Social Butterfly

There is a park within visual range of our new house and Isadora has been there several times. The first day I went with her but when she saw there was another child she turns to me and says “I got this you can go home now” She made friends with a pair of sisters (not in her class) and has played with the neighbor (a boy in her class). I imagine she has talked to others as well, probably everyone within visual range. She also brought her cousin’s grandmother (not hers and not someone we’ve seen a lot) to our house so we could exchange numbers for when her cousin is in the area. She literally saw this woman on the street and asked her home to facilitate future social engagements.

 

So how was her first day of school?

She wasn’t nervous at all, she waltzes in confident/happy and is greeted by name by some children the moment she steps foot into the building (first day in a new school, a new resident in town). When I go to pick her up from school she has had a great day. She’s made 2 new friends. The teacher said she was really really good, she settled in right away. The next day Sam goes to pick her up and the teacher is shocked at how fast she has adjusted. She just walked in and she was part of the class. She has never seen a child adapt that quickly.

 

Today there was a lot of snow so she went to the park. An hour or two passes and Sam goes to check on her. She is surrounded by children (10 or so), all happily building an igloo she has hot chocolate on her face. She had started with her 2 park friends but then drawn in all these children to build this monster igloo. Anyhow Sam leaves her to play. Then around dinner I go to look for her. She is not at the house where Sam last saw her. She left saying she was going home for dinner only she has not come home.  They suggest she might be at another house. I go to that house. The man invites me in right away, I have never seen this man in my life but he and his daughter know who Isadora is and suggest she might be in a different house because they saw her playing with a little boy there. I go to that house and she is there apparently before she could go home she was invited somewhere else. I was scared but everyone was nice, the woman in the first house was actually standing outside waiting to make sure I found her. Everywhere she goes people know who she is. She loves people. I can’t say she is never shy she has had moments (brief moments). Usually though she just goes for it what the hell, if they don’t play with her she just asks someone else. I am happy she is outgoing and confident but it is also scary.  It is like the first time she saw a swimming pool as a toddler and she just jumped in dead center with a huge grin on her face.

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Where is Yves?

You might be wondering where I am seeing as the new house is in reasonable order so I thought I’d give you an update.

 

Yesterday Sam went back to work. His commute has increased by quite a bit as it takes 40 to 50 minutes to get into town. He will be taking the bus most days. Usually he gets home around 15:30 or so but with the commute time he will probably be getting home between 16:30-18:00 instead. With that in mind if anyone has any cheap simple recipes please share! I could use some budget friendly dinner ideas!

 

Isadora started school today. I got lost on the way there but I did manage to get her there on time just the same. The weather was miserable snow was replaced with rain and I do not have appropriate shoes for such conditions so I ended up with soaking wet and very cold feet! She was greeted at the main door by a little girl who already knew her name. I hope everything goes well for her! She did not seem nervous.

 

As for the house she loves it and she loves that it is close to the park (close enough that she can walk there alone). She slept through the night the first night. I thought she might get scared being in a new place with so many new sounds and smells but she didn’t come to us for comforting once. She is actually doing very well. She approaches children and has already played with the neighbor.  She seems to be quite confident in herself. The only problem we are having is at meal time and not with every meal just dinner. She is taking a really really long time to eat maybe 2 hours. She doesn’t want to stop talking long enough to eat anything and then she has been complaining a lot about the elk. There is a lot elk in the grocery at the moment because people are hunting and it is a good price but she doesn’t really like it.

 

How do I feel about the house? I love it!  It is so beautiful and spacious.

 

The main issue we had was limited hot water, perhaps 2 minutes worth or less. For the first 2 weeks I did not wash my hair as it takes a long time to wash and I was sick. Luckily my hair does not get greasy or stringy, so it was perfectly normal looking/smelling but I did have to wash it in cold water (I also had to shave in a cold bath). Sam has since replaced a water tank. That didn’t help much despite it clearly needing replacement. He adjusted a valve and that did help I am not sure how long the hot water will last, if it will hold up for a bath or a hair wash (for me, it works for Isadora). The mixers in the bathroom are kind of bad so the water can get too hot, not so hot as to scald an adult but I am very careful with Isadora. Right now she has to take showers too and I monitor the water temp closely.

 

Other than that the bathrooms sometimes smell but they are old and I don’t think the venting is quite the same. I let Isadora’s toilet soak in chlorine and that seems to have helped. We also need to clean out the sink pipes to make sure there isn’t any muck because I detected some odor by the pipes in Isadora’s bathroom when cleaning. Eventually we will update the bathrooms.

 

The other thing we hope to fix at some point is the flat roof over the garage, it is too flat and doesn’t drain so well. The roof is from the 70s it doesn’t leak now or anything but still I think we will replace it when we can to prevent any potential collapse.

 

The furnace is obviously a priority because it will save A LOT of money on electricity and it is environmental. As for changing wallpaper and such that is not an immediate concern, it is just aesthetic and I want to get the others things sorted first since those things will be expensive and require long-term saving.

 

As for me I am trying to establish a routine. Exercise, cooking, cleaning/managing a significantly larger house, therapy exercises, studying. I am spending more time with Isadora now as well though I imagine once she makes friends she will ditch me lol

 

On another note I got word from the Swedish school. I start tomorrow. I will get my official schedule then and that schedule will determine if Isadora will have to be in the after school program. As I will be 50 minutes away from home it is very likely.  Encase you wonder how she feels about going to the after school program, she  really wants to go (she is extremely social and loves school). In preparation for class I have been studying as I need to get up my stamina. I was not successful with Swedish school the first time and there were many reasons for that some were out of my control (taking Epilepsy drugs, illness) and others were not. Though I was in bad health at that time I was also a pretty crappy student. I had been a decent (not exceptional) student in high school and University but I found it pretty hard to return to school. Isadora was also younger then so it was harder to study at home.

 

Anyhow I can’t say exactly when I will resume a normal posting schedule (could be a time change) because I want to see a little a bit how the class will go.

Dead tired but still breathing

Dead tired but still breathing. We are in the thick of the move right now and my days are hectic/busy. I am ashamed to say I haven’t written anything since my last Wordle. I had wanted to do the Wordle this week but I am not sure if I will pull it off yet.

 

A little about the experience

As with all of our previous moves it is just us doing everything. No friends, no family, no movers. Just us making a 90 minute drive once/twice daily in a car that has entered its final stages of life. As it is winter the roads have ice and it is dark, so much caution is needed. I am getting by on pure enthusiasm but I am tired, really tired.

 

I am doing most of the packing and unpacking. Sam is doing installations and is renovating Isadora’s room. He finished the floor yesterday (looks great!) and is putting up the wallpaper. We have a pink wallpaper for 3 walls and a photo wallpaper with cherry blossoms for 1 wall. Her room is the only one getting a makeover at the moment. In the future we will redo the bathrooms as they are older and maybe change the wallpaper/flooring in some other rooms but that isn’t a major priority.  The furnace is a priority. We also need to get a dryer!

 

We are in a major time crunch because we have to get back to the city before school lets out each day. Isadora has her school closing ceremony tomorrow as well.

 

The house seems so big walking end to end and I keep getting lost. We have to call out to find each other haha It has a good relaxing vibe that house.

 

Yesterday we took Isadora to visit her new school. Her class will be smaller 10 students as opposed to 17. They have PE biweekly, instead of once a week which includes swimming classes. They study math everyday instead of intermittently. Isadora loves math (she got that from Sam) so she was very excited to hear it. They also appear to be further along in reading (she doesn’t like reading nearly so much). In general the school seems significantly more organized. The students appeared excited to have a new student and several of them live near her, one boy is our most immediate neighbor and they all seemed to know exactly where she lives. I think she will like having her classmates so close. Supposedly there is a park where all the kids hangout, that we will have to locate.  A smaller town certainly but the school seemed in better shape academically.

 

We decorated the tree at the new house after her visit to school.

 

I had a therapy appointment today and wasn’t able to make the daily house trip. I haven’t figured out a therapy schedule for the new year yet, it will be 90 minutes to and from therapy possibly more on a bus. Good therapists are hard to find though and I do not think there are closer options in anycase. Still no word from the school about classes =(