Alex’s new schedule

Sometimes I feel bad for Alex – he's such a trooper.

Because of his transfer to Fisher's Landing, we are responsible for providing transportation both to and from school; there is no bussing available to us. It's a 10 mile, 30 minute trip each way. Tiffany has been taking him to school in the morning. We have split the pickup – she has been picking him up 2-3 days a week, and I have been leaving work a little early 2-3 days a week to pick him up.

We consider this a very small price to pay for getting him into such a great school. After all, we decided years ago to be a single-income family specifically so Tiffany could stay home with him and give him every opportunity available. It's a decision that we have never second-guessed.

What it means for Alex is that he has to be ready for school a few minutes earlier . . . he's leaving about 10-15 minutes before the local school bus comes. Also, he gets home later. It would be just a few minutes later, but I often have errands that I run on the way home with him. I try to minimize the errands and shopping, because it obviously bothers him, but it's convenient – I'm off work early, I'm driving by the grocery store, and . . . we get home late.

I've felt a little bad for Alex because of this, but c'est la vie.

Now that Tiffany has hurt her right foot again, all has changed. She can't drive. Hopefully we'll know how long when she visits our doctor later this week – last time she broke it, she didn't drive for 6 or 8 weeks, I believe.

I will be going in to work early enough that I can pick Alex up every day after school; I will be dropping him off at Grandma Kennedy's house on my way to work, and she will take him to school (she lives about halfway to Fisher's Landing, and very close to Micropump). This means that Alex will now have to get up about 6:00. This morning wasn't too bad – he begrudgingly got out of bed, but was not grumpy. He wasn't happy to learn that this is our new morning schedule, though. In fact, he was horrified when he saw that we were out of the house before dawn. His comment was "You're not supposed to go to work when the street lights are still on!" Oh, if that were only true!

Like I said, he's a trooper. The first time Tiffany broke her ankle, he was on the cusp of needing potty trained . . . when he saw that she couldn't walk, he immediately potty trained himself. He just up and started doing it. And since then, he's always been extremely helpful every time she's been down.

He'll get through this 'early morning' period just fine. I just wish he didn't have to.