"No School!"

Yesterday Zhao Lei didn't want to get out of bed and go to school. I convinced her that she couldn't stay home and had to go with me. I got all of the kids ready and headed out, not knowing what my plan was going to be. I just knew that I had to get my son to school on time or he would miss math. His teacher starts every day with math, which is great because there is no way I am going to have him miss math, so I get him there on time. Also, Zhao Lei needs to be there on time. I do whatever it takes to get us there by 8:30 am every morning. Anyway, I dropped off all of the other kids and drove to a local Chinese supermarket. I had a couple of phone numbers for people who could speak Mandarin to Zhao Lei, but I didn't want to call anyone while they were getting their kids to school. I left a couple of messages and then started my errands. I had planned to do a bunch of errands and knew that worst case scenario I would bring Zhao Lei with me all day. She hates shopping, so I wanted her to see that staying home was not an option. When I had bought the things I wanted to buy for Zhao Lei's lunches and snacks, I asked one of the employees if she would explain to Zhao Lei that we would now be going to school. I explained the situation to her and asked her to also tell Zhao Lei that it wasn't a choice, school or no school. She had to go. I have a feeling that if she didn't want to go to school when she lived in China, that she was allowed to stay at home. Not happening here. I only let my kids stay home if they are sick. Not like little sniffle sick, but sick. The lady told her and Zhao Lei listened and didn't say anything. When we got into the car, we go a phone call from the woman I had left a message with earlier. She also told Zhao Lei that she had to go to school. I drove to the school and Zhao Lei acted like she wasn't going to get out and go in. I wasn't about to drag her in, so this had to be done in a way that she actually walked in on her own. So I called my oldest daughter, who was back at college, and she again told her she had to go to school. Zhao Lei got out of the car and went in to class. I was so relieved! It had been a hard morning! I knew that I couldn't let her have one day off or we would be having that battle constantly. Anyway, I picked her up right after school and brought all the kids to the mall and bought them each a pair of shoes. Zhao Lei needed a new pair and so did two of the others. They all wore their new shoes on our way out, which is always fun. We had dinner at the food court at the mall and then headed home. After showers, reading books (picture books) and jewelry making, it was time for bed. It was a really good end to a challenging day.