Ok, so it’s 12:30 am, and we have to leave for the airport at 4:45 am. So I’m looking at a maximum of 3 1/2 hours of sleep at this point. Less, really, because I still have to do a few critical tasks like oh, finish packing.
This is going to be the most disorganized Disney trip in the history of the world. It was kind of a rough week and did I mention that Tinsae has come down with a cold and I am getting it too? If I survive four flights in five days with my eardrums intact it will be a miracle.
Anyway. Whatever, right? It will be sunny and warm and we will see Mickey. See y’all in a few days, and I hope there is some really good news in certain parts of blogland when I get home. (You know who you are, Ana-ray and Azel-hay.)
So let’s say you get a message on Facebook from someone you used to date but broke up with about two years ago. And let’s say that was the last time you actually dated, since a month afterward you found out about your son and then he came home and any dream of a social life came to a screeching halt. And let’s say he asks if you’re married yet. Would the appropriate response be:
A) No, because I have not recovered from the trauma of NEVER GETTING BACK MY WEST WING SEASON ONE DVDS FROM THE LAST DUDE, NOT THAT I’M BITTER;
B) No, but on the other hand I am also not desperate enough to re-engage with anyone who has serious control issues, if that’s what you are getting at, Mr If-You-Make-The-First-Move-It-Freaks-Me-Out;
C) No, because I am a big fat loser. And you?
Filed under: random whining
Ok, so I’ve been a little quiet. That’s because most of my free time since Sunday evening has been spent either (a) mopping up water in my basement, (b) washing towels used to mop up water in my basement, (c) driving through a whiteout, or (d) shovelling my way into the house. Because there’s nothing like high temperatures and a super fast melt with ice jams in all the drains and ditches and waterlogged ground, followed by a fucking blizzard.
As Sport said in the car this morning, “Good thing we going to California soon.”
Can’t. Wait.
Filed under: offspring
Creativity has been brewing over here at Casa Tafel. Here is some of Sport’s latest work:
If any of you are suffering from a post-St Patrick’s Day leprechaun infestation, you’ll be happy to see the following schematic for three different leprechaun traps. (Sorry, you must provide your own gold.)
This one is a little hard to make out, but apparently the old dude is recording the bird’s song. (So that’s a microphone, not a salt shaker.)
Lastly, we have Sport’s rendition of Harry Potter. I decided he was old enough to see the movie (the first one) although I warned him that the end was a little bit scary. He loved it, especially the Quidditch of course. Harry looks a little demonic in this interpretation, I’ll admit. (Also, that is his scarf blowing in the wind, in case you were wondering.)
I am sick. Again. Sport was sick too, but although he is a frickin human petri dish, he also has a killer immune system. Any bug that lays me low for a week is out of his system in about 2 days, max.
More entertaining posts to follow once my head feels less like a bowling ball. A bowling ball with mucus. There, aren’t you glad you read this?
I leave you with a scene that has not yet happened in our house, although it certainly could.
“Mom! Look! Money!” (Picks up penny in the parking lot.) “Can I have it?”
“Sure, it’s only a penny, and we don’t know who dropped it so we can’t give it back.”
“Yeah! And besides, finders keepers, losers wieners.”
****
At our parent-teacher conference:
Teacher: “Sport, I’d like you to think of something to finish this sentence. ‘For the rest of the year, I would like to work harder at….’”
Sport: “Knitting.”
Me (because teacher seemed momentarily incapable of speech): “I think it’s supposed to be something you do at school, pal.”
Sport: “Ok…. building a snowman.”
Me: “What about something you actually do in your kindergarten classroom?”
Sport: “I don’t know.”
Teacher: “There’s nothing that you think you could do better, if you just worked a little harder at it?”
Sport: “Not really.”
Me: (bangs head on desk)
****
“We don’t have a pet anymore in Miss T’s class.”
“Oh… I didn’t know you even had a class pet.”
“We had a cricket. But SOMEONE must have let it out, and it went on the floor, and it got stepped on.”
“Oh dear.”
“Yeah. But I know it wasn’t me, because I looked at the bottom of my shoe. And there was no guts.”
Filed under: offspring
Now I can stop my obsessive checking of the tracking number. I was dying of suspense when there was no info for 3 days after it left Dubai. I actually checked BBC news to see if a FedEx plane had crashed. (Obsessive compulsive much?)
Filed under: offspring
I managed to stop by Sport’s new-school-to-be today and finally hand in his registration forms and other paperwork. The vice-principal, who I hadn’t met yet, happened to be covering the office right then. She asked for his birth certificate, and I explained that I had one, but as he was born abroad they might prefer the citizenship card.
Her: “Sure, I’ll take a copy of both just to be on the safe side. So, where was he born?”
Me: “Ethiopia.”
Her: “Really! You know, we have another new student, Bekele. He’s from Ethiopia too.”
Ok, so… not only is there now another Ethiopian kid in the school, but (a) she said his name right, (b) she knew he was from Ethiopia, not just “Africa”, and (c) we then proceeded to have a positive discussion about speech/language assessment, available EAL resources should they be necessary, cultural diversity in the school, etc. She allowed that they were not as diverse as some schools, but gave some numbers which actually were better than what I had anticipated. Oh, and her mother is a “Big Sister” to a girl from Sierra Leone, and she is quite familiar with the problem of estimated birth dates. And she agreed with me that socially the multiage class I want him in would probably be a good fit, although they won’t commit to his placement there until after he comes in for an informal assessment in May sometime.
So… er… I guess I was worried for nothing. But all that angst was probably character building, right???
Filed under: offspring
After a few more days of deliberating (aka stewing) I have decided to continue with my plan of moving Sport to the local public school. To be honest, that’s what I really want to do, but I am feeling guilty about it and I am worried that I am making the decision more in my best interests than in his. But the fact is, he hates the extra time spent in the car every day as much as I do. And it will be good for him to have neighbourhood friends – kids nearby to play with, who will be on his baseball team or in his swimming classes. And yes, he has thrived at the private school, but he is so pro-school and anxious to learn that he probably would have done just as well anywhere.
I do still have concerns about the lack of ethnic diversity in the school. When you listen to adult transracial adoptees, or read their writing, you repeatedly hear about the pressure and discomfort of ALWAYS being different. You are conspicuous out with your family, in your neighbourhood, at school. This is one of the reasons I have intended all along to adopt a sibling for Sport. Yes, I want to parent two kids, but I also want my child to have someone who he can introduce as his family without eyebrows being raised and questions being asked. Someone who will share his experience, both within our family and in the outside world.
So to combat my concerns about the lack of diversity at school, I guess I need to get off my derriere and make more of an effort to get him involved in other groups. Like attempting to get to the Ethiopian church regularly, and taking up an acquaintance on her offer of Amharic lessons with her family. We do still see his pals from the foster home in Ethiopia often, so that will continue to be important as well. Plus, I will have a conversation (or several) with the principal and teacher at the new school to see what sorts of policies or programs they have in place around racial awareness, anti-racism efforts, etc. And I will continue to offer to buy books to supplement the class and school library with materials about cultures around the world.
Ok. Now all we need is a daycare spot for before & after school, and we’re home free.
And not the kind with syrup and whipping cream and fruit, either. Nope, it’s the indecisive, lose-your-mind kind.
It’s about Sport’s schooling. Yes, AGAIN. We went to an information night at the school four blocks from our new house, and the school itself is fabulous, but… one thing really stuck out for me. I looked at the class pictures on the walls and realized that it’s pretty darn white. Seriously, I looked at every picture, and from K-5 there was one Asian child and one East Indian child. So. Great school, good facilities, super close to home, but far, far less diverse than the private school he attends now. (His kindergarten class alone has more ethnicities represented than the other school does as a whole. Plus there are six or seven other Ethiopian kids, two of whom were also adopted.) The funny thing is, while this neighbourhood is not overly diverse, there are definitely more families of colour than I see represented at the local school. So where the heck are those kids going? To the French Immersion school, possibly… but that isn’t the right choice for Sport at this point so I’m not even considering it.
I agonized over this dilemma for a while, but ended up facing reality. Private school is just not an option for the future due to the fees for one child, never mind for two (hopefully) one day. Plus, as I have complained about before, we spend a lot of time in the car to and from school, and there is still the complication of the daycare at the school closing during all school holidays.
So I had come around again to the idea of the local school. So close to home, nice staff from what I have seen so far, good programs, small class size, ultra convenient. Plus Sport will meet kids and make friends in the neighbourhood. There is still the hitch of no daycare space as of yet, but I”m hopeful we’ll have one for the fall.
Now, here comes the waffle, revisited. Yesterday I finally told the principal & teacher at his current school that he won’t be registering there for next year. Tonight I got a lovely email about how sad they are about that… and it included the offer of a bursary if that is what it would take for him to continue to attend.
Are they TRYING to make me lose my mind?? Now I am questioning the decision all over again. If I take money out of the equation, does that change things enough to leave him at that school? Diversity vs Convenience: which one should win?
Help. Me.
