White Lightning Axiom: Redux

I spent nearly the entire night coughing and hacking. Every time I rolled over, the crud in my lungs would just shift from one side to the other. I am definitely going back on the meds till this is done ravaging my systems. Since I got nearly no sleep, when I finally had enough I still felt tired and just plain awful. The kids are still coughing too and they are 2 weeks ahead of me on this. I so detest these nasty little viruses. We got up at a reasonable hour and managed to get to Church on time. The Mrs came with me today so both of our little rabblerousers got to accompany us. For the most part, they behaved and did not create too much of a ruckus. They were a bit hungry at the time. Jake the Punk was stuffing his mouth with a fistful of Goldfish Crackers and then switched over to his bumble bar tid-bits. Alexis opened the container of chocolate cereal stars and scattered them across the pew much to the Wife's dismay. A bit of shouting and exclamation about things the saw in books ... nothing that the other children at the family mass were not doing.

We deserted the basement chapel just before the second collection so we could go over the open house that they were having at the OLGC School. I was interested in what they would have available for Pre-K and Kindergarten coming up this fall. As we entered the building, I was immediately shot back to my days of catholic schooling. The smell, the darkness of the long hall, the layout. Are all parochial schools laid out this way, or is this some intentional way to make sure that you are not surprised when you enter one of these finer institutes of higher learning. We stroll down the tiled hallway till we get to the door with a big Pre-K sign on it. It is open and light streams out like the pearly gates of heaven. Too much religious imagery? Well, we did just come from the Parking Lot of Purgatory so just stick with me here. The kids immediately fall upon the toys once we enter and start to look around. Since we deserted the mass early, we were the first ones to arrive. The Mrs and I had a brief discussion with one of the teachers and found out a few things. A few things that will keep us from sending the troublesome two here till they are ready for first grade. First off, they only come to Pre-K for 2 days a week, two hours each day. From 0900 to 1100. What? Ok, I was a bit surprised due to my experiences with our current arrangement. The next shocker is that they would start to teach the kids about colors, numbers and letters 6 months from now. Errrrt! Ok, the kids already count to 10 in English, Chinese, Spanish and I'm working on German with them. They have colors down pat so I am working on the RGB codes in html with them so they can get Steel Grey and Sky Blue down pat. They know their alphabet already and can sing it in 3 part harmony. I think that they would be bored to tears! The only thing that they would get out of this is the 30 minutes of religious instruction. They both go to church now (every other week, I can only handle one at a time) and they almost got the self-blessing with holy water down. The final straw was that Kindergarten would start at 0900 and that is just not going to fly. We are a 2 income family and it needs to stay that way till the kids are out of highschool. Maybe even college, it depends on how well their college savings plan performs. No, it looks like we will be staying with the current daycare program through kindergarten. I wonder if they will start up a charter school before they graduate ... hmmm.

After the school debacle, we shuttled off to the pet store to pick up some dog food since we had run out last weekend. I have been giving the humungous Hounds canned food since then. Thor swallows it all in one grand chomp while Katie nibbles away at hers. I have to stay in the room till she is finished or Thor will saunter over and finish her food as well. It costs me about 10 minutes in the morning if I have to monitor them while they eat. Not an entirely gruesome site, but not very entertaining either. The Mrs went inside to pick up the 10 ton bags because she needed a break from the tots and mostly didn't trust me to go in there and only come out with dog food. Good move on her part, I would have probably bought a Llama or Alpaca or something.

Back at home, we feed the kids and Jake is difficult as usual with the soup. No problem with the sandwich, just the soup. Once I manage to get him to finish it up, we send them off to bed and they pass out fairly quickly. I take this moment of silence and calm to take a nap of my own. Because I need it, dammit! The Mrs heads out to do some shopping and all is right in the world. In the midst of my dream, I hear a faint 'Mommmyyyy' and it immediately throws me from my blissful slumber to a full wakened state. I was even stunned by my own reaction to the faintly audible plea. Upon investigation, I find that Jacob has woken up, but no so much as I have. Alexis is starting to stir due to the commotion. I bring both of them down to the kitchen and let them watch ToyStory while I bumble about. It's been a fairly lazy day so I see no harm in letting the utilization rate for the day sit at zero. Less than zero, but the time with the kids is enough to make it worth the loss.

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 10:23 PM