Week of Money: Where Little Bun moves into Grade Two schooling

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up really early. I do not know how and why Little Bun seems to need less sleep but he is sleeping like a rock around 9:30 p.m. and then up at 6 a.m. sharp. I need 9:30 p.m. until 8 a.m.!!!!

6:00 a.m. — I log in and work with a mug of tea. It’s quiet, I can think, I am replying to emails. I also want to stop working earlier today or take breaks.

6:12 a.m. — “Mommy! Mr. Monster Cloud is back!“…. so Little Bun has named this massive cloud ( he thinks it’s the same one each time ) that is very very large and covers a good chunk of the sky in one seemingly single cloud shape. He calls it “Mr. Monster Cloud”, and sometime reports on what it’s doing, what colour it is (light pink today).

6:34 a.m. — He’s now reading out to me all the Snapchat videos about organic foods and things, and they’re spot on. Salmon that is farmed, tends to have dye to make it look pinker, so when you cook you can see the colour leach out in the pan. I didn’t know this when I ate farmed salmon and thought it was normal until I read about it. Even butter is adulterated with colouring to make it look more yellow, or additives to make it spread better or feel/look buttery.

6:50 a.m. — We do some math but I can see his division is not 100% there, he needs to be drilled in multiplication again as he has lost what he remembered for some chunks of it.

7:09 a.m. — Meeting starts. Working with people in different time zones makes it very tricky.

8:28 a.m. — A small short reprieve before my next meeting. I browse and am immediately drawn to this image with the lace and belted blazer:

9:11 a.m. — The whole morning is meetings, meetings meetings.

12:04 p.m. — I finally take a break, have lunch and play with Little Bun. He makes me work on this Expedition in Two Dots (a game he and I play together) because he REALLY REALLY REALLY wants the Panda Pendant. I play it but can’t win until he goes down for his nap.

He tells me very seriously: Mommy, you work hard on this. Please get me this pendant and help me. It’s so cute I can’t stand it. I love pandas so much.

Okay now I really have to hustle.

1:01 p.m. — Down for his nap, I am on more meetings until late in the afternoon. I play the game in between dull moments.

1:01 p.m. — Up from his nap, he asks me: DID YOU WIN THE PENDANT FOR ME!?!?!... and I show him. He ran right out of the bedroom without even drinking his milk so he could see if I got it for him or not.

4:10 p.m. — FINALLY DONE! I shut down.

4:25 p.m. — I buy Grade Two books for Little Bun to start the next phase. $54.56

5:17 p.m. — In the bedroom, we play together, I read to him, and then we “upcycle” in the closet but I feel too dizzy in the small space. I am not in the mood. Maybe I’ll do more with him tomorrow.

6:23 p.m. — He has dinner, I have my own and then I do all the dishes, then take a break.

7:45 p.m. — I keep forgetting to wear my computer spectacles, I have to get used to it. I am getting less headaches wearing them and I hope it helps my migraines. Even as a placebo, I’ll take it.

8:09 p.m. — Schooling with Daddy, and then bedtime routine, and actual bedtime.

Spent: $54.56

DAY TWO

??:?? — Squealing, and he needs the bathroom. This breaks my sleep.

??:?? — FINALLY. I feel somewhat refreshed even with the squealing last night (night terror I think).

7:00 a.m. — Made a tea as Little Bun chirped about the world outside, commenting about how there’s a hole on the lawn when in fact it’s likely just a hot spot in the lawn (sewer grate?) and it melted the snow and ice to create a ‘hole’. He also tells me that the Stuffies get banana cake today and he ‘makes’ one out of blocks.

7:19 a.m. — Logged in and working.

8:02 a.m. — My partner has exams this morning so I quickly put the fire in Little Bun to finish his math pages (I am waiting for the Grade 2 books to arrive), and then I have to be quiet on my calls.

8:30 a.m. — My first call of the day. I would agree with this image:

12:30 p.m. — I get an email that the portfolio is due for June 15th with notes. Apparently I have to have proof with pictures, detailed information on the different projects we did, and scanned pages to show that he has progressed over the school year. He also needs to comment on each activity that was done. I ask you very bluntly: WHO HAS TIME TO DO THIS?

I do, as I work from home, with relatively low hours, but imagine the parents who are both working from home (but both really busting their bums not like me), or imagine the single parent who has to work minimum wage (in this case they have no choice and their child must attend school), or just … general stress of having to spend time to come up with these experiments, to document them, to talk about them…. for each subject.

At this point, I am rather annoyed I only found out now that this portfolio is a thing, and not before (like last year when we started), so I have to start compiling what I can show them as proof of progress. We have done so many different things between then and now, and I never took photos because I didn’t think I had to!

12:28 p.m. — I lie down after lunch but then wake up groggy and wish I had never lain down at all.

12:56 p.m. — Back to work, I fire up a cup of tea to eat with my piece of cake.

5:00 p.m. — I log off for the day. It was just messages and notes and more messages and my day derailed.

6:25 p.m. — I do all the dishes, laundry, and then I cuddle with Little Bun as he watches Paw Patrol (he loves them).

8:09 p.m. — Time for schooling!

8:50 p.m. — After brushing our teeth, the Stuffies make a potion.

They start with a base:

After mixing it up and adding potions and elements they change colour!

And turn into rubidium, carbon and oxygen to mix (Little Bun chose the elements):

They put the “potion” mix into a bottle (it’s a ketchup bottle with the label peeled off:

And they put it away in the kitchen near the fridge:

9:17 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up early with Little Bun.

6:00 a.m. — We start early and then I realize I have an appointment with my neurologist. I quickly get dressed, slather on thick sunscreen and then sit in front of my computer for meetings until I can go (I have to leave RIGHT AFTER).

8:12 a.m. — Meeting.

10:22 a.m. — I leave, and get checked out. Not much more advice, just to take Tylenol more instead of the other ones, and a concern that I got a cold somehow (?) and it messes with my sinuses.

12:06 p.m. — Home, it was nasty outside driving around. And I eat my lunch, Little Bun goes down for his nap and I have a tea while I attend another mind numbing meeting (it’s a lot of info. I can only take in so much, and this is a lot.)

2:14 p.m. — Time for a break.

4:06 p.m. — I finish for the day. I try on the dress again, the one that is a US 2 and doesn’t zip up the back at all. It’s clearly tight from the waist down, but not horribly tight. I’d have felt better in a US 4 (no tailoring required), but this one will need something to make it fit like this!

5:28 p.m. — I do dishes, laundry, Little Bun and I vacuum and put away laundry and then we work on getting his Expedition Badge in a game (he was very keen on me getting this Panda Badge for him), so I did and he was thrilled when I did.

7:27 p.m. — More dishes done (it never ends), and I eat my dinner with Little Bun, and we have cake afterwards (a treat!) and he does the cutlery while I watch mindless TV to relax.

7:50 p.m. — I buy some sheepskin liners for my shoes because they’re all matted down and I have to replace the insides because it feels flat and weird. I find some recycled sheepskin (leftover scraps) which I like as an option because it’s using what is left. Plus I can rewash them to clean them up and wear them again, comb them back out… $40.14

8:45 p.m. — We read our book – What’s the point of math and it touches upon compounding interest which I love:

9:24 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $40.14

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up wishing I had another hour or so. Little Bun is such an early bird.

6:10 a.m. — We snuggle in the hallway as he gets used to the light and then he runs and asks me to make more levels for him in coding. I cannot make a level to stump him, he KNOWS ALL THE TRICKS NOW.

7:00 a.m. — OK enough. I log in to work.

1:30 p.m. — I log off for the day.

1:47 p.m. — I have a cup of tea, read my book, and then I organize my desk.

3:11 p.m. — Little Bun wakes up and he plays his coding games, and then I work on my own notes and things for the day.

3:15 p.m. — I whisper: Would you like to upcycle with me?.. His face lights up like a beam of sunshine and he squeals happily all the way to the bedroom. We work on a few new pieces, take photos of the old one, and he just loves being in the closet so much. The time flies by.

5:32 p.m. — I call it a evening and we have dinner, then he settles in to watch Paw Patrol (he loves it). I know other kids his age were watching it at age 3 (?) or younger than 7 anyway, but I never let him watch anything as we didn’t have TV until the pandemic happened and suddenly all these subscriptions pop up to keep us sane.

6:25 p.m. — I start watching Ginny and Georgia and I am sort of loving it. The characters seem interesting.

6:41 p.m. — We are upcycling in the closet, and Little Bun comes up with interesting pictures for me to take, and then he adds in his own text to make it fun.

In this one, Mousie (the black stone) is eating a ‘cake’ that Little Bun made for him out of clay.

Mousie ends up on a ‘train’….

He also is kind of obsessed with this sphere:

And this is a picture he took of a map in Antarctica and he decided to comment on it:

7:29 p.m. — I keep forgetting I have a subscription to Apple Arcade for Little Bun to play his games. I ought to keep better track. $6.56

8:11 p.m. — Schooling time.

9:30 p.m. — Timed for bed.

Spent: $6.56

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up tired. Six again.

6:00 a.m. — I make tea, and then we play this “game” of personal space: every morning.

8:14 a.m. — We make focaccia bread as part of the science experiment.

8:34 a.m. — We head into the bedroom and upcycle after we do a little Mousie obstacle course.

11:12 a.m. — Done upcycling for the morning, he has a little snack.

11:22 a.m. — Bread done, Little Bun hovers around the kitchen for the good part of 30 minutes waiting for it to cool down, and tells me: YOU CAN TAKE PICTURES OF ME EATING IT!! .. He loves it. He eats the crispy bits, the soft bits, and he yums through all of it. I dip mine in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

12:01 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for a nap while I have a cup of tea.

4:37 p.m. — I finish all the money posts for the month including the visuals.

5:20 p.m. — We have dinner, I start laundry, and start on the dishes.

6:37 p.m. — All done, I take a break. I almost have no energy for a shower but I should take one.

7:19 p.m. — I take a shower. Finally.

9:15 p.m. — Time for bed after reading a book.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

??:?? — I wake up tired, I could spend another hour sleeping but I am also NOT sleeping. I just want to rest if that makes sense.

7:00 a.m. — I make tea and then I start on my day. I have an early start to work today, and meetings until 3 p.m., with a lot to do.

9:13 a.m. — I take breaks to chat with my friend (texting), and then back to work.

11:59 a.m. — Break for lunch. Pizza. Back to work.

3:08 p.m. —I stop working for the day and log off. I am mentally drained. I didn’t know it was possible to do meetings back to back.

3:29 p.m. — Up from his nap, he plays his games and makes more sticker pictures (he loves the glow in the dark ones).

4:05 p.m. — Little Bun shows me that the + / – is showing negative or positive space with the shape of the cards. Positive curve to the left, and negative to the right.

4:20 p.m. — Little Bun folds the towels from the kitchen and makes a ‘towel cake’. This is what it looks like when he removes the laundry basket, and he was very proud of his cake.

5:56 p.m. — I start on dishes and laundry.

6:56 p.m. — We play in the bedroom and then he goes for schooling.

8:30 p.m. — Schooling over, he brushes his teeth and then I make up a story about Prince Little Bun.

9:12 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up with a start. Did I miss my 7:30 meeting?

6:48 a.m. — No, it’s good. It’s only 6:48. I fall back into bed and then after a few minutes, Little Bun stirs. He is upside down so his feet is at my face and his head at my feet. I pretend his feet is his face and kiss his “cheeks” which makes him giggle. He always wraps himself up at night like a caterpillar in a cocoon.

7:08 a.m. — I log in and just try to work. I have meetings today, and I am tired. Yesterday was a complete @%@&%( show… because this project assumes that I know what is going on and how a project is run but NO ONE tells me anything.

Not all projects are the same (sometimes they are), but this one is all backwards and I never find out what to do except after the fact and when I am just not prepared for what I thought the meeting was about and I look foolish when I am not. It’s getting to be truly frustrating.

Then I mention this and they all say: Oh! But you should have just asked! .. Is it really my job as a new person to constantly ask and question every single meeting and document? Should you not book it, put a small agenda and/or explain to me what it’s for because I AM NEW ON THIS PROJECT? Even their meeting names are ambiguous and no one knows who is supposed to be doing what because they all know by what.. osmosis!?!?! …. FML

7:19 a.m. — I make a tea and try to relax before my first meeting of the day. I also forgot the entirety of yesterday, to wear my migraine specs. I feel like I didn’t suffer any ill effects but I did find I was a bit dizzy last night but that could be attributed to this project, lack of proper solid sleep, family/life anxiety, etc.

8:34 a.m. — Meeting over, it went well, but wow it’s a lot of stuff at once. My brain is spinning.

9:03 a.m. — Little Bun negotiates with me for the math pages. He does the difficult money subtraction page, and I let him off easy with a clock page. Only 2 today instead of 3.

9:51 a.m. — Like a never ending all-day meeting. I won’t be able to take a break until 11 at least.

11:10 a.m. — A BREAK. FINALLY. I eat my lunch.

1:05 p.m. — Down for his nap. Or really he just reads books.

2:56 p.m. — My meetings finally end. I am out. I am questioning something a guy said at the end but I don’t want to do anything until I see what happens from what he said, because I could just be overly cautious.

3:40 p.m. — I do all the dishes, start laundry and Little Bun eats, then watches Paw Patrol (we no longer exist when he does).

4:33 p.m. — Little Bun folds laundry after emerging from his Paw Patrol cocoon (the laptop dies pretty quickly so we don’t need to set timers on any watching screen time even if we cared to).

5:25 p.m. — I play with him in the closet.

6:17 p.m. — I go through the list of things I need to get done because I keep putting things off…

7:56 p.m. — He has schooling and he then does his teeth with his father

8:20 p.m. — Time for an early bedtime. I am truly knackered. We lie in bed and I make up a story about Little Bun Space adventures and he loves being featured.

Spent: $

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Want more? Read all of my previous Week of Money Diaries.