Tuesday, April 21, 2009

We've hit our stride!

Finally- a decent schedule.

Catherine has started "Summer Camp" at a local preschool, the TreeHouse. It's one of the better preschools in the area, and a lot of expats send their kids to school there, so that's a good sign. She'll attend camp every morning 9-11 for 4 weeks! This is a long time, but it's really helped to structure our day better. Plus, she can meet new friends and have some time away from Mom.

Of course, the standards here are MUCH different than in the U.S....there are no tables and chairs, so the kids sit on the floor to do everything, including snack. There are mosquitos in the school (they are EVERYWHERE here), so I have to spray her down every morning. The puzzles are all wood, have paint chipping off and are missing pieces. She has told me that they don't make them wash hands after potty, so I'm drilling her several times a day to say "My mommy says I HAVE to wash hands after potty and before snack!" Oh, ya gotta love it!

So now, we are all up by 7:30, get dressed and by 8 pm, we are actually siting at the breakfast table together! It's so refreshing to see Mike in the morning, and it's fun to see him interact with Catherine while she is still on her "morning high"! (Plus, it gives me a few minutes to suck down a cup of coffee so I can be on MY high!) We load into the car by 8:40, and drop Mike off at work, then I drop Catherine off at camp by 9. I then get 1 whole hour to myself! Yay! Gracy and Leticia show up at 10, and then I'm out the door at 10:45 to pick her back up. We run an errand or 2 (since stores don't open till 11!) and then back home for lunch and quiet time. In the afternoons, we either go down to the playground or to a playgroup in the local area- some playgroups are 45 minutes away and I don't like to do those.

So, overall, things are going much smoother for us, and I think that we are all a little happier!

This weekend we are headed to Ahmedabad, a city in the state of Gujarat. Mike has a business conference there next week, so we thought we'd join him for the weekend and check out another part of India. There is a lot of history there- many temples and mosques to visit, as well as a nice lake and some ancient wells. Should be interesting!

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