Coffee, Stress and Pre School Places

I am feeling much brighter today. Thanks for all the kind comments yesterday ladies. Normal transmission has now resumed!

We are now the proud owners of a working coffee machine once again. Our old one died just before I left for New Zealand and as the main coffee drinker was gone, my husband decided to wait and get the new one when we returned. Big mistake! The first week we were back, instead of having my usual one or two flat whites each day, I was having one of these:

and I can never say no to the cream! Is now the time to remind everyone that my One Little Word is "Health"?

We bought a Krups machine and it is great. It makes lovely espresso and froths the milk quickly. Even the 0% fat stuff (that I have started using this week in an attempt to undo the damage caused by frap week) froths like a dream. It is probably just as well as the machine is getting hammered.

One area of my life that I have decided to focus is on is getting a little more Me time. This definitely falls under the category of Health - although more mental than physical. Much as I love my daughter, being with her 24/7 is starting to wear a little thin. Both hubby and I feel that Scarlett could really do with a bit more socialisation. We do attend gym classes, a weekly play date and a playgroup but the time has come for something a little more structured.

Before we went away I contacted our local preschool a few times to see if they had any vacancies. They kept promising to call me back but they never did. I should have been more assertive and followed up but life carried on and my focus went elsewhere. Anyway, I finally managed to speak to the principal yesterday. Of course they are full. There may be places available in April but no guarantees.

I have spent the last couple of days trying to find an alternative preschool that even offers a half day programme. Almost all offer a full day from 18 months on. I just think that Scarlett being at school for 6 hours a day from age 2 is a little extreme! Call me old fashioned. I want a bit of me time but not the whole day. I have found a couple of possibilities but both involve a commute. I have access to a car here but I have not driven once since I moved here. I have my Singapore licence but I have tended to take public transport. If it is an hour round trip to class and she goes for three hours that will only give me an hour of free time anyway.  Living right in the city is a bit of a curse as obviously most preschools are in the burbs. You can see my dilemma.

Scarlett is oblivious. She seems reasonably happy with the status quo. Our intention is to have her start preschool at one of the international schools here next year. She really does not need to have anything prior to that. Maybe I just need to pull on my big girl panties and get over another year of being a SAHM with the emphasis on SAH. I would so like a little time to craft and read and be a grown up. Sigh.

Maybe it won't matter at all in the end. Scarlett developed an obsession with riding on tractors in all the rural playgrounds we visited in New Zealand. A future in farming might be on the cards and all this urban angst will not be something she has to worry about.

How did you go about choosing when and where your children started school? I am a trained primary (elementary) teacher so I should be able to come up with some sort of programme for her myself really.. I would be interested in your thoughts.