Catching up...

Days 10-13:

I don’t know how he finds the time to write so often!  I let it go for a few days because I had no response and honestly I’m beat.  Now I know why he gets so frustrated when no one says anything!  Besides, this single parenting stuff is  a lot of work with no time left for yourself- including time to write…

So I’ll try to summarize a few days together to get back on track.  Day 10- boring. Got up, went to school, came home, had dinner, did the dishes and went to bed.  Day 11- repeat of day 10 plus a trip to the local sporting goods store.  Not only did we need to buy a soccer ball for the eldest to take to an upcoming birthday party, the youngest now needed soccer gear of his own.

The youngest had it in his head that everything had to be red.  So fingers crossed, in we went.  We found a red Nike dry fit shirt, and with the help of a store clerk had the smallest pair of red soccer socks they make (no problem our dryer shrinks everything to doll size anyway so they’ll fit after a trip though the wash.  Shoes were a bit more of a problem.  They had some he liked, but of course not in his small size.  I finally convinced him to go for a pair of Nike’s that fit but did notice that the tongue of all these cleats was paper thin.  I don’t remember the eldest’s cleats having this feature- wonder why?  Anyway, a matching ball, shin guards and we were set.

At home the first thing he did was try them on.  Thankfully everything fit, or at least the socks would after tomorrow’s laundry.  Immediately we were outside with him teaching me what a forward is supposed to do according to what his “friends” (read the other students in the eldest’s class) had taught him.  A long lecture later and I was finally allowed to kick the ball.  While soccer is not my sport and I don’t even understand the rules, I’m okay until he starts to figure it out then I’ll take a back seat to Dad yet again.

Day 12- Ahh, a Saturday!  Lately the boys have taken to quietly going down stairs and playing a game or watching British cartoons, letting Mom (and uaually Dad) sleep in a little on the weekends.  This was a welcome treat and I finally crawled out of bed about 9:30.  After a PB&J or nutella sandwich for breakfast, we lazed around doing house work and they destroyed more brain cells in front of the TV.

Then, 2 hours before the birthday party we headed out to pick up wrapping that would not give away the fact that the kids was getting a soccer ball and to be sure we could find the place.  Garmin said she could find it and it looked easy enough on google maps, but given our long list of experiences with this sort of thing we weren’t taking any chances.  And it was a good thing too.  After arriving where Garmin said the house was to be, we couldn’t find the correct house number or name.  30 minutes and a stop at the local Mason de Vin for directions we found it.  Then another 30 minutes of driving around as to not be early and viola!  The parents were quite nice and told me what time to come back.  I thought 2 hours was a short birthday party given they have a pool and these things normally take 4-6 hours here but OK.  So  again, it was back to driving to let the youngest finish his nap in the car.  The we visited the park for a while and showed back up exactly 2 hours later.  Now mind you they use the 24 hour system for time and I have difficulty understanding their spoken time in the afternoon anyway.  But I had double checked what they said with the eldest so I was confident I had it right.  Wrong.  I was supposed to show up at dix-huit heur trent, not dix-six heur trent.

I offered to come back in 2 hours but of course that was unacceptable.  Now Mom and little brother was crashing the birthday party!  We had gateau and glace (cake and ice cream) and “visited” with his parents for a while.  Then they got out the floaties for the littlest to swim with his friends.  He is convinced his older brother’s friends are his and they all absolutely love him so in he went.  In the end we have an invite for dinner when Jack returns and he now has a golf outing with the kid’s dad (I havent’ told him that part yet)

Day 13- I had suggested the day before we make one last run to the beach as it was 32 degrees the day before.  But when we awoke at 8:00 to beat the traffic, it was cold and cloudy.  Although Mom really wanted to go, the kids remembered our last outing to the beach in the cold and decided it wasn’t such a good idea.   I assured them the weather report said it would be warm and sunny later in the day but they weren’t buying it.  So in our PJ’s we stayed and watched 10 episodes of the Strumphs (okay, not really 10 but it sure seemed like it to me!)

 Later when it was hot and sunny like I said, I was yet again conned into going to the pool.  When we arrived at the pool we heard voices inside the 6 foot stone wall that houses the regular entrance, so I sent the eldest to run around to see if someone was in the pool.  Before he could return, the owners opened the door and insisted that we join them.  They are nice enough, but it was what you would call slightly awkward to invade them while she swam and he cleaned around the pool.  I tried to make it quick, but they didn’t help matters any by giving the kids noodles to use in the pool.  At least they had fun.

To round out the day, the eldest suggested we go for a bike ride.  I thought this was a good opportunity for him to practice his newly learned skills and agreed.  The youngest wanted to ride his bike and knowing his brother had a longer ride in mind, I suggested I ride Dad’s bike and when he was tired we would lock his bike up on the bike trail and pick it back up on the way home.  This made everyone happy, so on Jack’s bike I go with the kid seat on behind.  As predicted 10 minutes into it he was finished.  So we locked up the bike and put him in his seat.  Now mind you he is roughly 1/3 of my weight and it’s not easy to ride a bike that’s too big for you with this amount of weight on the back swaying ever which way.  We didn’t even start moving before we had problems.  The eldest had pulled up beside me and wanted me to look at his gear that was making noise, and as I turned to look as I was astride the bike I lost its balance.  In slow motion the youngest, strapped in his seat and the bike, went over.  There was no recovery.  He went down slow, but was seriously pissed at me for dropping him.  No tears, but “Mom, what did you do that for?!?” in a stern voice let me know I’d messed up.  With he and the bike upright, we were finally off.

Of course the eldest had to take us on the new found bike route through the nearest town that he and his dad took just before Jack departed.  Remind me to thank him later.  Now it’s the second time I’d taken this route with the youngest riding on back, but this time I was less confident which made it that much harder.  But back home we realized it didn’t bring us back down the bike path and we still had to retrieve the youngest’s bike.  He had fallen asleep on the ride and just wanted to go in and lay down.  But the drive to retrieve his bike via the road was too far and with some stern discussion we were off.  Of course the bike was about 300 yards up the path, but my angel of an eldest son had arrived on his bike way ahead of me and had unlocked both bikes and was walking them towards us. 

I had had enough for one day, and decided it was time for Dad to return.  Some things Mom’s just aren’t as good at…

-The wife

Day 14:

Its Monday. Yuck.  But today the little one decided he didn’t need to go to school anymore.  I told him I had to work so he had to go to school.  His response is that he thought his teacher would be sick.  Here if a teacher is sick, the class is cancelled for the day.  As there is no “calling tree” you simply find out when you arrive at the school and the teacher at the door is holding a sign with the teacher’s name on it saying there is no class that day.  It happened once last year and thankfully Jack was able to meet me to take the youngest for the day.  They are not exactly set up for two working parents for young kids, so I’m not sure what households that need dual incomes do.  I guess that is why women do not tend to have successful careers here and mainly do lower level work that lacks career advancement.  But don’t get me started… 

To top it off, I had a meeting that started before school did and the boys would have to go the guarderee that morning.  Thankfully, there were other kids already there and they went directly to play without further mention of the potentially sick teacher.

Day 15:

Soccer!   Given the location and timing of soccer practice we would have to go directly from school and have the youngest change his clothes in the car.  I had taken the water bottle to fill up, but of course forgot that along with a snack since I was to pick them up at the normal time.  This met woeful cries of hunger and thirst as soon as we got in the car.  There are no convenience stores here, only on the toll roads, so after a bit of quick thinking I remembered a small store of sorts in a town along the way.  Construction on the road for the second time this year that has taken 2 weeks to replace water line a quarter of a mile (at home they would get this distance finished in a day so I’m slightly annoyed with the extremely slow traffic light and their lack of a timeline) meant that I had to park and run.  There was nothing in the way of snacks.  I splurged for some cookies and an old bag of chips, water and a soda.  But of course this didn’t come to 10 euro that I needed to use me debit card.  So, more surly stale cookies and I was back on the run.

We arrived dressed, fed, and with a now full water bottle right on time.  Of course I was one of the first cars in the parking lot, but it turned out to be a good thing as I had paperwork to fill out.  With a mere Bonjour out of my mouth and the woman knew I was the non-French speaker my friend had called her about.  I filled out the paperwork, paid the fee and we were off- as long as I return with a passport sized photo and the permission slip signed by the doctor. 

With all the other parents filling out the paperwork practice started a little late.  There were about 50-60  kids on the field using the club provided balls, and my little guy with the only red ball so thankfully he was easy to spot.  When they divided them up, they only put them into 2 groups, tallest with one guy and the rest with the other.  30 to 1 is not great odds, and it is no wonder there was pushing, shoving, kicking, etc while waiting in line for a drill that took a minimum of 30 seconds for each kid to complete.  My little guy is one of the youngest in the group and I had to go take him away from the biggest kid in his group that kept throwing him on the ground at one point.  Oh for the days of one coach to 6 kids with only one hour practices back in the US!  You can’t keep a kid’s attention for an hour and a half at that age, no matter what you’re doing.  So by the end of practice he was ready to go as this was making him too sweaty.  Me too.  We haven’t bought lawn chairs here yet but it’s now on the list as I sat on the grass for an hour and a half in dress clothes. 

Day 16:  Its Wednesday, again

So with no school, the boy’s were off to my friends.  They love it there and were quite excited.  I’d love it too, but I didn’t get up on time so we had to stop by our favorite boulangerie for donuts.  Best part is they even had enough for Mom today!  Donuts are a hard find here, and when you do find them there are usually only 3 or 4.  They must have known we were coming!

Sadly for the boys, her son is now in College or the French form of junior high and now has half a day of school on Wednesday.  They were able to get their fix on PlayStation when he go home though so we were able to avoid the withdrawals.  On top of that, she even dropped them by the office on the way to take her son to Escrim or fencing.  He’s actually quite good and the one competition we watched was very interesting.

The boys had fallen back into the bad habit of not doing what they’re told when they’re told and had all games taken away so we were in for a cranky evening.  This can be a problem for anyone, but running this ship by yourself means all crew must do their part or we’ll sink.  After a few days, they thankfully realized it was Mom’s way or the highway.

Day 17:  Cleaning before the storm

The eldest was to have a friend over Friday night so I decided to move cleaning day up to ensure the place was free of the massive amounts of dog hair that “stupid” dog leaves everywhere he goes.  It seems I had forgotten that the mop had disintegrated into pieces last week and made its way into the trash.  With miles of tile I was not about to mop and besides the kid wouldn’t notice anyway.  Then off to put clean sheets on the top bunk.  This lead to the question who in the heck decided bunk beds were a good idea?  Obviously not the person trying to put a fitted sheet on the top bunk.  AND who in this house thought having bunk beds was a good idea?  In his absence, it had to be Jack.  He’s taller and it surely isn’t as hard for him- right?

Beds made, toilets cleaned I remembered I had to change the sheets in the guest room as well as a friend of mine said she may come stay with me this weekend while her husband was gone.  Upon entering the guest room the smell hit me.  There was something dead.  Great, now I have to deal with it.  I believe Jack mentioned in a prior blog that I don’t do mice- dead or alive.  I knew it was a mouse that that darn cat had killed.  Even though it was bed time, the eldest was called to the rescue.  He had to hold the flashlight while I pulled the luggage out from under the beds to determine the cause of this awful stink.  With each bag we opened I assessed its worth to determine if the whole bag would go or it a massive cleaning would ensue.  Nope, no matter what it was going.  Then he spotted it.  On the floor was a black goo.  Upon further inspection is was part of something the cat had eaten and then vomited back up under the bed.  Now she’s really on my list.  Since we weren’t headed back to the beach, I sacrificed the sand shovel and scooped up the rotting vomit and ran out the door.  Half a bottle of cleaner and a few candles later and the room was right as rain.  Although I was sure to remind my assistant that my friend would not think highly about sleeping in a bed when there was a once eaten rotting carcass under the bed the day before.  He thought it was funny, while I just cussed the hubby for not being here to do his dead thing in my house removal job.

-The wife

Day 18:  Plus one and a class meeting

A close friend of the eldest’s was to come home with us after school to spend the night after I attended the annual class meeting with the youngest’s teacher.  The meeting began with an explanation of the Green Project, which turns out to be a class trip for kids not even school aged in the US to the south of France for 3 days to learn about agriculture.  With 2 classes and 6 adults this was not a trip I was signing up to chaperone, even if I do think it was a good thing.  Other than that I got the general drift, yet I’m still not sure of the birthday party rules she spouted off at a break neck speed or what happens after the kids get their name on the board for poor behavior.  As the youngest’s birthday is in about a month this one will require a note to the teacher, for the other part we’ll just hope we don’t have to find out…

An hour and a half later, the now 3 boys were ready to go.  Thankfully I had packed enough snacks for 3 now that I was accustomed to the full meal sized “snack” that was required by the poor starved children each day.  I had previously suggested we go for pizza since we’d have a friend along, but the eldest wanted chicken breasts and burned broccoli.  I tried to explain that not all kids had the degustation of an adult, but my 40 year old in a child’s body wouldn’t hear of it.  So burned broccoli it was, well after a quick text to Dad to confirm the recipe that he brought home from his dad.  And guess what, the kid liked it and even wanted us to write down how we made it so his mom could make it.  I’m not sure how you translate putting enough oil in the bottom of a bow to sufficiently cover the broccoli in oil and shake.  That will be a question for my assistant who always has to help me with this sort of thing.  Don’t worry, I’ve share both of my Grandma’s Christmas candy recipes with her in return so at least I contribute to the French cuisine.

Day 19:  A frigid swim

We began the day with biscuits and gravy per the requests of my son who wanted to show his friend some American food.  It was met with a very polite, “C’est bizarre” and so a dry bowl of cereal served as breakfast at his request.  But otherwise this kid was a joy.  I did my best with my French, with the help of my eldest, and by the end of the day I had my very own built in French lesson every time I attempted to talk. 

Then it came, the request for the pool.  I knew it would.  But it was cold and cloudy, so my denial was at least justifiable.  Then in the late afternoon the darn sun came out.  I told them that 70 was not warm enough to swim, but the eldest wanted to show off the pool.  So I obliged warning them I was not getting in.  At the pool, the first jump in the pool took the eldest’s breath away and he had to immediately swim to the side.  Not to be out done, the friend was in next and back out in under 5 seconds.  Of course then the youngest jumped in with his life vest and screamed like he was being killed.  All in all, I think they each jumped in twice and Mom was left to fish the diving rings out of the pool with the end of the skimmer.  Problem was, two of the resident pool rings were the old style that lay flat on the bottom.  Someone had to go in after them.  With no volunteers, I kindly pushed the eldest in and told him he had to get them.  He manned up and with all pool toys put back in their places we were home in side of 15 minutes.

-The Wife

Day 19:  A brocante and a game of life

In our usual fashion, after sleeping in a little I offered to make a big breakfast.  The eldest had conned me into buying bacon from the meat counter as he is less than impressed with the bacon that comes in 7 slice packages and is paper thin.  It looked okay, but when I fried it the fat turned clear and it became extremely crisp.  I tasted it and while I’m not convinced it wasn’t cured similar to the jambon in Spain, it was easy to discern that the paper thin need 3 packages to feed your family packaged bacon was the way to go.  But you never know until you try.

My friend came for the afternoon and we decided to go to a brocante a few minutes away to see if there was anything we couldn’t live without.  Of course there wasn’t as there was mostly clothing and junk.  We did get to go into a fascinating church from the 11^th and 12^th centuries. It was wonderfully preserved, and the graveyard we had to walk through to get there was just as fascinating.  I’ve been wondering how the family plots work as it is apparent that several family members share the same plot but haven’t felt comfortable enough to ask anyone yet for fear of offending someone.  Also, I’ve never seen a hearse here, let alone a funeral procession.  Although my friend is Hungarian, I decided this was the perfect time to ask.  She wasn’t sure in France, but assured me there was enough room in each plot for individual burials and it was highly regulated.  By my math, and the fact that cremations are rare here, with no new cemeteries insight I’m still not convenience.  She did indicate that they don’t embalm people in Europe which I thought was interesting, and I now wonder why we do in the US in addition to what practices are used in other parts of the world.  But I’m quite sure my colleagues would be offended if I took a poll at my travel destinations so I’ll have to stick to google for an answer to that question.  Can you indicate on google that you don’t want pictures?  That may be a little much!

As evening drew near, I had high hopes of spending some time working.  At the youngest’s request to play a game, that became a fleeting thought.  So to the shelf of games we went.  His choice:  The Game of Life in Spanish.  I convenience him the English version was better, to which he responded “yeah, we haven’t played that in years.”  So after 15 minutes of organizing the money and all of the associated cards, we were set.  He and I played for a good 30 minutes.  I am so impressed a child of his age is interested in this sort of game and is even happy to play by the rules.  He loves rules, but tell him he needs to pay taxes and he simply says “it doesn’t matter.”  Wonder if I could try that?

Next we were on to Uno.  This time we had to play by his rules.  So we simply took turns laying down cards and saying I’ll give you a blue 5.  Amazing way to review his letters and colors!  Way to go Uno.  Now if they can just come up with one for letters we’re set! 

Day 20:  Evaluations

We were out the door on time, but with the still ongoing water line work, that has only moved the length of 4 pipes in the last 2 days, and the driver who would only to 50 in a 70 and 30 in a 50 (note that 30 km is around about 15 mph) we were late.  I decided with parking I would have to drop the kids at the cross walk or they’d be late.  Given the 3 notes I’ve received about being late to school and the process to get your kids into class I wasn’t taking a chance of breaking our perfect on time record.  The boys  jumped out and were off, right on time.  But when I got to the office I noted their snack back was still in the seat of the car.  Oh no, now I’m in trouble.  Ok, mental note to 1 remember to take the snack bag when I leave the office and 2 be sure to get out of the office early which is easier said than done.

I managed to leave only 5 minutes later than planned, but traffic was ridiculous!  It took me 20 minutes to make the normal 8-10 minute drive.  Of all the luck.  When I arrived at school there were no hi moms, it was simply you forgot our snack.  I assured them it was in the car and I had tried to come early, but the only response I got was from the little one telling me he had to eat baguette.

In the car, the eldest indicated he had evaluations today.  So I asked him how he did.  Okay.  What do you mean okay?  I did the best I could on my grammer evaluation.  Okay, that I understand but how did you do.  The little smarty pants didn’t know what they were exactly asking but easily figured out the verb and then successfully dissected the parts of the sentence perfectly.  I’m not even sure I could do that in English at this point in life let alone in a foreign language I’d been speaking for about a year with little instruction.  He also did well on history and math.  My little genius makes me proud.  But that reminds me, I’d better stop making donut runs in the morning and put the extra money away for MIT…  How much can you get for the sale of a kidney?