Saturday, October 10, 2009

Exhausted!

Wednesday was the first of the 4 days where che-che will be in afternoon session. Must admit I didn't look forward to it but I didn't have a choice - can't possibly let her pontang school right?

Day 1 - 7th Oct
Morning - Brought mei-mei to school. Pumped petrol and headed back home. Che-che did a little work, revised her spelling. I went through papers/those with mistakes with her. Showered and left home at 11.55am. Brought mei-mei home and ...........I thought I just stepped into the lift not too long ago??

The house is quiet and I love it. The kids don't fight coz' they didn't have a chance to be together for long. I managed to do alot of hands-on work with mei-mei. Going through her homework and doing some additional activities before she surrendered to dreamland. Had one hour of free time before I left hopme. Strange? I'm feeling so thirsty.. then I realised that I haven't had the time for any drink apart from my morning breakfast. I was that occupied with my time?!?!? I wouldn't have died from exhaustion by dehydration. (okay...that was pure exaggeration)

Left home at 5pm to prep myself for a CAMPING TRIP. I had to pick che-che up from Gate 3 (main road) and noticed that cars usually line up one hour before pick-up time. In order to get the perfect lot, I had to be early. Typical kiasu mother!
10 mins after I've arrived, cars began to stream in. Woah! At assembly time, principal spoke to the children (and indirectly a chance for her to hint to those parents outside) " Cannot park the cars on the second lane, I know you have told your parents please remind them again. Infact, no parking on the first lane is allowed." Ahem.... we got the hint. Some mummies and me were looking around and sniggering (yup! they were talking about us. And me for the first time coz' I usually pick her up from the main gate). We were joking about taking down car numbers and hand it up to the principal etc.. getting into her good books.
Dismissed and soon my girl came out. I was surprised that she was early coz' her assembly place is rather far from the gate.

Speedy-gon-zaleh Zoooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmm

She changed in the car and it's Q&A time.
Me : "How? Do you like being in the afternoon session?"
Ath : "No. I like the usual time."
Me : "Were you sleepy in the afternoon?"
Ath : "Yes"
Me : "Did you fall asleep in class?"
Ath : "No"
Ath : "I don't like this."

I have to agree with her that I don't like this either. When we had to rotate sessions in Primary school (in my time) I hated the afternoon sessions coz' I didn't have much time to do work (ahem... I didn't dare say 'play' so changed it to 'to do work') But on the other hand, I didn't mind the fact that I could really spend time with each child.

Though Day 1, I'm exhausted. What an eventful birthday!!

Day 2 - 8th Oct
Grumbled that I've never taken our lifts so often in a day before. Really! 6 times to be exact and today's the start of another cycle.

The usual thing, girl did work at home while I send mei-mei to school. She told me the night before she wanted to follow me, I told her that I'd prefer that she sleeps in a little longer coz' she'll have a long day ahead of her. But she can't, the latest she could get up is 7+, about an hour + later than usual.

Was thinking to myself, supposedly if she is really in the afternoon session.. how can I find the time for enrichment class? You know the timing is neither here nor there. By 11am, she has to eat and shower. By 11.45am we leave the house in a leisurely manner.

Yesterday we arrived school at 12.17pm and there were so many cars (be in school at 12.35pm, class starts at 12.50pm) so today I'm not going to get stuck in that situation again. Not too bad, we reached school at 12.09pm and it's a breeze.
Fed mei-mei her lunch in the car and then brought her for a short walk around Toa Payoh area before going for her class. Chatted with J after class is over, pop by Mcs and then we went to pick che-che.
W offered to pick che-che up from me at the gate, I declined but then decided to go to the gate to meet her. Traffic is really horrible.

Day 3 - 9th Oct
Cycle continues with me spending more time with mei-mei in the afternoon. Actually I kindda like this arrangement where it gives me a chance to spend time with each child. How I eventually settled for 2 kids going in the same session earlier in the year did save me time alot of time and hassles. But supposedly if we live close to the school and if mei-mei's school do have formal classes in the afternoons it can be an option. Of course it leaves insufficient time for their enrichment classes which will be pushed to the weekends. It also leaves this poor mummy with no time for herself. At least now I can sneak a short 1-2 hour of window shopping, reading in the library or going back home to prepare materials.
So am I glad that they're both in the morning session? Sort of. Hmm...........the noise; the fights; the screams I don't like that. That's the only thing I've gotta tolerate.
Evening time, I checked. Tank is already past 3/4. Woah! Imagine it's approximately 25km per trip. I've made 150km in a day. Multiply this by 4 days, I'll use up 600km!! And usually I only need to pump petrol every 8-9 days.
Back home I'm really exhausted! Ehh...........one more day to go. My neighbour's son didn't have to go school, probably had some excursion or something this morning when I bump into him. Wah, and che-che's school is so super on!!

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