Coming to a classroom near you?? No, but I am going to be a room parent in Nixon's class tomorrow.....

   Good thing I just refilled my Prozac, because I have a feeling that spending the morning with almost 30 four and five-year-old kids will be amping my anxiety to the nth degree.
   Tomorrow is Halloween but it's Thursday which isn't a normal school day for Nixon, his class is doing a Halloween parade and he is allowed to go, we were given 2 choices: a) he could go Thursday and have it take the place of Friday (his usual school day) or b) I could stay and be a room parent for the day.
   I chose the later option. I get to stay and enjoy Nixon's first school Halloween event?!? Hell yeah I'll be there!

   But there's another reason I want to be there. Nixon's still saying he's having issues with a boy in his class but his teachers aren't witnessing anything. Monday Nixon had a small bruise on his face but neither of his teachers mentioned what happened and Nixon was in the middle of a meltdown when we picked him up.

   So what should I expect as a room parent? I have no idea! His class is always loud, full of energized kids and tomorrow they'll be in costumes enjoying the Halloween festivities! I think the hardest part I'll be facing is letting the teachers handle Nixon and not deal with him myself. I'm on their turf and need to let them do their job.

   Most of all, I'm grateful I have the ability to go to school with Nixon for a day. It hasn't been easy, my being home for the last almost-5 years, but there are perks. This is one of those perks. Soon enough I'll be going back to work but for now, I'm enjoying these moments as they happen.

   In other news, today was Nixon's first school picture day. I took a couple practice photos of him at home, so he knew what would be expected of him at school as we've never really done posed photos before with him.

before school cutie pic. he picked out the tie himself!

Luxury in life

While making breakfast today, (nothing fancy waffles, scrambled eggs with cheese and turkey bacon with coffee of course), I was struck by a thought. I'd asked Mac to help me and realized after listening to the giggles and running commentary between Nixon and mac, that he was otherwise occupied. I also, strangely enough, found myself jealous of Mac.
I'll explain.
Mac can't cook. I mean he can't cook anything that doesn't have microwave instructions or can go in the toaster. Which means, if we're eating a home cooked meal, I'm the one making the meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner doesn't matter I'm making it. So listening to Nixon and Mac relaxing watching Zaboomafu together this morning bothered me. I'm never able to chill and have a fresh meal magically appear on the table, excluding pizza deliveries of course. Just once it'd be nice to relax and be called to the table by someone I'm not paying and told my meal is ready.

I've heard being a stay-at-home-mom is a luxury. It wasn't a choice I made selflessly. It was kind of made for me, after arriving to Okinawa, when I realized childcare, base job pay rate and Mac's shift work would not be conducive to me working outside of the home. Although to be honest, I don't really work in the home either. I clean, feed Nixon, try to keep him on a schedule and mostly entertained, I run errands when needed. I make meals for the 3 of us most days and dinner most nights. I remind Mac of important things he needs to do. To me a luxury is daycare and working outside of the home.

One person's idea of luxury is another person's reality.
By the way, if there's anyone out there who'd like to help Mac make a full meal for Nixon and I, giving me the luxury of eating a meal that's not fast food, that I didn't prepare some day, let me know. I'm okay with everything I have to do, but just once it'd be nice to NOT spend time in the kitchen and still eat something other than sandwiches.