Another Week Down

It has been a bit of a crazy week and a half.  Can it really have been that long since Penny started school?  UGH!  The days are going by even quicker now that she is in her regular routine and Leah and I are back to our daily routine.  Seriously, Leah now naps for hours, she gets so exhausted from our daily ventures to Toddlin’ Time and the library and the park.  It’s pretty awesome.

Penny is doing fine.  School is everything she was afraid it would be and also everything she hoped it would be all at once.  She is having trouble with her creative writing class, and was going in today to see if she could drop it and add a different class instead.  Since this year is not going to count for her, I really didn’t care what she did. 

She is experiencing some challenges understanding spoken English.  She does just fine expressing herself verbally and in writing, but reading takes her forever as she attempts to translate each word and then form some sort of sense of it, and oral communication is tough.  She doesn’t always understand her teachers, and she is afraid to ask questions in class because she does not want the other kids to think she is stupid. 

Penny has met a few new friends.  I thought for a while that she was only talking to other exchange students at school, but in fact, when we sat down last night to make a list of who is coming to her birthday party on Sunday, she said, “Did you remember Brianna?”  I said, “Who the heck is Brianna?”  and she said, “The girl from my marketing class.”  I said, “Is she coming?” and got “OH YES!” and a big grin in return.  I was so excited, I thought I’d fall off my chair.  Then she said, “Did you remember the Korean girl?”  I said, “The Korean girl is coming too!?”  “OH YES!” and an even bigger grin.  I”m so happy some teens are going to be here.  I invited all our regular adult friends, but it’s good for Penny to have friends her own age.

This week has been busy.  Monday was my book club meeting, which was the first time I went out and left Penny, The Chief, and Leah alone together without my influence.  I only received 3 text messages, so that wasn’t too bad. Of course, I cooked them dinner before I left, so all they really had to do was get Leah to bed, Penny to do her homework, and The Chief to work on a job application.  Unfortunately, Penny wasn’t feeling well, so she took yesterday off.  I dragged her to the doctor, despite protestations—if you’re sick enough to stay home, you’re sick enough to go to the doctor!  Regardless, I was worried that she had had a headache for 2 days, plus the school requires a doctor’s note attached to all absences.  So she was diagnosed with migraines and given a prescription.  She says these happen to her frequently in Thailand.  I think she just let herself get way to stressed out about school and it caused the migraine to come on very suddenly.  Having a day off to think about everything hopefully gave her some perspective.  She spent almost the entire day up in her room in bed studying and sleeping, and we got to navigate the AFS health plan, which was fun. 

Yesterday I babysat for my neighbor while she went to the doctor, so I kept Leah and Daniel out of the house while Penny rested.  Last night she asked to go to the King’s Buffet here in town, which I think is her favorite restaurant.  :-)  She ate well and went back to school this morning.  Leah and I went and picked up supplies for Penny’s big birthday bash and then went to storytime and lunch at the mall with Leah’s little peeps.  She is now resting and I’ve gotten the house decluttered, so I’m taking a break.  Tomorrow will be heavy duty cleaning—vacuuming (ugh!), mopping (double ugh!), dusting, laundry (triple ugh!), etc.  Friday we will probably kick it into high gear with party preparations after Leah submits to what I can only imagine will be a heck of a nap after a 2 hour playschool session (her Tuesday session was cancelled, so she gets to make it up on Friday, plus go to her bonus class).  Saturday, we have Daniel’s 2nd birthday party and Sunday is Penny’s party, plus my dad is coming for the occasion.  Penny is literally beside herself that my dad is coming to her birthday party.  She cannot wait to meet him.  I’m kind of excited he’ll be here as well :-D  Of course, I will post lots of pictures of the party and fun after it’s over and I’ve recovered!  We are presently expecting about 25 people.

So that’s all for now.  Hope everyone else is doing great with their kids and month #2!!!