Overstimulated to the MAXIMUM in Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of HAPPINESS

We survived our first week of school! So many of the kids remembered me which was awesome. I’m mainly working with 3rd-5th grades. Our Special Education caseload for this small neighborhood magnet elementary school is higher than it’s ever been. It’s an adjustment and we are all spread SO thin. There are also quite a few behaviors as well. Lots of students that are new to our school, and a handful that are new to this state. I mean…every single moment of my day is accounted for. No time to even THINK or to regain my composure.

I get off of work 2 hours later than the high school I worked at last year, BUT…even though I get off at 4pm, you don’t even notice! I LOVE having the extra time in the morning and not feeling like I need to rush before the sun has even risen

My sons daycare is going great! He started Monday with a half day. I let him stay there full day Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday he started school and the bus picked him up from daycare and dropped him off after school! I am so excited for him this year. His teacher whom he also had last year for his first year of Pre-K said that he settled back into school well. She said he’s been communicating his needs well (as did the daycare provider) which is GREAT for my baby who just 2 years ago didn’t have very many words. She said that he remembers the routine and the rules. Daycare said that he’s been doing great feeding himself well and going to the potty with no issues.

My daughter started school Wednesday. I get to drive her to school this year. She has CRUSHES on BOYS....ALL OF THEM! I think she inherited that from me for sure. She started her afterschool program since I get out of school an hour after her. Her school is really maybe a MILE from mine except in the traffic in the evening it still takes me like 10 minutes to get there. She started volleyball practice this week. Next week is when her cheerleading practices start which is perfect because I don’t have to pay for the afterschool program on those days LOL. When I went to her “Meet the teacher” event (DURING MY SCHOOL DAY) on Tuesday I was NOT impressed with her teacher. Plus she’s new to that school which also irks my nerves because she had a new teacher for Pre K, and 1st and now 2nd. Well not “new to teaching” but new to the school and this woman…just had no clue. My daughter goes to a college preparatory private school with traditions and such or just a certain way that things are done. This is our second year at this school and this woman seems very unsure and unconfident which doesn’t give me confidence in her abilities at all just yet. I’m not even sure I like the parents of the other children in her class. LOL. I will explain more later. She only has one person in her class that was in her class last year, so I’m unfamiliar with the kids and the parents. Ugh, that Meet the Teacher event was so CRINGEY. There was an entitled parent whom I heard overheard asking the teacher if her son could have something more challenging than Spanish class because her son already knows Spanish eye roll. She said the level at which they’re learning is TOO LOW for her 2nd grade son, and she wanted to know if the Spanish teacher could come up with more complicated curriculum for her son only or if there was something else he could do instead of go to Spanish class with the other 7/8-year-old “beginners”. EYE FUCKING ROLL

Anyway, by the time I pick my daughter up and we go to pick up my son and head home…it’s about 5pm. When the kids get home all hell breaks loose and they stop listening and their afterschool routines which I have a VISUAL SCHEDULE for…they just ignore it. I yell. I eventually get tired. Dinner. Then Bedtime routine. Go to sleep and do it all over again!

So as a treat for us, I decided to celebrate SURVIVING THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL! I got a hotel for the kids and I. We’ve gone swimming (which was fun until a family of 10 came in and after being overstimulated all week…the NOISE and wild kids that would jump near my head and splash me in the face/ threw a ball that hit my son right in his face without apologizing made me cut it short). I took the kids to the dollar store and let them pick out an activity book. I let them pick out one snack and then a special drink of their choice. I took them to dinner and let them have what they wanted since I say NO a lot. My son wanted Pizza (OF COURSE) and my daughter and I had Subway. I let them jump on the bed and watch whatever they wanted. Now they’re spinning in the desk chair faster than a carnival ride.

WEEK 1 in the books!

Last updated August 20, 2022