Off I went to pick up my oldest daughter from school. Thinking about the new cell phone. It is the fifth phone to join the family. It is official. Everyone except the kindergartener has a phone. Exactly what I did not want. Until recently we had one floating phone--that the kids shared according to need.
Then we arrived in California. A state without school bus transportation. Three different schools miles apart. Four children. Physically impossible to deliver everyone on time...so triage began. Seven miles to the high school Nikela attends and bus service wrought with challenges. I leave the house with her daily at 6:35 AM for our daily commute. I return just in time to wrap up the details with the rest of the gang. Then Chayse, Kade and I strap on our helmets and at 7:40 AM ride our bikes 1.4 miles to the elementary school while Kiahra gets on her bike and joins a couple neighborhood kids as they cruise onto the bike path in the opposite direction for the 2.25 mile ride.
Then the pick-up process begins at 12:30 PM when kindergarten ends. I ride my bike again because parking is very problematic at all schools. The schools were designed for the bus service that was eliminated a couple years ago due to budget cuts.
Then some days Nikela is out at 1:30 PM...other days it is 2:21 PM. Kade is out at 2:45 PM. Kiahra at 3:00 PM. Unless it is Wednesday. Then it is 12:30 PM and 1:30 PM respectively.
Obviously, they begin their treks home on their bikes without me. As I worry about obstacles on their courses, I now can reach each child and he/she me. Thanks to our household full of cell phones.
Kiahra was utterly delighted with her new phone. It didn't stop buzzing all night. It sports a bright pink cover. It was not the model she wanted, as I didn't not consent to all the bells and whistles; however, it still has a qwerty keyboard. She was showing her dad her new phone and told him her keyboard was better than his. The cell phone wars began.
"Perhaps it is," he conceded. Then he picked up his phone spoke into it and a few seconds later Kiahra received the text message with her name misspelled.
"Hhummph. It doesn't spell my name correctly."
The company switched Ron's phone on Monday, except he was not nearly as excited as Kiahra at the opportunity of learning all the ins and outs of the Droid as his Blackberry retired.
I too am learning to utilize more the of the options on my phone. The calendar is now fully programmed. The after school schedule has tripped me up a few times in the last couple weeks. Most recently I dropped Kiahra off at dance an hour early and sent Ron to pick her up an hour early. I was not too popular. Did I mention that I was having lunch on Thursday and my phone began buzzing because Nikela needed to be picked up? I had forgotten she was out earlier on Thursdays. Anyway, hockey, piano, and ballet are permanently scheduled and anything else also goes on that calendar, so I have my 15 minute warning system in place.
Sometimes amidst all the craziness, I must use the GPS, as I find new routes from one place to the next...and then my precocious little partner, Chayse, who studies the electronic map on the GPS, can predict when I will make a wrong turn, so now she warms me in advance..."Mommy you are going to have to turn left..." She knows that sometimes the GPS doesn't give me enough warning to navigate all the lanes of traffic. Smart cookie.
Weary mommy.
No comments:
Post a Comment