TGI...T?

Thank God it's Thursday...yes, I know most "normal" people are glad when it's Friday, but when did I ever claim to be normal? Thursday means Pigpen does not have school, so I also don't have work. This means:

--Getting to sleep for an extra 45 minutes because I don't have to get ready and can just throw on some sweats to drive Beaker to school
--Only packing one lunch
--Not having to wrestle Pigpen into clothes before he is ready
--and (shhh!) crawling back into bed for a glorious extra 40 minutes of sleep after feeding and ferrying children [it was supposed to be an hour--but I was unceremoniously awakened before the alarm went off by Pigpen, shouting from the bathroom for assistance--always a fun thing to see when you wake up.]

So far I have eaten breakfast, made beds, loafed around, and talked to a friend on the phone. We have sorta tentative plans to meet somewhere around lunchtime, so I should hop in the shower soon.

I've been missing for a few days even though I vowed to write more often. I'm having a harder time getting back into the school year swing than I thought. I just cannot get myself to bed earlier so am dragging in the morning. Things are going ok with schools. The director at Pigpen's school suggested I start dropping him off in the car line instead of walking him, and that has cut down on his drama (not sure what his deal is anyway-same school, same kids, same teacher, and he's never been a kid with much separation anxiety.) I collaberated with The Man and created a cool behavior/homework weekly checklist for Beaker. So far he's in his "honeymoon" period and has not had any major meltdowns, just two minor ones, and his aide was able to get him back on track.

Yesterday Beaker had an appointment for a physical, so I checked him out of school a tad early. Pigpen was with us too, as I had no one to watch him. I am glad my doctor is also a friend or I would be dead from embarrassment right now. They were SO BAD. I know it's boring to wait in the exam room and there's nothing to do, but they were like a cage of agitated monkeys at the zoo--all that was missing from the picture was throwing poop. They wrestled; they unrolled about 50 feet of paper on the exam table; they pulled out the stirrups and demanded to know what they were, then hung off them like monkey bars; they broke the back of the doctor's little rolling chair (I screwed it back on--I think the screw was stripped to begin with); they shouted and ran full force into the walls. And they continued doing this even after the doctor came into the room. Finally he corralled Pigpen, plopped him in his lap, and held him with one arm in a death grip, and I held down Beaker on the chair I was sitting in. Luckily my doctor has five kids (he has one of those Brady Bunch marriages where he brought 3 and she brought 2,) so I guess this wasn't too atypical a scene for him. I was ready to ask for Valium for me and animal tranquilizer darts for the boys. As suspected, Beaker is a shrimp...his height is in the 10th percentile for his age. His weight was in the 50th though, so that's good.