<p>We could barely fit all our son’s stuff in the car. He kept insisting we’d have to bring both cars to pick him up. Yikes, including the cat carrier, both computers, monitor, video games, favorite pillow, etc., we were loaded down. Oh yes, and a large bag of dirty laundry!</p>
<p>I reminded AstroD that she really did have an entire closet of clothes here; that she didn’t need much home with her (she left anything that remotely needed to be ironed or receive special laundry care hanging up here). Other than her jeans and shoes… “But I want to bring all my favorites home with me…like my big black sweater, and my new sweater dress, and the jacket you haven’t seen yet, and…” She usually packs pretty efficiently (and is a freak about neatness–she’ll probably wash her last things moments before she heads out!) She’s also doing a “book dump”…bringing home all of last semester’s books that she wants to keep…but needs their allotted space for NEXT semester!</p>
<p>mythguy (he’s named himself this on another forum – great minds think alike) came home with his laundry basket itself, an awkward mesh contraption. Since H picked him up it just went into the car.</p>
<p>Here’s the problem: Like a few other sons, he did his laundry at school, but then a few days passed and clean and dirty laundry were both transported in mesh receptacle. Sigh.</p>
<p>He’s sitting here near me on his laptop, just as I am. I have worked my full day, and he is in his sleep clothes, his hair looking like Elsa Lancaster in Bride of Frankenstein. To my gentle ribbing he replied, “I gelled it that way mom. Williams is not preppy.” It’s scary. You’ve got to believe me.</p>
<p>Coarranged, you sound like me. I always staved illnesses off during the term and spent my vacations sick. Mono one Christmas, whooping cough another… Feel better soon!</p>
<p>WildChild has always been good about doing his laundry- he is somewhat obsessive, in fact, and likes a certain mix of detergent and fabric softener!<br>
A week ago (after the laptop theft) he decided late Saturday night that he couldn’t stand it on campus another minute and he and gf (and kitten) wanted to come home for reading week to write papers and study. They got in the car and drove 13 hours and got here Sunday night (a week ago). He just grabbed his laundry bag, books and new laptop (and kitty and litter box) and threw it in the car. Well, yesterday as they were packing to leave to FLY back to school, he realized that he had not brought a suitcase! I guess instead of loaning him one of ours, I should have used the WashDadSon method and gotten a box out of the garage! We’ll drive his car up after Christmas, along with the kitten. I guess I won’t be able to pack in a suitcase because I’ll have to fly back with the one WC took up on the plane!</p>
<p>Yeah, they’re back . . . and so’s the ice storm. </p>
<p>Quick: What happens when you combine an impatient 18-year-old male and an ice storm?? </p>
<p>A $1,900 body-shop repair bill! </p>
<p>Thankfully he just went up to VT for four days with friends to ski and snowboard, so that gives us time to get the car fixed and give it to him again right before the next big storm.</p>
<p>NOT happy.</p>
<p>VeryHappy: Changing your name? Remember Dinosaurs? He’s the baby. Gotta love him.</p>
<p>my daughter is good about doing her laundry, so everything she brought home was clean – all 66 pounds of it – $50 in overweight luggage charge. Why didn’t you bring two suitcases?? “Oh, I didn’t think of that.” I said, “Well, Merry Christmas – you’re getting $50 worth of clothes you already owned.”</p>
<p>Like other parents, I’ve had to get used to the nocturnal hours. I got up the other night at 4 a.m. to use the facilities, and D was still up, on her laptop. I told her, I don’t care if you are an adult, shut off the computer! So a half-hour later I happened to notice that she had dutifully shut the light, but she was using her Game Boy DS as a nightlight so she could read!</p>
<p>And D is another one who arrived home with electronics cushioned by her clothes. She checked her bag at the airport, but her Guitar Hero controllers traveled with her in the overhead. I’m actually happy that she did that because I like GH too, and I can’t wait to get my hands on GH3! I have a feeling that if I get up early in the a.m., like by 10, I can have the game all to myself!</p>
<p>MythMom: I may change my screen name to VeryCranky, if this vacation isn’t over soon. (He’s been home a whole week.)</p>
<p>Met D at the airport yesterday, as she flew in from OH and we flew in from Germany. We got home at 1 a.m. H and I had been up for over 24 hours and were exhausted. Fell into bed about 2. D was still up. “I’m a college student, Mom! It’s still early!” I forced her out of bed at noon today.</p>
<p>All her clothes are clean! She said her roommate insisted on packing the suitcase - in part to show off her packing skills, and in part to avoid studying. H commented that it must be a girl thing, since none of his roommates ever offered to pack for him. However, none of mine ever did, either.</p>
<p>S2 comes home Wednesday, and I predict an entirely different story on the cleanliness of his clothes. They won’t be clean, but he also won’t think they need to be. ! He is the champion of overweight luggage. We bought him a luggage scale at Thanksgiving and told him to use it.</p>
<p>All in all, though, I am thrilled to have my young’uns home.</p>
<p>I think WashDadJr is great! Today, he picked up TallSon from a doctor’s appointment (I took him, but had to sprint back to work so I couldn’t take him home after), and is going to drive him to his driving lesson, then pick him after. Later, WashDadJr will drive TallSon to our weekly robotics build session. On Wednesday, TallSon is having his wisdom teeth out, and WashDadJr is going to play nurse on Thursday. Yesterday, he helped me prune the maple tree in our front yard.</p>
<p>I tell ya, this kid is OK, even if he does spend every other moment playing some online computer game (“but Dad, the Internet link here at home is SO much faster than in the dorms!”)</p>
<p>H and S arrived late Saturday night with H’s car packed full of computer equipment and dirty laundry. I’m so glad to have him home, I did all his laundry for him! He was very appreciative and even went and bought 7up for me to help me get thru this bout of stomach flu.</p>
<p>Although I enjoy having one or both of my kids at home, whoever invented the month-long winter break running from late December to late January ought to be lined up against a wall and shot.</p>
<p>It’s too long a period for just relaxation, yet too short for a job in most cases (and where would you find a job AFTER the Christmas rush anyway?). Students get bored and irritable, and that makes parents cranky. </p>
<p>I really prefer the other college breaks. The summer is long enough that the student almost always has some sort of activity going on, and the other breaks are too short for serious boredom to set in.</p>
<p>Our S signed up for a J-Term, so goes back on Jan. 2, which works out well for all concerned. We love to see him, but he has so much restless energy that it is hard to relax. The TV is tuned to soccer at all times, the toilet seat keeps getting left up (living amongst all men now), and the food disappears from the frig at a prodigious rate.</p>
<p>Williams has a mandatory winter session so S is home just until the 2nd. It’s me who’s off until the 22.</p>
<p>They get three credits for meeting with their class a few hours a week and having fun and goofing off. </p>
<p>Ah, Camp Williams.</p>
<p>S also has Jan term. Followed by another week off.! Does anyone have any ideas on what/where are they supposed to go for that week of vacation? It’s too far for him to come home again. Dorms are open, but the cafeteria is closed. We are going to send out an email with the heading 'viewing opportunity to see S." and see if any of the extended family bites.</p>
<p>that your Freshman student is home early because mine is still busy grading their papers.</p>
<p>D1 will be home Wed. and D2 Friday. I can’t wait to see them! D2 had gained a few pounds when we saw her at Thanksgiving. She’s been working out and I hope she still FITS into her clothes. I don’t care if they’re clean or dirty!</p>
<p>
Good luck to him, WashDad! (I hope it turns out to be nothing like my month-long experience…)</p>
<p>Thanks, SRW and Mathmom for the well-wishes. I successfully went out for the first time tonight for our annual trip to see the Boston Pops–though I think I got some strange looks for using the elevator to go up/down one flight of shallow stairs!</p>