Tomorrow I'm off to YW camp. I'm excited, but stressing. I *think* I'm pretty much ready to just load up the car tomorrow and tidy the house, but the nagging fear of forgetting something important is the worst. Will I remember to pack the kids' meds for the sitter? What about everything else I promised I'd send along to help them get through a week with 7 kids? Am I bringing all the camping gear we'll need? It's all on me to remember to get it there.What will I do about all these blueberries I picked but didn't freeze yet? They'll be bad by the time I get back. :-/ Degu-care set? Kids' rides to their activities coordinated? Have I packed all their uniforms and such? When will I send the work document I promised to format and send? Aack! So many people depending on me to have prepared well enough and to remember so much. I know everything will be just fine. I just hate the feeling of forgetting to bring/do/prepare what others were expecting or depending on me for. Hoping I won't feel that too much. ;-)
One of the classes I signed the kids up through Parks and Rec was Brennan and Asher doing Shao-Lin Kemp = karate, kung fu, and jujitsu I believe. I thought, "it's just a fun summer thing, I'm not going to bother purchasing karate uniforms or anything."
We got to their first class and of course they had fun. Then the teacher talked to me about purchasing their uniforms. He started out telling me how much it typically costs, but because I have two boys in it and he knows it adds up, (and also knowing we came in through a parks & rec scholarship which was probably a red flag), he asked if I could do xxx amount. I started to explain that I'm in the process of a divorce and don't really have anything extra right now... so he gave us the uniforms for free. Which was nice. And I'm grateful. But also, in the course of the conversation it felt very much like the expectation is that they'll keep going to this indefinitely. Having accepted the uniforms I feel a little bit obligated too. But these scholarships aren't bottomless, lol. They cover essentially 3 rounds of swimming lessons a year and that's it. Don't know what I'll do when it's over - the boys LOVE it, and I love that they have to do extra push-ups if they can't report that their rooms are clean or that they've done their chores at home. ;-) They're definitely more motivated lately.
Their teacher is an interesting guy. Very... friendly. I can't decide if I find him odd, annoying, or pleasant. Even if I don't go inside when I'm picking up the boys, for example, he'll come outside and talk to me like we're old friends or something. He'll recap how the boys did, he'll laugh about things Asher said or things he told them. He spends enough time talking to me that inevitably Hollyn will hop out of the car and somehow gets herself in a position where I realize he's holding her and she's beaming. We've only been going to Karate for 3 sessions now.
Hollyn wastes no time making adult friends. It kind of concerns me, but I can't keep her from charming people! Our home teacher, who was previously our Bishop, is another current victim of hers. He seems to like it though, particularly as he looks forward to becoming a grandfather within a few years. She manages to end up being carried to primary, convincing him to stick around while she sits on his lap and won't let him go, he carries her to me at the end of church... Whenever she sees Parker Appah, a great young man who recently graduated HS and who once supervised his younger sister babysitting the kids (like, a first time babysitting thing for her), she exclaims, "It's my favorite man!" Yeah, that's what she calls him. Her favorite man. Because she had him wrapped around her little finger within minutes of their first meeting. Going back to the home teacher/Bishop: his companion is his youngest son, a Junior in HS. He's the baby of the family by a large gap, and non of his older siblings have children yet so really, he's had very limited interactions with little kids. On their first visit, Hollyn started climbing all over both father and son's laps, but I could tell the latter was totally unused to it. She knows no boundaries, she just expects everyone to WANT to hold her or pay her attention. I kind of wish people wouldn't enable it so much. I need a "don't feed the bear" sign about her, like "Don't pick up the monkey-child". I wonder, who would Hollyn be if instead of being extra small, she was large of stature? Her whole life-experience would probably be different, hahaha.
1 comment:
I feel your worrying about forgetting pain.
As for the karate.... First off I think you could give back the uniforms. Second, is he hitting on you? Or just a very friendly guy? Seems odd.
Third - Hollyn will figure in out but you may have to have some quiet chats with her before situations about what behavior is okay and what is not. She's at that age where all children think they can keep doing their cute baby stuff and everyone will love it. Remember Jackie jumping on everyone? She learned after awhile. :-). Everyone does it but I think mostly little girls who are used to being the apple of everyone's eye!
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