Today was, in fact, the first day of K-5 for Dillon (see yesterday's post). And of course, it doesn't go nearly as smoothly as yesterday would have. Rose stayed up way too late, and I was trying to stay up late to make sure she fell asleep without incident. So Chuck and I overslept. We jump out of bed at 6:30, an hour after I wanted to wake up and a half-hour after I wanted to wake up the kids.
We are efficient enough to still make this work, though we ate cereal for breakfast rather than homemade blueberry muffins, pancakes, etc. There was a bit more scolding and "hurry up!" than I would have liked, but you do what you have to in order to get your kid to school on time.
D was great, so happy to be back he kissed his teacher on her cheek and gave her a big hug. Rose sobbed when it came time to leave him. But she perked up after a while and we had a pretty pleasant morning.
At least, until I had to bring her to the doctor. We were hoping for some test results, but didn't really get anything today. We'll hopefully get the Hep A results by Friday, either way I made D an appointment for a vaccination and immunoglobulin since he may have been exposed, and the two-week prevention window closes on Friday. But the pediatrician said they are moving towards everyone who lives or attends school in Milwaukee to be required to get that vaccination, so I won't feel too badly if it turns out she didn't have it and we've vaccinated him for no reason.
Rose was so happy to pick up Dillon from school. We played for a while and then Rose colored while Dillon helped me make Berbere sauce (it's like a bajillion spices, including two kinds of chilies and cayenne and jalapeno peppers) because we're going to do some Ethiopian cooking on Sunday to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year, Enkutatash. (Posting some info from wikipedia or somewhere below.)
Enkutatash is an important festival in the lives of Ethiopians. After three months of heavy rains the sun comes out creating a beautiful clear fresh atmosphere. The highland fields turn to gold as the Meskal daisies burst into flower. When Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, returned to Ithiopia after her famous visit to King Solomon, her chiefs welcomed her forward by giving her "enku" or jewels. Enkutatash which means "gift of jewels"' has been celebrated ever since in spring. Meskerem is seen as a month of transition from the old year to the new. It is a time to express hopes and dreams for the future.
We had a good time cooking the Berbere because it's measuring like 100 teaspoons of different spices, so it's a very Montessori exercise! Dillon particularly enjoyed grating nutmeg, though it took him approximately ten years to grate about a quarter teaspoon. Yeah, he's fifteen now.
While we were working, Rose had a lot to say. Dillon started this "I love you more" / "No, I love YOU more" game with her. I don't know where he got this idea, but it was super-cute. Especially because Rose was saying "olive juice ma" and very earnestly saying "no", which is the one word that we know she COMPLETELY understands. Every two-year-old has that one down pat.
And now she's in bed, again, just singing songs to herself instead of going to sleep. Dillon did this for years, but I hope she goes through that stage a bit faster than he did!