Just Another Morning

It's Friday morning.  The children have been dropped off at their respective schools.  Jerry has gone to work.  I find myself home alone, with a little bit of time to reflect.  I thought I would give you a peek into just one of my before school, morning activities.

Renraku Cho (れんらくちょう・連絡帳)  ~ Google translate calls this a "contact book".  It is basically a book passed between parent & school in order to keep everyone up to date on happenings, health condition, etc.  Thankfully, Kei takes care of her own - I can slip a note in to the teacher if the need arises.  Joshua, on the other hand has not one but TWO for school & on days he goes to after school care he has a third for the care center.  

The two contact books for school includes a file to/from the teachers and a file to/from the school nurse.  The nurse's has places to record morning stats, BM, food, any health concerns, etc., plus there is a pocket for his afternoon meds.  The nurse in turn will make notes of any health related care, i.e. meds given, she does throughout the day.  The teacher's file has a place to write any pertinent information,   For example, there was a 3 day holiday this week so I included that we went to the park.  I also told the teacher about upcoming medical checkups that will cause him to be late or absent from school.  Because the teacher meets us at the car, I can also tell her things which saves me needing to write everything down which is a huge help.  The teacher in turn will tell me what activities he does, how he is acting, wet/dirty diapers, seizures, etc, just simple notes to keep me in the loop.  The contact book for the after school center is very similar to the school nurse's file.  The three together look like this...

They are all in Japanese.  More often than not, I use my cell phone medical dictionary, messenger to double check kanji (Chinese characters), & sometimes google translate, depending on any strange antics Joshy might be up to, & Kei to make sure my Japanese doesn't sound too crazy!

For after school care Joshy has a backpack which holds a change of clothes for after bath, his special bath soap & lotion, basic medical supplies for his g-tube in case meds need to be give, diapers, & his contact notebook.

For school, his back pack includes his emergency meds case, any supplies that need to go to school, his lunch, his morning drink (which was left sitting on the counter this morning - OOPS!), & the contact files.  

With that he is ready to go...

Some days the chore of getting Joshy to school is overwhelming.  I simply need to remember that  once his bags are packed, meds are given, he is up, dressed, etc, etc, etc... I might just have a few minutes to sit and reflect... ahhhhh.