Day 3 Johnnie's School Return

So tonight is Day 3 of Johnnie's return to school week. We've already got a new routine down. Up before 7 AM, and since Johnnie took a shower last night when the dog took a bath, no shower necessary this morning. At McDonald's to pick up breakfast by 7:15 AM. Back in the house so Johnnie could eat breakfast, leave by 7:45 or earlier. We parked in the same spot as yesterday, which was just a little farther than where we used to stop and park a year ago. Same walk really. Anyway, today the 4th and 5th graders come back too, but they go in after the little ones. Once again Jennifer and his dad were there and for once he didn't bug me about vaccinations. Johnnie was in by 8 AM and off i went on home to do MY NEW MORNING ROUTINE, which was breakfast and a shower. And one of my team meetings. This week I've been making myself ham and egg over something [bagel, muffin, pancake] all week. I think we'll continue that through next week just to break up the monotony of eating bacon. This morning I actually had 2 meetings, my IS TEam Meeting, and then my one-on-one with my boss Dennis. Both ended up being pretty uneventful but still I was out of the house to pick up Johnnie well before 11 AM. Today he got let out with yet another bag of food but I didn't feel like eating the contents of this one. There was fried fish and taters. And french fries. Much more junk food in this one. When Johnnie's teacher Ms Wiley asked if we wanted to keep taking home a bag of food I respectfully declined. Other than the chips and popcorn, Johnnie wasn't going to be eating any of the food anyway. On the walk back to the car, no less than 3 groups of people called out to Johnnie, including a couple of teachers from STAR, the Librarian, and Lisa's neighbor Rose's nanny. It really IS good for him to be out and about instead of getting stuck inside the house with me watching videos.

Of course today being a Thursday and all that's left that is routine is hand-off night with Lisa. And I'm sure I'm going to need to give her a run-down of what to do. It's her turn to drop Johnnie off and pick him up tomorrow. I'm sure she has no idea how to get a Daily Pass for Johnnie. AND she had already asked for me to watch Johnnie after lunch earlier in the week because she has yet another doctor's appointment. Man, when are these appointments going to ever stop?? What was cool to watch though was by late afternoon I reminded Johnnie to clean up the apartment and put his stuff away. Mind you he's been pretty good all week, a product of him not being around in the mornings. But he took the cleanup to heart much more than I could have ever expected. He swept the floor, put his school stuff away in the proper bags and containers, put the dogs toys away, even asked me to move the sofa so we could clean underneath it! How stunned am I? See he IS capable of doing these kinds of things. By the time we got done with dinner it was already 5:30 and I was still holding out hope that Lisa would have one of those early days like she did a few weeks back. That thought got blown to shreds when she called me at 7 PM telling me she had already gone home so she could take a nap. Sigh. Never the same pick-up on Thursdays still held true. SMH. AND she asked if I could hold to Johnnie an extra half hour. Of course I did that. What choice did I have? I dropped him off closer to 8 PM and we found her assembling a mailbox she had bought. She must be stressed out about something. But then again she's stressed out about everything. I wanted to sit with her to show her the ropes for tomorrow, particularly with the Daily Pass. But I could see right away she would not be receptive to it. She is in SHUT DOWN mode. And so I just told her I'd create it for her and email it to her in the morning. The sooner I got out of there the better. Whatever energy she was in I was sure I did not want to be a part of it. And so I quickly went on home. And hoped for the best for her tomorrow. Hoped for the best for Johnnie that is...