Winter Break

Happy Holidays!

Beezus has completed her first week and half of school. It has been a tough adjustment. She is struggling big time. For those of us that pray she could use a little prayer or happy thoughts! She misses her friends. There are two little girls she misses a ton.

One of her largest challenges is getting all her snow gear on before school, off before class, on before lunch and recess, off before class and on again at the end of the day. The gear includes snow pants, boots (she has sneakers she is supposed to wear in class), hat and mittens. This might not sound like a lot if you don't have kids... but I remember just a month ago when the most we had to get on was a jacket. Of course for Beezus this is extra difficult because her muscle tone is so low and her motor skills are dismal at best. We might be looking into occupational therapists again now that we have health insurance. We have a ton to be grateful for medically resource speaking.

Ramona has enjoyed her time with me, yet misses her sister during the day. She plays in the backyard a little making snow piles while Athena runs around her. It is fun to watch Athena try to get Ramona’s attention. Ramona will be starting kindergarten again at the end of winter break.

It is a super small community… proof. One of the private schools we went to insisted we borrow a book for Beezus to practice her reading (probably their attempt to get us to come back). It has been about two weeks since we borrowed this book and Beezus has been reading through it with me at home. I thought we were getting through it fairly quickly, but not quickly enough. I guess this private school wants their book back, because our principle asked me if we still have the book! I was floored. I almost laughed. I think our principle felt a little silly asking after the book. Keep in mind we live in the largest city in South Dakota. What did this private school do… call around asking each of the schools in our area where the Californians had enrolled! Weird. Perhaps even weirder the school didn’t just call me first.

There are so many differences here. In general here people ask all sorts of questions. In California we respect each other privacy. Here I get asked where I live, where my kids go to school, if I am renting, if I work, where my husband works… I actually got asked by someone why I was out shopping late. I can be a rather reserved person. So, I am having a hard time adjusting and not just pulling out some good old California sarcasm; however, I think that would be a grave sin here. Being able to wield sarcasm effectively is a rite of passage in CA. In South Dakota it would be really rude. In some ways it’s a relief… I can’t help but take people very literally and don’t get sarcasm a lot, yet there are times I miss the aloofness and wittiness of my home state. Sniff, sniff.

I have been busy unpacking. This week has been more tiring. Our first week here we lived in corporate housing. Our apartment was fully furnished with all the fun perks. It was a little more like vacationing. Now we are in a house and I need to get our boxes dealt with. It has been a project. I will be glad when I have something other than this move to keep me busy.

I will get pics up soon!