Bad Berries and Top Bananas

Phew. It has been a long 24 hours. Working with a foggy brain, here is the recap:

Sunday evening: We all went to sleep hoping to wake rested for the first day of school.

Monday early morning: Around 2:30am, Rachelle woke me up with a look of horror on her face and saying something about "very sick!" I shot awake with images of one or both of the kids being in dire straits. Instead, Rachelle is sweating and feeling like she is going to vomit. Not to go into graphic detail, she was very sick for the rest of the morning. In the bathroom, bedroom, hallway. At 7 and seemingly expelled all fluids from her body, she felt like she could sleep.

Monday still early but not as early morning: I helped the kids get into their uniforms and packed up for school. We took off and arrived about 50 minutes early. Oops. So, the kids and I talked in the car and waited for school to start.

Monday more of a decent time of the morning: We went into the school early, and the headteacher (principal) greeted Noah and Liv by name. He said he was very glad that they were early and introduced them to their teachers. Both teachers were extremely welcoming and friendly.

Monday daytime: I dragged myself home and Rachelle was sleeping and feeling better. She guessed that she ate a bad blackberry the night before. In my overly tired state, I made a poor choice to have coffee and head to work. Being sensitive to caffeine, I was fairly productive. Checking email, I discovered that I had been voted by my teammates "man-of-the-match" for our Sunday game. For further details, see the following website: http://www.webteams.co.uk/MatchReport.aspx?team=fcbelvedere&mid=match3.xml . I popped back home to check on Rachelle, and bummer, she was feeling ill still. I made her some tea and headed off to pick up the kiddies.

Monday afternoon: The kids were beaming and talking a mile-a-minute about their first day. Fortunately, they both loved the school. Given my sleep-deprived state, I found it especially difficult to keep up with their simultaneous school stories. Here are some quotes and tidbits:

Noah:

• When I picked up Noah, he introduced me to a new friend named Raffi who wants to have Noah sleep over soon.
• Noah was awarded "Top Banana" complete with a trophy. When asked what he did to deserve this honor, he said, "Well...it is really what I didn't do. The other kids were pretty loud and wild...I knew I was going to win it and most of the kids knew it too. One kid leaned over to me and said, 'You are going to win Top Banana.'"
• It seems that Noah and Liv are especially celebrated because a) they are American, b) they are almost the only new kids in the small school, and c) they have cool accents. Noah said, "This girl kept following me around saying, 'How old are you? Where are you from? You think I am weird, don't you?'" When I asked him about her, Noah said, "Well, two of the girls following me kept saying that, and the other one..." Liv suggested that the girls had crushes on him, and Noah said, "Yes. A boy in my class said that."
• Noah said he rates his first day on a 0-10 scale as a "9.5. It was awesome."
• Noah said that when they had school prayer he omitted the parts about "God" because it made him uncomfortable.

Liv:

• Liv asked me to let the teacher know that Liv prefers to be called "Liv" rather than "Livia".
• Liv's teacher said she had visited Atlanta when she was a teenager and following the Grateful Dead.
• Liv said that there are 2 girls who, "followed me around trying to be my friend." Liv said that she was torn because she mostly liked them, but they teased another girls for having braces. Liv said that she wanted to tell them that this was mean, but "they are two and together" (Liv twisted her fingers together to explain). However, Liv did say to them, "Braces aren't bad." They then replied, "Are you mad!" (Liv explained to me that they meant "crazy-mad" not "angry-mad"). Liv said that if they keep teasing, she is going to try to get up the courage to say something to them.
• Liv said that her class is too easy and the most advanced book is simple. However, the other kids have great handwriting and art skills. One girls "wrote with loops and it was as good as mom's writing."
• Liv and Noah agreed that the lunch meal was awful and they would prefer we make them bagged lunches. Darn.
• Liv said it is hard to tell kids apart because they are all wearing the same uniform.

Monday evening:

Rachelle is feeling a bit better, but only eating toast and drinking sprite I picked up for her. She has no fever, so hopefully it was only a brief bug or a bad berry or two. I am feeling a bit icky and hoping that it is only sleep deprivation. The kids are wild and giddy with leftover excitement and restrained energy from the day, and they are running like maniacs around the house. It is now 7:15pm and I hope that we all have a deep sleep tonight and wake rested, healthy, and ready for an uneventful day.