Mimi here. Please pardon my absence. I had some stuff I was doing.
In my office at work, I have a collection of comic strips taped to my filing cabinet. There is one that I am particularly fond of.
We had our very first parent/teacher conference a week ago at Yuki’s daycare. I know, she is not even two, and yet there we were. Sitting in tiny chairs across a tiny table from her teachers. Philip looked like a GIANT. They asked us to list topics we wanted to discuss ahead of time and I really wanted to say things like, “She is not living up to our expectations. Why isn’t she speaking in full sentences in both languages and eating perfectly with chopsticks? What the Hell kind of operation are you people running?” I love “you people.”
But I restrained myself and listed things like, “We would love to know how she plays with others” and “Please advise us to what we should be conscious of in teaching her things.” Boring, I know. But I have to play the polite Japanese mom.
After a bit of small talk, her main teacher, Koda-sensei said, “Well, your daughter is very reserved here.”
I’m sorry, WHAT? Wait, the kid who lifts up her shirt to dig into her belly button while running in circles and singing at the top of her lungs is RESERVED at school? I was actually really surprised.
We would have also accepted,
"Your daughter who insists you put a pillow down her pants so she can walk around like that for a while."
Koda-sensei continued. “Well, there are lot of boys in this class and many of them are second born children so they are pretty wild.” For the record, I am a second born. I was not wild. I was cute. Anyway, Koda-sensei continued, “I think she just removes herself enough to be safe. Nothing wrong with that.” Which explained things. My child is apparently Michigan J. Frog.
She will only get totally hammy in the presence of her parents who eventually will be driven insane from her refusal to perform in public.
Then she asked what time we get her up in the morning, and we answered “around 7:30.” Philip is gone by then, and I get up, take a shower, get dressed, and get her around 8:00. She is often awake by then, but she plays well in her crib so that’s how we’ve been doing it. She gets to her school around 9:30, which works well for my schedule. BUT, she doesn’t nap for long at school. We knew this from the notebook we get everyday. They write down times of diaper changes, what she ate (or didn’t eat), what she played, and how long she slept. This apparently is now “a pain in their ass,” because teachers actually have jobs to do while kids sleep.
Nap time is from 12:30-2:30 and Yuki on the average sleeps only 30-45 minutes. Strangely, she sleeps 1 to 2 hours (HOURS!) at home for whatever reason, but she doesn’t do that at daycare. Then what happens is one teacher has to tend to her while other kids sleep. And if they are short on assistant, the main teacher has to do it, and not get her chores done. Total ass pain situation. So, Koda-sensei asked if we would be willing to wake her up an hour earlier and see if that helps.
Look at her. Do you think it's going to help?
I have a very low blood pressure (hence I can’t drink things like wine, because it lowers my blood pressure even further to the point of fainting). And people with low blood pressure are terrible morning people. I felt I found the right profession when I got into theatre, though there have been many gigs that required me to get up butt early (like 5:00 am) to perform or teach in schools -- but there was always nap time before going to night time rehearsals. Philip is painfully aware of this. He makes fun of me often. I can’t say much, because it’s true. It hurts to me to get up in the morning. I’ve butched up since becoming a mom, but for almost a year now Yuki has slept so well and most days I can get my 7-8 hour sleep, so when she doesn’t have a good night, which is rare, I’m okay with it.
I’m not sure if Koda-sensei knew what she was asking me to do. I felt parent rage come on (like, “We friggin’ pay you to take care of our kid!! Deal with it!” -- I had no idea. Sitting in the tiny chair must have been cutting off blood supply to the "notice your wife's mood" part of my brain -- Philip) but I calmed down after Philip said “I could get up at 6:00, get ready and get her up at 6:30 and get her started on breakfast. You can then get up at 7:00, get ready, then take over when I leave at 7:30." Okay, that’s totally doable. I just get unpretty when I have to get up before 7:00. I know. I am a big baby.
Then we learned that Yuki likes music time, and they all love seeing her dance. She told us that it is important for us to talk to her all the time as her language is developing. Koda-sensei talks all day long to her kids (this is true, she really does) because otherwise the room would be silent, because no one in this class is older than 2. So she talks. So they hear language. She is pretty amazing. She is probably in her 60s and takes care of 8 or more kids under age of 2 from 7:30 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon, managing to be always cheerful and loud, talking and singing. I would kill myself if I had her job. I am so happy she is Yuki’s teacher because Yuki now knows how to say many things in Japanese. And make friends. With rough boys. Oh, yeah, there is that whole soap opera romantic entanglement of Kenji vs. Jay for Yuki, which I will get into another day.
Who needs romantic entanglements when you have Mystery Tube?
So we are now in week 2 of the new schedule. So far, she slept for almost 2 hours there on the first day, but only 45 minutes the second day, and 60 minutes today. Not sure if it’s working. “If it doesn’t work—don’t worry about it,” Koda-sensei said. But I actually like the extra time to spend with her in the morning. So maybe we’ll keep this schedule for a while. Until I decide I need my 30 minutes of sleep back—but I doubt I will feel that way. My, I’ve grown.
In my office at work, I have a collection of comic strips taped to my filing cabinet. There is one that I am particularly fond of.
We had our very first parent/teacher conference a week ago at Yuki’s daycare. I know, she is not even two, and yet there we were. Sitting in tiny chairs across a tiny table from her teachers. Philip looked like a GIANT. They asked us to list topics we wanted to discuss ahead of time and I really wanted to say things like, “She is not living up to our expectations. Why isn’t she speaking in full sentences in both languages and eating perfectly with chopsticks? What the Hell kind of operation are you people running?” I love “you people.”
But I restrained myself and listed things like, “We would love to know how she plays with others” and “Please advise us to what we should be conscious of in teaching her things.” Boring, I know. But I have to play the polite Japanese mom.
After a bit of small talk, her main teacher, Koda-sensei said, “Well, your daughter is very reserved here.”
I’m sorry, WHAT? Wait, the kid who lifts up her shirt to dig into her belly button while running in circles and singing at the top of her lungs is RESERVED at school? I was actually really surprised.
We would have also accepted,"Your daughter who insists you put a pillow down her pants so she can walk around like that for a while."
Koda-sensei continued. “Well, there are lot of boys in this class and many of them are second born children so they are pretty wild.” For the record, I am a second born. I was not wild. I was cute. Anyway, Koda-sensei continued, “I think she just removes herself enough to be safe. Nothing wrong with that.” Which explained things. My child is apparently Michigan J. Frog.
She will only get totally hammy in the presence of her parents who eventually will be driven insane from her refusal to perform in public.
Then she asked what time we get her up in the morning, and we answered “around 7:30.” Philip is gone by then, and I get up, take a shower, get dressed, and get her around 8:00. She is often awake by then, but she plays well in her crib so that’s how we’ve been doing it. She gets to her school around 9:30, which works well for my schedule. BUT, she doesn’t nap for long at school. We knew this from the notebook we get everyday. They write down times of diaper changes, what she ate (or didn’t eat), what she played, and how long she slept. This apparently is now “a pain in their ass,” because teachers actually have jobs to do while kids sleep.
Nap time is from 12:30-2:30 and Yuki on the average sleeps only 30-45 minutes. Strangely, she sleeps 1 to 2 hours (HOURS!) at home for whatever reason, but she doesn’t do that at daycare. Then what happens is one teacher has to tend to her while other kids sleep. And if they are short on assistant, the main teacher has to do it, and not get her chores done. Total ass pain situation. So, Koda-sensei asked if we would be willing to wake her up an hour earlier and see if that helps.
Look at her. Do you think it's going to help?I have a very low blood pressure (hence I can’t drink things like wine, because it lowers my blood pressure even further to the point of fainting). And people with low blood pressure are terrible morning people. I felt I found the right profession when I got into theatre, though there have been many gigs that required me to get up butt early (like 5:00 am) to perform or teach in schools -- but there was always nap time before going to night time rehearsals. Philip is painfully aware of this. He makes fun of me often. I can’t say much, because it’s true. It hurts to me to get up in the morning. I’ve butched up since becoming a mom, but for almost a year now Yuki has slept so well and most days I can get my 7-8 hour sleep, so when she doesn’t have a good night, which is rare, I’m okay with it.
I’m not sure if Koda-sensei knew what she was asking me to do. I felt parent rage come on (like, “We friggin’ pay you to take care of our kid!! Deal with it!” -- I had no idea. Sitting in the tiny chair must have been cutting off blood supply to the "notice your wife's mood" part of my brain -- Philip) but I calmed down after Philip said “I could get up at 6:00, get ready and get her up at 6:30 and get her started on breakfast. You can then get up at 7:00, get ready, then take over when I leave at 7:30." Okay, that’s totally doable. I just get unpretty when I have to get up before 7:00. I know. I am a big baby.
Then we learned that Yuki likes music time, and they all love seeing her dance. She told us that it is important for us to talk to her all the time as her language is developing. Koda-sensei talks all day long to her kids (this is true, she really does) because otherwise the room would be silent, because no one in this class is older than 2. So she talks. So they hear language. She is pretty amazing. She is probably in her 60s and takes care of 8 or more kids under age of 2 from 7:30 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon, managing to be always cheerful and loud, talking and singing. I would kill myself if I had her job. I am so happy she is Yuki’s teacher because Yuki now knows how to say many things in Japanese. And make friends. With rough boys. Oh, yeah, there is that whole soap opera romantic entanglement of Kenji vs. Jay for Yuki, which I will get into another day.
Who needs romantic entanglements when you have Mystery Tube?So we are now in week 2 of the new schedule. So far, she slept for almost 2 hours there on the first day, but only 45 minutes the second day, and 60 minutes today. Not sure if it’s working. “If it doesn’t work—don’t worry about it,” Koda-sensei said. But I actually like the extra time to spend with her in the morning. So maybe we’ll keep this schedule for a while. Until I decide I need my 30 minutes of sleep back—but I doubt I will feel that way. My, I’ve grown.
Comments
Love,
Smith Kid #2
And KT, I think the further down you are on the list, the more influential the "NOTICE ME!" gene becomes. I'm sure I would have been delightful in a similar situation to Yuki's.
PS I was the second born and actually shy and quiet for most of my childhood. Stop laughing, both of yiz.
xo
gibs