standing on the other side of me, and she gave me the saddest look ever after he ran in. But I wanted to give him a good-bye hug, too!

Ahhhh, puppy love.

The best part of the day though? I found out that Mister Man had a wonderful green day. I'm so proud of him!

Free At Last, Free At Last, Thank God Almighty, I'm Free At Last!

Ok, so by free, I mean free for like three hours a day. At the most. But still, this beats the snot out of last year when I had the wee ones on opposite schedules for preschool. Dumbest move I've ever made -- parents, please don't think it's a good idea to have one child in the am and one in the pm. It's not. Really not.

Mister Man started school last week, and Little Miss headed off this week.

Last Friday (because, ya know, school started on Monday), I got a call letting me know that her bus would be picking her up at 8:05am. I asked what time it would be dropping her off, as my mom needed to know. Uhh, they didn't know. They guesstimated that it would be 55 minutes after her school got out because the bus was picking her up 55 minutes before school started. Solid logic.

At 8:05, we were waiting outside, and I'd completed picture taking. Time out for pictures... Awww, isn't she cute?







At 8:20, the "big kid" bus came by, so I knew there was no excuse about traffic that would keep her bus from arriving. So I called the bus company. And got a busy signal.

*sigh*

I called a friend of mine who was possibly on our route to see if the bus had picked up her son yet. She was driving in, but yes, the bus had stopped by her house ten minutes before.

*sigh*

I finally got through to the bus company and "oh, no -- she's the fourth pickup, so 8:05 is the time the route starts, not when she'll be picked up. She'll be picked up much later. We don't know exactly when yet. But her bus is on its way and should be there any moment now."

Grrrr.

At 8:40, I called them again. The bus really is on its way. They promise. I mention that I have to start work at 9am and would have driven her in had I known that the bus would be this late.

At 8:57, the bus pulls into my driveway. Yes, school starts at 9am.

I ask the bus driver if this is the time I should expect (after three years of not once having either child get to school on time, I've had it. If the bus isn't going to pick her up on time, I'm making an issue of it again. I refuse to lose 15-20 minutes of class time on a daily basis). She says that no, she isn't actually the normal bus driver. She just had the route shoved into her hands at 7:55 and had to figure out where she was going after that. It should be more like 8:20 or 8:25.

Oh, and the Q-vest that I'd specifically talked to the bus company about on Friday to confirm that it would be there on Friday even though I'd marked it on the bus form? Yeah, it wasn't there. Fortunately, the bus driver had a spare harness, but it's too big for her and not what she was supposed to have. In fact, today is Day Five, and the drive her home bus driver still doesn't have one.





But on the plus side, I had a massage on Wednesday morning. Everyone should start ever day like that. Forever. And today, I had an almost two hour brunch with a friend of mine.

I'm liking this freedom. And I promise, next week I'm making it to the gym. At least once.

And ... He's Off!

Ahhh, the first day of school. Or rather, the first half day of kindergarten.

I'm still working on understanding why the first day is only a half day (or an hour in the case of preschool). The wee ones have been in daycare all day long forever, and it's more confusing to the kids I know to only go for a short time than it would be go just get the regular schedule started.

Then again, maybe I'm more concerned about my own convenience and not wanting to have to find something to do for only twenty minutes before I have to turn around and collect the wee ones again.

Regardless, Mister Man is officially a kindergartner. And he loved it. And he had a good day. Phew!

Boo to whoever broke my unspoken deal that the first day of school will be nice and sunny so we can take our outdoor first day of school photos. I'm filing an official complaint about the deluge today.











I do love the start of the school year, and I know I'm not alone. There are some pretty common reasons why we, as parents, look forward to this, but it's still fun to review them. So without further ado:

My Top Five Best Things About The First Day Of School

5. Oh finally, we're in a routine again. Finally. We aren't up too late, waking up early, eating lunch at odd times, missing needed naps, and the whining and general crankiness that results from being out of rhythm and routine. And I'm only mostly talking about the wee ones here.

4. This means that the horrible hot and sticky days of August are almost over. Ok, except this year when we really haven't had much of that whole hot and humid August thing. I wore jeans today. And it's not the first time that I've had to. I love fall though, and summer weather and I ... not so good of friends.

3. There is just so much potential that is there to be realized with this upcoming school year. The bright shining faces and excitement of the wee ones is contagious. I look back to see all that they did and accomplished the previous year, and I try to imagine what they'll look like at the end of this school year. Granted, much of what I imagine comes crashing down upon me as reality sets in, but I can pretend on this first day, right?

2. I finally have some me time. Or at least I do this year. Last year, I was stupid. S.T.U.P.I.D. I was worried that the wee ones on the bus at the same time would be -- how did I phrase it to the school again? Oh yes -- "just a little too much togetherness for them." And so I requested that Mister Man be moved to the afternoon. So every day, I had a wee one with me. I had zero time just to me. This year, Mister Man is all day, and Little Miss is in the mornings, so I have a lot of time (ok, except when I'm working) to get things done. And to take time for me. And I know I'm not alone in this one!

And the Number One Best Thing About The First Day Of School?

I have more friends. More moms who are going through the same thing I am and who don't look at me like I'm insane when panicking over having to find a second lunchbox to send snack in (seriously, SERIOUSLY I need to go buy a second lunchbox? *sigh*) or labeling each individual crayon because that's what our teacher asked us to do. And ohhh the potential for playdates just went up. With kids who are on the same schedule as us. I'm already eyeing up a little boy who loves dinosaurs nearly as much as Mister Man does.

And now? I'm off to go pack tomorrow's snack, lunch, fill two water bottles, and set out the school uniform before I collapse into bed. How's your transition to school going?

But I Want *THAT* One

Reminder: Tonight is your last chance to enter my giveaway here!

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I'm one of those people who knows what she wants. And once I know what I want -- even if I haven't seen it -- that is what I want. This is part of the reason it took us a year and a half to find our home. I have criteria and think about what something should be like, and then I create that magic image. And I'm just not satisfied until I get that.

I sound really spoiled, don't I? Fortunately, this doesn't happen too often.

But this year Mister Man goes to kindergarten. And because we're going to the private school, it's a full day kindergarten, and he needs a lunchbox. Strike that -- I was talking to another mom today who informed me that we actually need two lunchboxes because they bring a snack in kindergarten, and snack has to be in a separate lunchbox.

*sigh*

The snack lunchbox? I really don't care about that one. I'm going to put something together -- a granola bar, a piece of fruit, something -- and all I need to do is have something to contain it.

For the lunch lunchbox though... that's where my problem comes in. I want something that is large enough to hold a sandwich, a side of veggies or crackers or granola or something, some fruit, and his drink. And I want it to be relatively green. I hate the idea of going through 300 plus baggies that are thrown away to encase his food over the coming school year. I want to do something better, better for him (no BPA) and better for the environment.

It finally dawned on me. What I want is a bento style lunchbox. But I don't want a traditional one completely, because I want it to have lids for each compartment so that the applesauce won't spill, for example. And I want the compartments to be removable, so that if I want to only send three things instead of four, I can do that easily.

Hmmm.

That lunchbox doesn't exist in the land of Target, Wal-Mart or Lands End. I found something sort of like what I want online at Amazon called Laptop Lunchboxes. But being me (remember that part about enjoying research?), I looked up customer reviews. And I realized that the lid issue is one that a lot of people face. Because only one or two of the five containers have lids. And several people reported issues with the hinge on the lunchbox breaking.

Great. Now I know just about exactly what I want, but with a few tweaks. And unlike my house, a) I don't have a year and a half to find it and b) the exact features don't appear to exist anywhere.

So what's a girl to do?

Well, I'm headed down to Mitsuwa Market to see if I can find something there. And I'm going to go look at Whole Foods to see if I can find something there. I may track down a Tupperware consultant, as it looks like they have something that would work -- including a lifetime guarantee on wear and tear. Of course, the Tupperware lunchbox isn't sold in their online store. That would be too easy.

And come Thursday, the first day we really need to send lunches because it's a full day of school? Well, let's just hope I have something for the poor kid!

On the plus side, I did finally find the Crayola Broad Tip Classic Colors markers. In the eleventh store I looked in. I bought literally the last package of those markers in the tri-county area. And had there been two or three packages, I would have bought them all.

I'm so over this school thing. This isn't a good sign, considering I have fourteen more years to go, is it?

Hello, My Name Is Michelle, And I'm A Bad Parent Of A School Aged Child

One more day for the giveaway. Click here to enter before it ends Friday night!

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This is my first year really in school. Mister Man is in kindergarten, and for the first year we have more requirements than signing up at the preschool and getting him a backpack.

This year, we have several things required before school starts:
1) He has to have an eye exam. Phew, we did this a couple weeks ago. Except I forgot to take the form with me. And I haven't called them yet. And school starts Monday. What's the likelihood they can fill out the form tomorrow and then fax it to the school? Yeah... I didn't think so.

2) He needs to have a dental exam. I made the appointment for this, so this one is fortunately all on my husband. I dropped the form off with the dentist ahead of time. My husband forgot to take the completed one with him. And has yet to pick it up. Fingers crossed he has time tomorrow.

3) I need to actually sign him up for school. I dithered and dithered about where to go. The half day public school kindergarten that has the convenient bus, or the full day private school option that has differentiated education. I finally decided on the private school in the middle of July. Fortunately, there were still spaces left.

4) I have to buy school uniform for Mister Man. This should be easy, right? Navy pants and navy shorts - just not cargo. Red and white polo shirts with no logos. A pair of gym shoes (not until first grade do they have to have the brown or black shoes). Oops. I waited too long. There are apparently few manufacturers that make polos without logos on them. And fewer still that haven't sold out by the end of the third week of August. Navy pants? That's not so much the problem. But poor Mister Man is going to have to wear pants all year even when the temperatures are into the 90s. Oops. Sorry, Kiddo.

5) And there's the dreaded school supply list. Seriously, I need to save what was on the list this year and just start buying the stuff in early July last year. Have you tried looking for a pack of Crayola broad tip classic color markers lately? Or an 8 pack of non-jumbo Crayola crayons? I finally gave up and bought RoseArt markers and a 24 pack of crayons. I emailed the teacher with my dilemma. She's agreed that I can just pick out the eight colors of crayons and send them in a baggie, but she's insisting that the markers need to be Crayola. I've literally been to eight stores, and they are quite simply sold out right now. Apparently, I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

Oh, and don't get me started on trying to find a lunchbox. In fact, I think that might be its own post. One of my friends is now making fun of me in my search for the lunchbox. And I have four more days now, so time is really running out.

The sad thing is that I have a feeling that even with a year of this under my belt and with the experience of this summer, next year I'll be in the same boat. I'm just not good at getting ready for the new school year. I'm not ready for it to start myself!