First Full Week Of School Begins

THE BOYS:
Kevin has caught up with all his missed school/homework, and is enjoying second grade. His favorite class is P.E.

Justin seems to be used to the idea of going to preschool now. In the morning, he kept saying that he didn’t want to go to school. He said that he wanted to go to the library first. I told him that we could go to the library Friday morning – then he was fine. Their class is still studying the letter ‘F,’ and today he drew a picture of our Family. His teacher displayed their pictures on the wall, and Justin pointed out each family member that he drew.

Then Justin and Brian went for their doctor appointments. They both needed to have their immunizations, which we opted to have done after going to China. Each received two shots. Justin was so tired that he didn’t cope very well with his shots – he cried and kept saying that it hurt. Brian fussed a little, but was fine after a couple of seconds.

We all went to bed around 8:45 pm. I suppose we are all pretty tired. I think that Dad and Mom have to be even more tired than us. Mom told me that when she has time to check emails, she is so tired that she falls asleep before having a chance to respond. Dad is weary of not being able to get around and do his regular activities. In time though, they both will be back to their normal schedules and activities. We kids are here to help and support them.

I spoke on the phone with two of my girlfriends today. Each one is dealing with their father being in the hospital. We talked about entering the sandwich generation - ‘sandwiched’ between two generations - raising kids while helping care for aging parents. I read an article that said that 16 million Americans are now in the sandwich generation, but in 25 years, that number is estimated to be at 60 million. There is also the club sandwich generation – those sandwiched between aging parents, adult children and grandchildren; or those with children, aging parents and grandparents. Kenton and I don’t have any grandparents now, so it will be quite a while before we enter into the club sandwich generation.