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This is really part II to the Imagery Work episode.

Aidan has left a LOT of stuff behind at school.

Around Christmas time, he ran out of jackets here in the morning for school. When I took him to school that morning, I found FIVE jackets, all hanging on hooks by his classroom. FIVE. Mrs. S must have thought we were/are a bunch of morons- the jackets, fortunately, unfortunately, were all properly labeled.

Earlier this week, we got a message from school that Aidan needed to bring in some emergency supplies- never mind that his school year is about to end in about 35 days. Whatever. The instructions said something about a bag that was send home with more specifics last week. Well, I found a bag in his backpack, but the bag had no instructions. So I just shoved a bunch of supplies, that I felt would be necessary for an emergency, in this plastic bag and had Aidan take it to school. Two days later, his Chinese school teacher told me that she found a bag that had been sitting around Chinese school for days, about this emergency supply request.

I dread to think what else we might still be missing...

Imagery Work

As a working mother, I like my life. I like my work, and I like my kids, and most days, I like being a mother.

However, there are definitely short falls to this life. Mainly, I don't pick Aidan up from kindergarten. Aidan is in kindergarten until about lunch time, then he gets whisked away to go to Chinese school. I like this arrangement: He gets to learn Chinese, something he doesn't get at home, AND, I don't have to worry about his afternoon activities. On the other hand, because I am not there to supervise this transition, I don't know what the teacher is handing out, what this child is stuffing in his backpack, and most importantly, what he is NOT stuffing in his backpack.

Whenever Hubby's schedule allows him to, he will go pick Aidan up from Chinese school and do some special guy activity- mainly, going to the bookstore to practice reading and get a new book. (It is hard to do with Zoe in tow, one mouth is really only capable of reading one story at a time, after all.) On Tuesdays, Aidan gets picked up by Grandpa to go to Kumon to work on his math and reading skills. (I know, I know, it sounds like Aidan is doing a lot, and yes, he is doing a lot, but he is doing them beautifully, with time to play and he still gets his 11 hours of sleep nightly.)

With these nice people picking him up from Chinese school, I then don't get to supervise that transition: What is going in his backpack, what is NOT going in his backpack...

Overall, Aidan is pretty good about his stuff, according to his Chinese school head teacher, who has two kids of her own, and has been supervising lots of children over the years. Still, he is a kindergartner, after all.

For the last two Tuesdays, I met him at Kumon, as he was packing up his bags, I peeked in his backpack, and I didn't see his homework folder. "Sweet boy, where is your homework?" Two Tuesdays ago, it was, "Oops. I left it at Chinese school." Then we drove back to Chinese school, he hopped out to the car, ran inside, couldn't find his folder, came back, with tears streaming down his sweet face, "The Jewish people took them!" (He shares the space with a Hebrew school...) Rest assured, the Jewish folks were not interested in his homework- his teacher had set them aside. Yesterday, I was supervising the stuffing of the backpack, "Sweet child, where is your homework folder?" "Hmm, I don't know, I didn't find it at Chinese school, I bet it is in the van." DRATS. On the way back, I told him, "My sweet, sweet Aidan, I love you. But chasing your homework down makes me want to poke my eyes out and throw them on the ground, and them stomp on them. You gotta remember them."

We went back to Chinese school, found the head teacher, she went to the huge van they use for pickups, Aidan looked all over, and there. was. no. homework. folder.

On the way home, we decided to do some imagery work. He closed his eyes, and we tried to retrace his steps. Alas, it was totally blank between when he got his homework folder (he could say it was the purple one!) and how he got in the van. "Why didn't you stuff it in your backpack?" "It was full of stuff already, Mommy." "Aidan, you just always gotta stuff it in. Doesn't matter how you do it, Just. Stuff. It. In."

Then we practiced. "Ok, Aidan, close your eyes. Imagine. Mrs. S. gives you your folder, you hold it in your right hand. You want outside, what do you see?" "People." "Ok, you wait for your turn. You get to your backpack. You stuff it in. You check: Snack pack. Lunch pack. Homework folder. Whatever-else-Mrs. S.-gave you. Jacket. Zip up. Go with your Chinese school teacher."

Then he said, "Mommy, you forget your stuff too!" I told him, "Of course, but it is SO painful." Then I told him about how I went to a violin lesson, and FORGOT my VIOLIN.

Spring Break 2010

In another 12 years, Aidan will probably be flying off to the Keys for spring break, leaving the rest of us in the dust, but for his first spring break as a school aged kid, we took him to DC.

My parents moved out to DC last year for my father to pastor a Chinese church there. Of course, they had been asking us to visit. We opted to not go in the winter- as Californians, these children do not own real winter clothing and probably never will. The idea of buying proper winter gear to deal with snow, was not something I could do, thus, spring seemed like a great time to visit.

And it was great! My sister and her husband met up with us, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed seeing so much of my family. I noticed a few things on this trip.

1. I am becoming more and more like my mother. We are really the same, and that probably contributed to my career choice... We are both rather opinionated, strong willed, stubborn, and let me just say, as an adolescent, it wasn't very fun. As a mother now, I get a big kick out of it!

2. I definitely do not have my parents to thank for, in terms of my house keeping skills. My parents love people, they love to read, they love to do lots of things, but they do not love to clean. My cleaning skills came from Martha Stewart, for sure. As a kid, my mother let the dirty dishes PILE UP, I mean, a sink FULL of dirty dishes. Instead of washing dishes, she was discipling others, studying the Bible, and making sure we behaved. Not that I loved living with a sinkful of nasty dishes, but I could see her point. These days, I must, MUST, clean the kitchen before attending to other things, the pendulum probably has swung too far, but well, hopefully, Aidan and Zoe can get it right.

3. I am becoming friends with my parents. It has taken 30+ years, but I am friends with these people now. It is refreshing, actually, to be able to say, "I rather not, Mom." And not get all wrapped about, "Why does she want me to do this?!" For instance, my parents really, REALLY want to see Aidan and Zoe wear more clothes. Truth be told, I wouldn't mind seeing Aidan wear more clothes either. However, I also know that Aidan and Zoe do know to ask for more clothes when they really are cold- rare occasions, but these times do exist. Thus, when my mother tells me, "Aren't they cold? Get some clothes on them!" I just say, "Mom, I think they are fine. I rather not fight about it with them." I must be growing up!

As for DC, it was an interesting experience. I learned these things about it.

1. DC blocks are very, VERY, long. Unlike Manhattan blocks, these blocks are the sized for giants. Actually, I think they are sized to accommodate these behemoth government buildings. Which then lead to my next question: What are people doing in all these humongous buildings?! As someone who thinks government has gotten too large, (to which my sister immediately asked, "Are you a REPUBLICAN?!" Well, I guess, if this is the breaking point, I am...) it was irksome to drag my kids along these very, very, very long marches.

2. The DC Metro is not like the NYC Subway, where one could walk from one stop to the next stop in about 2 minutes. The DC Metro is really in between the Subway and MetroNorth of NYC.

3. The DC roadways are absolutely crazy. Having lived in some major cities: LA, SF, and NYC, I think I can say, that the roads in our nation's capitol make no sense. I blame our getting lost experiences on the streets, not my navigational skills.

4. Having made points 1-3, I think it is safe to conclude that we find vacationing in Manhattan much more relaxing than DC, strangely.

As for Aidan and Zoe, I think their list would be like this.

1. We had to do SO much, SO MUCH, walking.
2. The National Zoo was awesome. We saw the guy panda. The girl panda was pregnant and apparently, could not tolerate visitors.
3. We got to chew, and swallow, a lot of gum.
4. We got to eat fruit snacks! Pao-Pao (Grandma) thought they were actual fruit!
5. It was weird going to bed so late- our weird parents decided to keep us on pacific standard time.
6. The National Air and Space Museum was pretty cool. We got to eat a huge McDonald's frozen yogurt there.
7. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing was ok. They sell money for a lot of money.
8. The National Museum of Natural History was great. We got to see the Hope Diamond, and some old dinosaur bones.
9. The National Portraits Gallery was cool. Zoe got to take a picture with the portrait of Pocahontas. And we almost got arrested by the police there.
10. Tyson Corners is a very big shopping center. We got to see "How to Train Your Dragon" and eat sushi in the middle of the mall.
11. We went to Alexandria, where Mommy had gone about 2 years ago for her friend, K, who was getting married. It was nice to go with her and have her show us the things that she wanted to show us back then.
12. We got to feed horses at Fort Myer! We met these very, very, big horses who belong to the military. They really like apples. We are jealous, because Mommy's friend, K, who has a new baby, lives about 2 miles from it, and will probably get to go feed horses all the time.
13. We had fun catching up with A and N, Mommy and Daddy's friends' girls. Unfortunately, we weren't behaving well, and Zoe kept spilling her yogurt...
14. Pao-Pao, and Gung-Gung, really likes to keep their house super, super warm. We could run around in our shorts!
15. It was awesome to be able to drink Sprite on the airplane! And watch TV at Pao-Pao and Gung-Gung's house: They have cable, like 200 channels.

As for me, I got to stop by a special, shiny, store, and took advantage of the low sales tax of Virginia, and came home with a shiny something to mark our 10 years of marriage.

A great trip, indeed.

BYOS

Hubby came back from a business trip on Thursday night, and he didn't look so good. This morning, he staggered out of bed to entertain A&Z so that I could sleep in, by the time I got up to eat breakfast with them, he really didn't look so good.

So I sent him to bed.

We met up for lunch, hung out together, and then, I was sent to bed. After an hour, I was, in fact, human again. (The newish version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast has a new song: To Be Human Again. It is now our theme song, to be sung after naps, meals, baths. It is good stuff!)

Anyway, I woke up and said, "Let's go get some ramen for dinner." So we did.

We went to a local ramen joint, one that opens at 5:30 but has a line forming at 5:10. (Yes, I fully realize how ridiculous it is to go stand in line for ramen, but this is really tasty ramen.) There were a few other families there as well, and I love eating in an establishment where lots of families go: Even if my children are loud and annoying, there will be other loud and annoying children to share the blame.

When we sat down, though, I realized these four other families were not at all like us. They all came with a LOT of their own stuff: booster seats, plastic covers for the tables, all kinds of containers for their kids, and even, a pair of SCISSORS to cut up food!

I remember the days when we used to bring stuff with us to restaurants. Aidan was our only child, and we brought a catch-all bib, his own booster seat, little containers of cut up food. When Zoe came along, we stopped bringing these things for Aidan, because he turned three and well, we had other supplies to bring with us, like diapers. When Zoe could sit and eat with us, we still didn't bring all this with us. We got lazy, and followed the benign neglect model of parenting: You can eat from a restaurant high chair, and you will eat whatever is there, don't lick the table, because this mother cannot be bothered with all that accoutrement, and if you don't lick the table, she won't need to cover the table.

On the other hand, I loved going places with these ultra prepared parents: They always had extra wipes for me to use, extra clothing for me to borrow, and I could be totally lazy.

There, I said it out loud, we parent via the lazy way.