Riding Separately

For four years we drove my children to and from school together.   Every school day we’d shuffle them both into the car and at the end of the day we’d collect them for the ride back home.   Because of school and other activities we typically do as a family, the vast majority of time my children are in a car together.

This year it’s different for the first time.   My daughter has her own travel regime with her van driver and the other students.   It’s like the bus experiences I had as a child only with fewer people and at a much younger age.   It’s a long ride there and back but she’s getting used to it.

My son on the other hand has an entirely different travel day this year.   It’s just him and one parent on the drive from or to school.   I’ve noticed he has different facets of his personality come out when it’s just the two of us in the car.   Sometimes he’ll sit and just look out the window.   Maybe he’s thinking, I don’t know, sometimes I wonder if he’s fallen asleep.   Then he’ll ask for a particular song or want to talk to me about something.

My daughter doesn’t have the luxury of looking at her surroundings and the things passing by as we drive to places.   She’s also very verbal and wants to talk about everything.    I can’t figure out if we’re doing her a disservice by letting her almost demand to be communicated with all the time.   Playing Simon Says, deciding on what song will be next, playing another game called, “that game”, the list goes on.   She just needs to be stimulated.  Or at least we think she does.

I’m off topic on this post but that’s not atypical for me.   What amount of stimulation does my daughter need and how much of that needs to be from a person interacting with her constantly?   My son has learned to occupy himself for long stretches.  Easily with something digital, but he can get absorbed in other things for hours sometimes.  

So where’s the balance?   Too much interaction for my daughter, causing her not to be self-reliant?  What about not enough interaction with my son because we’re spending a lot of time making sure my daughter is being cared for?   Hell if I know.   But we’re figuring it out.   Thankfully we have some people who understand and speak “child” and can translate for us.

At any sidetracked rate…it’s been nice having time alone with each child in the car this school year.   Today was my daughter’s last day for her first quarter of year-round school.   She’s out of school for the next three weeks so she’ll get some alone time with us every day.

The Big Boy Update:  On the ride to school my son was looking at the houses in the neighborhood and said, “some people have a bad backyard.”   I asked him how so?  He said, “they don’t have a downhill.”   Our backyard drops off fairly steeply, but there’s a creek way down the hill.   Some might not find it preferable topography but apparently my son does.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter’s class has a t-shirt that was made for them.   The back of the shirt has each child’s signature on it (well, name in print).   My daughter loves to write her name.   She was learning some words and letters before she lost her vision but the only thing that’s really remained well is her name.   She loves writing it.   She came home today with the coloring book filled in with page after page of her name written over and over.    She’s working on her numbers too and likes to write 1 through 100, but the rest of the letters are largely a blur in her mind I think.

FULL:  We’re running twenty miles tomorrow morning starting at dark o’clock.   So I don’t crash three-quarters through, I’ve been eating all day long.   I had two lunches and haven’t stopped eating into the afternoon.   I don’t like overeating but I like feeling awful on a long run even more.