Tomorrow, Niko has his first recital at school to celebrate Veteran’s Day. Now, before I proceed, I need to be honest and tell you that when Nina first told me about this about two months ago, either I wasn’t listening or she never told me. So, since I am smart and even though, I don’t think she told me as I know I would’ve asked her a lot of questions, I will take the blame of not listening. Nina 1 and Mark 0!
Almost every night, Niko has been practicing the songs and hand gestures. It’s amazing how easily he is able to pick it all up. I can’t wait to see him perform it live! He even showed me where he will be standing a few days ago when I walked him to his class along with his sweet looking artwork on the main hallway for where the performance will take place. He told me they performed it already for the Kindergartner’s and they loved it.
I only one remember one recital from my middle school days, and I don’t even remember if my parents came. I do remember, though, that I didn’t have any talent for singing so they told me I would be the page turner for the piano player! It may not have even been a recital, it could’ve been a competition! One of the songs they sang was: I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony).
So, since, I am super smart and am fully aware of every single holiday for the school district, I thought he would be off tomorrow. I am off tomorrow. He was off last week for election day as the school was a voting site. But, he isn’t off tomorrow. I actually had to text his teacher about that. I also had to ask his music teacher (who is also the crossing guard for the street we cross in the mornings and his stepson is the crossing guard for the other way on the same street) what time it was at, as I have seen two different times.
Nina and I will hang out close to the school after we drop him off in the morning as that is at 7:40, and the recital starts at 8:30. My parents are also exited as they are invited as my dad is a veteran. I may take them to a new place afterwards for breakfast tacos and then I may get my haircut at Great Clips. See, I plan things.
Don’t laugh, but I am definetely planning on a nap! On Thursday and Friday, Niko had super early wakeup times (4:30 and 3), and as you know, it’s me who is up with him. Both those days, I took an hour nap after I ate breakfast and that helped me be a bit more awake throughout those days. Yeah, it wasn’t fun, especially on Friday, where every 10 seconds, he asked for his iPad. I was adamant and kept saying not till 6. I also told him that I didn’t want to make a precedent that when he gets up early, he can have his iPad. Man, he was frustrated on Friday and called me some really colorful names!
Just within the past few weeks, we moved his bedtime to 7, but on Thursday, it was 6:30 and on Friday, it was 6. Friday, he fell asleep immediately. I also had early beds, 8 on Thursday and 7 on Friday, just to be prepared. In the evenings, I clean the kitchen, take trash out, scoop cat litter, eat, drink, write, and read. I did all those tasks quick and brought my food and drink upstairs. Sometimes, if my brain is alert, I will watch something on Prime or Netflix. It may take me a several days to watch one movie! Yesterday, he woke up at 5:15 which is much better. This morning, he woke up at 5:55 (after a bedtime of 6:30). I think tonight, we will get back to 7.
I don’t think it has anything to do with Daylight Savings Time. I think it’s a brain and/or growth development and when that happens, it gets better in a few days.
Yesterday, and since he had a better sleep, I really wanted to go out in the world and do something with him. Usually, we can make that happen on weekends, but for the past few weekends, he has wanted nothing to do with going out. I tried, but none of my ideas worked. I am, most of the time, eager to get out as I am home all week. One of those NO weekends, we did run to CVS for junk food and last Sunday, I picked up Jersey Mike’s for us for lunch. They are building a a lot of fast food joints and other stores about a mile past our main entrance, so it’s easy to get to and come home.
Back to yesterday, I offered some ideas and nothing! I then looked at the movies to see if anything Niko appropriate was playing, and I saw The Wild Robot. When I mentioned that, Niko was like YES! So, we did that and we even had Nina with us. We got popcorn and drinks because it’s required!
Niko enjoyed the movie as they are reading the book in school. Last night, I read him a few chapters as well before his bedtime.
