Back to School

The school year in Kansas City generally goes from mid August to mid May. The school year in the rest of the country seems to go from September to June. As you could probably surmise, our children have had an extra long summer. We have kept them busy with the move, as well as a week at a time of day camp and tennis here and there, field trips to local sites, visits to the beach, playground, and library, and of course, time with the grandparents and aunt. Otherwise, they seem to be chomping at the bit to start school. I don't blame them. Most of the friends they have had all their lives have been from school. Although we have met children from the neighborhood and town, it is not quite the same as the friends one makes at school. Both the children, our son, especially, would benefit from hanging out with children their own age. As much as I like to play Lego, I just can't muster up the same kind of enthusiasm that his friends B and G did when he built the Indiana Jones Temple Escape from the ATAT kit (although I was truly impressed with him). So we are all very excited to start the school year and make new friends.

Of course, "back to school" means back to school shopping, which, although I used to relish as a child and adolescent, I now dread as a parent. When we were in Kansas City, the schools provided everything but the backpack and lunchbox. Our children are not yet at the age where clothes are a huge deal (although our daughter is getting there), so back to school shopping was very simple for us. Now, we have been given itemized lists of school supplies to purchase for the first day of school. Although I have been warned by other parents not to jump in right away to buy everything on the list, and just wait until after the first week of school to see what they REALLY need, we still went to Target to buy everything on the list anyway. The way I see it is that this is our first time at this new school. I want to make sure we are prepared. For the first year, what is a couple of notebooks extra if it means that my kids won't be the only one in class without the right color notebook? And I'm not exaggerating when I say the right color. We were given a list of colors of numbers of types of notebooks to be purchased. Also on the list were baby wipes (for both children), paper towels, tissues, plastic cutlery, plastic sandwich bags, and the usual pencils, crayons, markers, extra set of clothes, etc. Had I mentioned that we are already paying a nice sum for tuition to this school?

Nonetheless, we are all looking forward to school starting, especially my husband who has been home with the kids ever since I started work. He happens to start work the same day as the kids start school -perfect timing. As much as we have enjoyed our extra long summer, it will be nice to get into a routine.

The second and third weeks of my new job have gone better than the first week, which is good 'cause if things had kept up the way they were the first week, I would probably consider quitting. But I am enjoying the work, and feeling more comfortable being on my own and establishing a good routine.

What I like about my new job: having an office (shared, but an office nonetheless)

What I miss about my old job: having a locker. The women's lockers are all taken, and some are even shared. Most of the nurses are female, and thus make up the majority of the people who work in the OR. Good thing we have an office.