The kids started school today. Gone are the lazy days of summer, the vacations to the beach, the camping trips, letting the kids sleep in while I enjoy a cup or two of coffee over the newspaper, day camp, week long camp, swimming all day and watching movies all night…. Now we’re onto the busy days of juggling work, school, soccer, and everything in between. Today was no exception, we jumped in full force.

We left the house an hour earlier than we’ve had to for the past 2 ½ months, locking the door for the day at 7:45 am. We merged into the impossible traffic and then fought more traffic on the freeway, as well as the hundreds of parents who were driving their kids into school on the first day. Most parents were walking their sons and daughters to their classroom, taking pictures next to the school sign to commemorate the first day of school, giving extra long hugs and kisses as they said goodbye and trusted that the school would take good care of them. The good news is that this cleared the way for me to take my son to the drop off area, wish him a good day, and be on my way without ever leaving the car so I could then drop my daughter off at her school and then be on my way to work.

After work I had to pick up my son for soccer practice. My daughter was being driven to her practice by her coach, so luckily this allowed me enough time to not have to rush too bad. I got to my son’s daycare and helped him get his gear on. Hint to all parents: if your child wants the cool striped soccer socks that are all the rage (although my son is the only one wearing these monstrosities…..), check the elasticity. These things are so dang tight that they take up most of the time getting on. I had to have him plant his foot on me, on the floor, behind his head, every which way to try and maneuver this sock on over his shin guard. I’d get a little bit on, then tug at the top, then get his toes in, then tug some more.

Once everything was on, we had only a couple minutes to get there. But being just down the street, we were still on time. I sat on the sidelines and watched the kids play while sneaking in chapters from the current book I’m reading (California Book of the Dead, by Tim Farrington). At one point the coach’s son got a ball kicked at his face. The coach stopped what he was doing to attend to his son while the assistant coach took over. The woman next to me mentioned that she was a nurse, but only a birthing coach so she couldn’t help. And then she laughed at that. I looked around and saw that no one else was moving to help. Of course, I wasn’t up either. So I got up and walked over to retrieve the coach’s son so he could continue coaching. I sat the 6 year old down and mommied him a little before joking with him and making him laugh. Soon he forgot about his reddened eye and was ready to go back in.

My son’s game has improved majorly, mostly from just being one of the older players and learning how to retain instruction better. He made several great plays in practice, and listened intently as the coach gave him pointers. I was pretty proud of how much he had grown in a year’s time. His coach made it a point to give each kid a compliment on their playing at the end of the game. This is definitely going to be a good soccer year.

After my son’s practice, it was on to my daughter’s. By this time I was starving. It was after 7 pm and we still had another hour before soccer was over. I really need to figure out a good plan for soccer days, perhaps fill the cooler with some sort of dinner or something. I opted to sit out the practice and just relax in my car while my son played at the nearby playground. When her practice ended, I walked out to the field to thank the coach for his help in carpooling and get the info on the next practice and the next game.

Our next stop was my parents’ house so I could trade cars with my dad. By this time I was famished, and decided that instead of digging into the leftovers waiting in my fridge I would just eat theirs. My parents weren’t home, but my uncle was. And as I ate he pointed out that I was way too pale for having just gotten back from vacation, and that I sure seemed to require a lot of salt on my food. Gotta love family.

I left there around 9 and got home around 9:30. The kids showered and got ready for bed. I kissed them goodnight and turned out the light by 10, 1 hour past their bedtime. I then took one survey of the house holding the remnants of the whole day, thought about the papers I still needed to sign for my kids’ schools, and decided to go to bed myself.

Day 1 down…..many more to come.

Email me at winecountry.singlemom@yahoo.com