Kiki melted down again. So far we’ve had two Thursdays and two meltdowns. She felt overwhelmed and under pressure. The good news is that despite the way she felt about all of it, she kept working and got 90% of it done. Friday was the aftermath, but fortunately she got to go to RPG night and came home happy again.

Today Kiki and I have spent time focused on her homework. We’re using this three day weekend to work ahead. Hopefully this will prevent next week’s meltdown. Even better, Kiki is able to see how today has been a cheerful mix of both work and things that she enjoys doing. Kiki can totally handle her schoolwork just as soon as she starts believing that she can.

The other kids also seem to be settling in fairly well. The schedule has settled and tasks have fallen into their proper nooks and crannies. The kitchen is cleaner more often because I have a small space in my day when doing kitchen work makes sense. Howard will be home soon and then we will have another period of adjustment while we try to fit Howard’s routine into the other routines. But first he has to recover from jet lag.

I overheard a librarian telling a patron “Her books only come out every four years, because she is such a good writer.” This statement fascinated me. I don’t that speed of writing is necessarily a solid measure for good writing. However what I think the librarian meant was that the author in question is so good that she does not mind waiting four years for the next book. That is a very encouraging attitude to hear from a reader. This same librarian also expressed hope that J.K. Rowling not be a one trick pony and offer opinions on the Hunger Games trilogy. Perhaps on another trip I’ll go make her acquaintance, (she seemed nice and was very good about guiding patrons to books that she thought they would enjoy), but for today eavesdropping was fun. It also underscored for me how much influence a librarian can have.

The task that drove me to the library today was picking up books for Kiki. She needs to read 500 pages which have to do with US History. Since Kiki’s reading tastes lean to the otherworldly and magical, this will be a departure for her. So now we have a stack of things she can choose from. I must confess the humanities major in me is eyeing those books. Part of my brain wants to launch into reading all of them and thinking new thoughts. Perhaps with the new schedule I’ll have some time for it. I did have time for a leisurely trek through the library today.

I’m glad that our library does not have a limit on the number of books I can bring home. 14 books for Patch, 8 books for Gleek, 6 books for Kiki, 3 books for Link, 2 books for me. It adds up. And yet it is entirely possible that we’ll go through all of those books in the next three weeks. I love that my kids like to read.

Just now we are having a quiet afternoon space. Gleek has gone to a new friend’s house and for the very first time I sent the Kidphone with her. She’s having a great time calling me to give me updates. “Just letting you know that I’m still playing with A and everything is great!” There is an hour of homework time where I will be on call, but other than that we’ll have quiet afternoon followed by me making dinner and running a family activity in the evening.

I need more days like today. No crises. No urgent tasks. Just things to get done.

I’ve been listened to respectfully by school personnel. I’ve been able to express my concerns. The team building has begun and I think I’ll have good teams. Now I just need to put kids to bed and sleep for many hours. Then I have to get up in the morning, wash Howard’s clothes, pack Howard’s clothes, arrange for a church activity, and take him to the airport. Kiki has homework which I need to monitor and I have to track Gleek’s food.

Sunday will be a respite. Monday I will help finalize Kiki’s class change, do my regular business things, and then I need to find my Writer hat. It is buried around here somewhere and I’m going to need it in order to make good use of the editorial notes I have for an essay that will be published next year.

But first, sleep.

I have to say that the movie still disturbs me on various levels. I laugh and I am disturbed. This is why my kids had not yet seen the film. It also means that the filmmakers did a brilliant job of hitting their intended mark. Patch and I have already had a discussion about how things in the movie are funny because they are exactly the opposite of what they should be.

I suspect we’ll be showing Addams Family Values later this week. Howard loves both films without reservations. I love them with reservations. And I think on the whole I’m glad to be disturbed by the wrongness.

Also on the list of things to do: house organization, laundry folding, gardening, adjusting the kids’ sleep schedules, and business maintenance tasks. Oh, and there might be some school prep shopping to do. I should inventory the kids’ clothes. The happy news is that I can proceed at a nice medium pace instead of a dead run. I just need to keep track of my motivational energy. It keeps going awol.

All of that and I am so tired I can hardly see straight. My energy ebbs far more often than it flows today. This is to be expected after the travel and work of last week. But I am working my way through. All of the tasks are closer to complete than they were this morning. This is good because I long for peace and order. I think I will find it soon.