Progress, Growing Edges and Epic Parental Fail #1

It's funny to sit down and think about a week and realize how much living actually happens in seven days.  When I was working, weeks flew by - routines ruled the roost and if we deviated it felt weird.  Now, we're trying to define routine because there's so much that's new to incorporate into our day to day living. 

Thursday was the first day of school - my anxiety was higher than the kids, I think.  It was great, though (despite both kids having substitute teachers for their first day).  I picked them up all smiles and, as promised, we walked to the cupcake shop and headed straight for the beach on English Bay.  We played and laughed and the kids could barely carry themselves back to the apartment after playing in the water that made my toes curl it was so cold.  I felt triumphant on Friday as I confidently left the apartment with NO MAP to walk the kids to school.  This seems small but really, given my history for needing maps, this was a milestone indeed.  I dropped Henry at his school (The Annex) and Lydia at hers (Lord Roberts - the main school), and learned that each morning parents are invited and encouraged to stay in Lydia's class for the first 10 minutes and read with our kids.  What fun!  Then, I had to head back to the apartment to pick up Lydia's forgotten lunch box...and headed back to Lydia's school.  While this isn't anything extraordinary - it is a lot of steps, and it's 930 in the morning by now.  Then, I plugged in my ear buds and headed for the beach.  My intention is to do this daily - exercise right after dropping them off - but here's the kicker - it doesn't feel like exercise.  I figure at some point it will, but walking along the seawall with mountains in view and salt water in the air is pretty amazing.  Then I found it - the elusive heated, salt water pool and playground at second beach - SCORE!  I got so distracted watching the world around me that I forgot to watch the exercise clock and didn't arrive back at home until 11AM.  AND - I didn't make a wrong turn even once!  At this point, I'm tired and I've not even considered the pickup walk that looms at 230ish.  Nonetheless, had some good leftovers for lunch and cleaned the whole apartment in less than an hour - downsizing has a lot of benefits.  Then we got the call - there's a spot for Henry at the main school - Lord Roberts.  I was thrilled and decided to pick him up a tad early to bid farewell to friends he'd begun to make and take him to the new school to meet his new teacher...

So begins Epic Parental Fail #1 - Henry LOVED his teacher, well sub.  I did too - he's uber cool - curly ponytail, fun sense of humor, artistic and just someone you want to be around.  Henry had also begun to make some friends in his class at The Annex and really liked it there.  And I got to knock on the door of his class to tell him that he's got to have ANOTHER adjustment (as if he's not had aplenty so far).  It went about as I expected - he kinda took it on the chin on the surface but when it was just him and me it was ugly.  He was mad, sad, a little anxious and embarrassed all rolled into one.  In truth I kind of was too - it's weird to take your kid to their first day of school on Thursday only to show up early on Friday to pick them up never to return - we had no idea, NONE, that this transfer would happen so quickly.  Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.  It's about a 10-15 minute walk between The Annex and the main school - part of why we wanted the kids at the same school.  That was the longest short walk I'd ever taken and it was SILENT.  And it was hard for me to let that be.  But I knew that Henry needed that silence to process and yell at me in his head and wrap his head around a change we'd been warning him would come, but one that none of us expected so quickly.  Thankfully, his new teacher is also uber cool.  He's intriguing too - from South Africa, has lived in the States, all over Canada and has training in all sorts of areas - early childhood, storytelling, counseling, French and education.  They have a yearlong class 'mystery' that the kids work together to solve and his philosophy is that he has to make it fun because if kids don't want to come to school there's no way he can possibly help educate them.  And the crowning jewel is that we were invited to dinner at a family's house on Sunday night before we knew that Henry was transferring and their son is in Henry's class.  Thank heavens!  Redemption.  Henry and Ty hit it off as we did with Ty's parents...and so begins life anew, again.  Today's is Henry's second first day in 5 days and I know he'll be fine.  Today is Lydia's 3rd day in school and she's had 3 teachers so far - two subs and one day with her actual teacher.  We're figuring it out...little by little, but we're also solidifying our family along the way. 

Now - we prepare for 'the STRIKE' - yep...we're getting into a groove and by the end of this week all schools may be closed in British Columbia because of a Settlement Workers strike.  This is new.  I hope, at the very least, that Henry & Lydia get a full week in school before it shuts down and I'm really glad I went to the Russian settlement worker's coffee hour this morning to even know a strike was on the table.  I had no idea.  I had no idea because I don't watch the news [which may not be bad according to the Russian astrologer in our coffee hour this morning who told us the news was too much and clouded her sight so she couldn't predict how the whole Syria situation would play out].  I had no idea because I assumed, again, that education here operates like education in Clemson.  Wrong.  What I learned from Svetlana, the Settlement Worker at Lord Roberts, is that her salary/benefits haven't increased since 2001.  2001, people - that's crazy!  I don't know what her salary is but what I do know is that it was Svetlana who offered to give me a tour of the school.  It was Svetlana who gave me information about where to get sports information for Henry.  It was Svetlana who first invited me to the SWIS coffee hour on Mondays and didn't make me feel weird as the only American attendant who already speaks English.  It was Svetlana who asked folks to speak in English so I could understand.   And I want Svetlana treated justly. 

I have no idea what this means for our family - apparently one strike in the past lasted for a month - YIKES!  I'll be investigating home school curricula if that happens.  And you know I'm not a home school mama - it'll be a stretch.  We've got some learning to do - all four of us.

So we push ahead.  We plow through.  We give each other grace.  And we laugh.  A lot.