First Day of School Recap

Well, today was LG's first day of second grade.  We managed to make it to the bus stop on time (she actually had 3 minutes to spare and used them to watch commercials between PBS kids' shows), and she brought all her school supplies (which I have to say is much less fun when they are used communally) in an old messenger bag of mine that she claimed from the giveaway pile.

I did not have the yes I'm having a baby chat with the other mom at the bus stop, which I was fully expecting.  However, she had remembered I'm on leave (she's also an academic, in another department) so we talked about that and the tenure debacle.  By 8:25, LG was off to school and I was settled at my desk with tea, yogurt and fruit, and a battle plan.  I'm using my writing time to (a) generate new material on projects completely irrelevant to the book (that is, in different genres) and (b) produce at least 3 new and/or radically revised pages per day on the book m.s.  So far so good.

Then (~12:00) I made a bunch of insipid phone calls/emails, pertaining to LG's extracurricular activities and my own, and paid some bills, ate half my lunch, and walked back to the bus stop to get LG (half day).

After lunch, she ended up going with a neighbor friend on a tour of the local hospital, which bought me a few more hours to read the material I need to write about tomorrow, before taking IVF Kitten and Big Cat to the vet at 3:30.  Big Cat is smart enough that she heard the latch on IVF Kitten's carrier and bolted upstairs, where she hid under the bed.  Oh, yes, it is great fun to get a cat out from under a queen-sized bed when you are 6-months-pregnant.  This necessitated chasing her out with the broom (a.k.a. The Bat Whacker, which I have been keeping next to my bed, in case the bat reappears).  After two rounds of the Whacker--let me be clear, I did not touch her with it, but moved it in her general direction, which she really dislikes--she gave up and started howling, having figured out I was going to win and she was getting in her own carrier.

Two cats in carriers and $176 later, we have up-to-date rabies vaccines and annual exams.  And apparently IVF Kitten has grown up quite nicely; he came in at a mere 4 ounces less than Big Cat, despite the fact that the vet predicted last year that he might be a "midget cat" (yeah, don't get me started on that one) due to his rough start in life.

LG, the cats and I arrived home within minutes of each other.  She watched her 30 minutes of TV while I cooked a Thai curry, which LG was happy to eat until I (stupidly) told her that I used fish sauce.  She asked me if her brother liked it.  (Well, Thai food doesn't make me throw up, which it did when I was pregnant with LG, so I'll take that as a good sign.)

After dinner, a quick trip to the park because LG couldn't sit still, then a request for a "special dessert" (which involved sorbet, marshmallow, blueberries, and red, white and blue sprinkles--gross) because it's the first day of school, you know.

And now she is reading and I will go snuggle with her momentarily, as we have moved bedtime back by 15 minutes.  And then this wiggly boy and I will curl up with the crabby, vaccinated cats, and I will read a book I bought because (a) I got it at Border's for 2/3 off and (b) it was written by a woman I was once in competition with for a job.  "Page turners" are not usually my thing, but I've made it through several hundred pages in the past 36 hours or so.  And it's just what I need on this unseasonably cold day that makes me think that fall really truly is here, and how wonderful is that?