Anything BUT transcription

So today was J's second day of school. Thankfully, he still loves it, and still hates me for returning to pick him up. I guess he thinks that if I forget to come get him he can just stay there forever.

I have very few complaints so far about the school. Only two tiny red flags have been raised for me, and believe me, they're really tiny. Today when I dropped him off, he headed straight for the "house" center with the baby dolls and the dress up costumes and the play kitchen. Then he turned to me, pointing to the purses and dolls and told me "I can't play with these. This is stuff for girls only." I don't know if one of the other kids told him that (most likely) or if one of the teachers told him that. I don't believe in gender biasing. As a matter of fact, J probably has more dolls and teddy bears than any little girl in his class. It balances out the side of him that turns everything else into a gun, sword, or laser shooter.

I simply reassured him that he could play with anything he wanted to. There were no such thing as girl or boy only toys, and left it at that. He proceeded to head to the train table, and I made my exit.

Second tiny flag: Today, in a completely random conversation he revealed to me that big boys should never cry. I had to sit and explain the difference between crying because you're really sad or hurt and whining simply because things aren't going your way. I don't think I like the idea of anyone telling my son that he has to be stoic, but have to admit that he is a bit of a whinebag at times.

Like I said, small things and neither of them are things that would prompt me to really worry at all. Everything else about school is going great, and I think he's already learned quite a bit in his two short days.

Today he brought me home Orange Ovals, a cute octopus made of a painted paper plate and streamers, another octopus decorated with cereal, and an owl. Yes, the letter of the week IS 'O'.

The idea behind him being in school twice a week, besides his socialization and freedom from me, is to give me time to do my school work. This was supposed to be a fast sort of thing for me to breeze through. When I quit working when he was 18 months old, I fully expected to be finished by his 2nd birthday, and working from home. Ummm... yeah, we are approaching birthday 4. Thanks for reminding me. I've never been a bad student. And whether it seems like it or not, I DO like doing the transcription a lot. I just keep coming up with other things that I either MUST do first, or want to accomplish with the small amount of free time I have. To say that I'm discouraged about ever finishing would be a huge understatement.

So, in the two days he's been at school, have I worked like mad to push through this last unit before my final? Ummm... negative. I've scrubbed bathrooms down to the corners behind the toilets. I've done umpteen loads of laundry, I've swept, mopped, dusted, cleaned litter boxes. And today takes the cake: I steam cleaned all of the living room furniture. Then I spun about 1/2 oz of some merino I'm anxious to finish. Then, since I only had about 30 minutes before it was time to pick him up, I sat down and knit on the heel flap of a sock.

I keep telling myself that next week will be more productive school-wise. It has to be, or I'm in trouble, and will be left justifying myself to the hubby who has been gracious enough to put off going back to school himself so that I can finish first.

On the upside, J and I did finish digging out (by hand!) the entire garden bed. All 15x10 feet of it. Oh my blistered hands! Now to start our seeds and finish off the flower beds. Sooner or later our house is going to look a little less trashy, I swear.