Hey, remember me. I used to drop by here occasionally. I know, its only been about four or five days but even so, it feels like a lot longer.
I could tell you that I've been busy, completely up to my eyes in other things but then I'd be lying.
Alright, first things first, the new school. Chloe absolutely loves it. She barrels off down the street in the morning (it rocks living 2 mins from the gate btw) as fast as her wee legs will carry her with her newly acquired ponytail bouncing along behind her and her school bag flapping in the wind.
There I go talking about the weather again, but it has been windy.
In fact I'm lucky to even get a kiss and hug before she rushes in through the door in the morning. Then when I collect her she talks of nothing else for hours on end, about the games she played and the songs she sang. It really does sound like she's having a ball.
I don't know if this works for everyone, but I tend to watch Chloe's eating habits during any big change such as this because I think its the best indicator of how she's taking to it all.
She started school on Thursday last week and on the Thursday and Friday and then again on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week that little girl of mine came home and ate like a champion. I mean I haven't seen her grub like that in a long time. She would arrive home and be immediately ready for a full lunch, then she snacked what felt like constantly until about 4.30pm and then she was ready for a full cooked dinner again at 5.30pm. Plus she would have had another snack (or two) before her bedtime at 8.00pm. Clearly the new routine was taking it out of her to begin with, she was finding it challenging and needed the extra food to help her get used to amount of new things expected from her each day.
However, yesterday she arrived home and ate what I would consider her usual amount for lunch, she had a snack again at around 3pm and then just plenty to drink until dinner time without once asking for or helping herself to anything else.
This is more like her usual routine before she started school so I think she's already getting used to her new routine and finding a good balance for herself which isn't bad really considering it was only her sixth day in school. She's in school now and I'm sure that being off for the weekend will throw her a bit and we'll start pretty much from scratch again on Monday but I think she'll get the hang of it all quite quickly. She normally does adapt pretty well to new things so I'm not really worried.
Now feel free to let me know if I'm a bit of a oddball or whether this has happened to anyone else once their kids are off to school and they have a bit of free time to themselves. Here's the thing, while Chloe has replaced one routine with another, I've completely lost one.
Don't get me wrong, there are a hundred things I could be doing to make good use of the time in the morning but does anyone else find themselves kind of just sitting around waiting for their kids to come home. Maybe floating back and forward between a couple of different things but not actually accomplishing much, if anything at all.
Maybe its just the first few days while I get used to exactly how much time I have to play with during the day, but as it stands at this moment in time I am the Official Thumb Twiddler of the Woods Residence.
Now if you'll excuse me there's a space on the wall I must stare at until the bell rings (it really does rock living 2 mins from the gate).
You know, I never really noticed the eating thing except that sometimes when my daughter is particularly anxious she eats less because her stomach bothers her.
ReplyDeleteBut it's definitely interesting. A little odd, but interesting.
I hope it doesn't sound like I don't love my family, but I never find myself counting the minutes until they get home from school and work. I relish my time alone during the day and sometimes have trouble switching gears to family time in the evening.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are probably more people like you than like me, though.