When I began writing my blog I said it is going to have information about how I live in the United States; but as an immigrant, we tend to compare how things work in our native countries. I am a working mother, and I am trying to wear all hats. It is even harder when your kid is not in school and you are trying to make everybody happy.

We still have two more weeks before Tyler goes back to school. He doesn’t have more summer camps or anything else scheduled for the rest of the summer, so here I am, looking for play-dates for him.

This is not like in Peru where I could call my relatives and tell the I am coming over with the kids. Here…you don’t just show up at a friend’s house; THAT IS A BIG NO-NO! Not even to my in-laws house…LOL (perhaps cause they live in St. Louis, too?)

Tyler and his cousins

I have to make phone calls, text and email constantly to keep things running, so scheduling play-dates isn’t exactly easy. Sometimes we have to schedule something a week or two in advance, and most of the time is two to three hours at a time.  I can’t just go into my neighbor’s house and tell them please watch the kids for a couple of hours.

This reminds me of something funny that happened to me while I was growing up, and I could literally just go on over to my neighbor’s house without any notice! My mom cooked something I didn’t like, so I went to my bedroom and called my neighbor from my window. “Maritzaaaa…have you had lunch? What did your mom cook?”

She said turkey with gravy; so I asked if I could have some and she said to come on over! I came back home with my topper of turkey and gravy, so I just put rice on top and had a really nice meal. Even my mom was asking me if she could have some! We still laugh about that one!

While I am eager to find play-dates for Tyler, I am also thinking, “How will this  be when Stella grows up? Two different calendars? I will have to drive them to different places, find play-dates with siblings their age and I haven’t even begun to picture myself as a soccer mom! NOT AT ALL! Nor a ballet mom…”

I still have to work. I am waking up earlier. As soon as the nanny comes in I ask her to watch the kids so I can schedule a play-date from 10 a.m. to noon, then lunch and then a nap. Or sometimes we are out all day on different play-dates. There’s one in the morning and then one in the afternoon. And on some days when my husband comes home early, I leave the kids home with him so I have a chance to go out and work at a coffee place for couple of hours.

I keep having to remind myself — this isn’t Peru, where you go out in the park and you have all neighbors’ kids playing. They will be there the next day and the next day and so on.

But when we go to the park here, I am always so conscious as to whom Tyler is playing with, because you don’t know the kids or their families. There are always different kids at the park. And it is sad that out of all the kids in this neighborhood, Tyler has made exactly ONE good friend. He unfortunately moved a year ago to Canada.

However, this summer we met another wonderful kid named Parker. We would have play-dates, ride bikes, play with the scooters in the back of our houses, but now, in a couple of weeks he is moving to Colombia.

I am so far behind with work (just saying), because I actually want to enjoy a bit of the summer with my family and kids. Soon enough, Tyler will go back to school and things will go back to normal. But as a mompreneur, don’t you ever wish that summer’s were shorter for kids, and they were already back in school?

Hasta la Proxima;)
Evelyn

When I began writing my blog I said it is going to have information about how I live in the United States; but as an immigrant, we tend to compare how things work in our native countries. I am a working mother, and I am trying to wear all hats. It is even harder when your kid is not in school and you are trying to make everybody happy.

We still have two more weeks before Tyler goes back to school. He doesn’t have more summer camps or anything else scheduled for the rest of the summer, so here I am, looking for play-dates for him.

This is not like in Peru where I could call my relatives and tell the I am coming over with the kids. Here…you don’t just show up at a friend’s house; THAT IS A BIG NO-NO! Not even to my in-laws house…LOL (perhaps cause they live in St. Louis, too?)

Tyler and his cousins

I have to make phone calls, text and email constantly to keep things running, so scheduling play-dates isn’t exactly easy. Sometimes we have to schedule something a week or two in advance, and most of the time is two to three hours at a time.  I can’t just go into my neighbor’s house and tell them please watch the kids for a couple of hours.

This reminds me of something funny that happened to me while I was growing up, and I could literally just go on over to my neighbor’s house without any notice! My mom cooked something I didn’t like, so I went to my bedroom and called my neighbor from my window. “Maritzaaaa…have you had lunch? What did your mom cook?”

She said turkey with gravy; so I asked if I could have some and she said to come on over! I came back home with my topper of turkey and gravy, so I just put rice on top and had a really nice meal. Even my mom was asking me if she could have some! We still laugh about that one!

While I am eager to find play-dates for Tyler, I am also thinking, “How will this  be when Stella grows up? Two different calendars? I will have to drive them to different places, find play-dates with siblings their age and I haven’t even begun to picture myself as a soccer mom! NOT AT ALL! Nor a ballet mom…”

I still have to work. I am waking up earlier. As soon as the nanny comes in I ask her to watch the kids so I can schedule a play-date from 10 a.m. to noon, then lunch and then a nap. Or sometimes we are out all day on different play-dates. There’s one in the morning and then one in the afternoon. And on some days when my husband comes home early, I leave the kids home with him so I have a chance to go out and work at a coffee place for couple of hours.

I keep having to remind myself — this isn’t Peru, where you go out in the park and you have all neighbors’ kids playing. They will be there the next day and the next day and so on.

But when we go to the park here, I am always so conscious as to whom Tyler is playing with, because you don’t know the kids or their families. There are always different kids at the park. And it is sad that out of all the kids in this neighborhood, Tyler has made exactly ONE good friend. He unfortunately moved a year ago to Canada.

However, this summer we met another wonderful kid named Parker. We would have play-dates, ride bikes, play with the scooters in the back of our houses, but now, in a couple of weeks he is moving to Colombia.

I am so far behind with work (just saying), because I actually want to enjoy a bit of the summer with my family and kids. Soon enough, Tyler will go back to school and things will go back to normal. But as a mompreneur, don’t you ever wish that summer’s were shorter for kids, and they were already back in school?

Hasta la Proxima;)
Evelyn