Common Mom

Today’s the day - summer camp starts. And even though Princess and Dude are going to summer camp at the same school they’ve been at for the past 4 1/2 years, it’s all pretty new and exciting!

For me, it’s new and exciting because it means I have until 4:30 to pick them up every day, instead of having to bolt from work at 3:00 so I can get Princess and meet Dude at home after the bus drops him off. It means I have just one drop off in the morning . . . both kids to the same place . . . no getting ready to go to the bus with Dude then coming home, finishing getting Princess ready, then taking her to school before I head to work. It means that Hubby and I can spend more time together on my Wednesdays off if he’s home. No rushing to fit in a movie in a tiny amount of time - no rushing around the golf course - no using all of our time getting groceries or running errands. That extra 1 1/2 hours is amazing! And finally, it means that I can sleep in an extra 45 minutes! Not that that will actually happen - that whole internal clock and stuff - but the kids can sleep in and they NEED it. Especially in the summer, they have so much fun and are so busy playing that they just crash at night. So ya - I’m WAY excited!

For Dude, it’s new and exciting because he gets to see some of his old friends from Montessori. We live in a different district than the Montessori school is in, so many of his friends that he had up through 1st grade went to different schools than he did. He loves his new school and friends that he made this year, and we kept in touch with the others, but he’s so excited to see them every day again! He’s also happy that he doesn’t have to get up so early.

For Princess, it’s new and exciting because she is moving on up - yup, today she heads in to the Kindergarten room! She’s so excited! I’m excited, and sad . . . I mean, my baby is in Kindergarten! She is so ready to move up . . . she was the oldest in her preschool class by 6 months, she no longer takes the required nap, and she was doing so well in her schoolwork. She also was ready to go on field trips with the bigger kids and be able to participate in the sports clinics they offer this summer. So yay - she’s so excited that she can hardly contain herslef

For both of them, it’s new and exciting because of all the wonderful things they get to do. Throughout the summer they are participating in a number of different “clinics” at the school . . . golf, soccer, cheerleading. They also have a pool there, so they get to have swimming lessons 4 days a week every week! They learned a lot last year in those lessons, and this year the instructors are even better (we took private lessons with them previously) so we’re expecting great things And finally, there is at least 1 and sometimes 2 field trips per week for them to go on. We signed them up for all but a couple of them. It’s so awesome that they get to have so much fun all summer with their friends. It costs money, of course . . . but when we figured what it would cost for them to go to a number of different Y camps and sports camps and day camps and stuff, it was totally worth it. It’s not that much more for them to be able to stay at the same school all summer with the same schedule. And, it’s TOTALLY worth it for me to not have to figure all that stuff out and figure out where they can be while I’m at work . . . what a stress! It’s so worth it for me to just have them at one place and pick and choose what I want to sign them up for while they’re there. Next year will be a different story - Dude won’t go there for summer camp, so I’ll have to do all the scheduling and driving and bluck bluck bluck . . . so I’m taking advantage of one last stress free summer camp schedule

How about you - what do you do with your kids in the summer?

Today was Dude’s last day of 2nd grade. The day when he has his end of school party in class. The day when he gives his wonderful teacher a gift. The day when he almost cries because he really wants Mr. Krich to be his teach next year. The day he brings home all of his “stuff” from school. The day he graduates from 2nd grade and joins the ranks of 3rd grade.

A 3rd grader. Already. I think I’m going to cry.

My daughter got yet another birthday invitation sent home with her from school today. We get lots of them and it’s fun to go and meet the kids outside of school and actually meet their parents, too.

I looked at it and thought, hmmmm . . . Monday is a weird day for a birthday party. Then I looked further and thought, hmmmm . . . 10:00 a.m. is a weird time for a birthday party. Then I thought, wow . . . nobody’s going to be going to that party - 10:00 a.m. on a school day? What was this mother thinking? Then, I read on . . . and thought “What the hell?!”

The location of the party . . . my daughter’s preschool classroom. Yup - a mother scheduled her kid’s birthday party for during the school day in my daughter’s classroom! Said specifically that it was during school hours and that parents are not required to attend. Are you friggin’ kidding me?!

Um, TOTALLY NOT OK! This is a Montessori preschool - not a daycare - and I’m paying for it. The kids have fun, and they learn a lot. I love their little class parties and celebrations and always attend and volunteer. But I do not think it’s OK for a kid to have his birthday party in the classroom during the school day. There are 20 kids in that classroom - I think it’s a bad idea to set that precedent - for many many reasons.

I am VERY surprised Princess’s teacher agreed to it. I will definitely have to ask her about it when I drop Princess of at school.

UPDATE: Turns out Princess’s teacher did NOT agree to it. She said no. Then the mom went and asked the school administrator, who said yes. When Teacher said no again, administrator said yes, you will do this. WTH! So the mom goes above her kid’s teacher? Wow, that creates a great relationship. Administrator was not there this a.m. So now I get to have a conversation with her this afternoon to see why this is OK. AND, the party is at 10:00 a.m. . . . morning recess and snack are from 9:15-10:00. 10:00-11:30 is their morning work time . . . so the whole morning work time is some kid’s birthday party. We all know I love birthdays - and I love to celebrate birthdays - but I’m so not OK with this. Bring the treat like everyone else.

So what do you think?

Hours in a Day

Title of one of my favorite shows to watch on DVD

Cupcakes sitting on my counter that we’ll have to “get rid of” because we missed the music program we were supposed to take them to.

Yup - I’m a big fat loser - the music program was the 28th. I’m SOOOO disappointed! Disappointed that Jason didn’t get to be in the program. Disappointed that the music teacher didn’t send home a reminder with the kids sometime in the past 2 weeks. Disappointed that Jason didn’t write down what she told him yesterday so we were sure we got it right. Disappointed that I got it wrong on the calendar and missed it.

I’m a FREAK about the calendar. I can’t remember the last time we missed something. I have everything written down. I hate being late. We never miss anything. So this is REALLY really REALLY bothering me that we missed this. I think I’ll go cry in the corner

Jason, he really seems like he could care less . . . he just said “It’s a bummer. I’m a little disappointed because Henry said they got treats after the show!”

Well dude - we’ve got 24 treats up on our counter just waiting to be eaten!

I guess the bright side is the kids both had a blast at the birthday party and we learned a ton at Puppy Kindergarten with Duma . . . we would have missed both of those things for a 10 minute program (I called Josh’s mom and asked her about it) if we hadn’t messed up. Yes, I’m rationalizing me being stupid and irresponsible . . . bad mommy!

My kids are growing up too fast. I know, big surprise. But this morning, my daughter is laying in my bed when I come out from my shower. She is wide-eyed and smiling . . . and snapping, over and over and over. Apparently, after months and months of trying, she learned to snap last weekend. Now this is very important, you see, because her big brother has been snapping for a couple years now and she just couldn’t STAND that he could do it and she couldn’t. I’m not sure what special powers the ability to snap will afford her, but she sure was happy about it. And I am preparing myself for a month of constant snapping, just like happened when Jason learned to snap.

The bigger growing up event happened this morning when I dropped her off at school. She announced that she wanted to read me a book. Previous to Thursday morning, that meant that we sat in the corner by the books, and she leafed through one and told me the story from memory. But today, I headed over to the bookshelf and she said “No mom. Over here. We have to sit at the table to read.” So I sat at the table, feeling much like the large Alice in the teeny tiny chair that my behind certainly does not fit in. She brought over a book simply titled “Mat.” I remembered it from when Jason was learning to read. She opened it and read it flawlessly - “Mat. Mat Sat. Sam. Sam Sat. Mat sat on Sam. Sam sat on Mat. Mat sat. Sam sat.” And do you know what I did while she read her first book flawlessly? I cried. Yup - a big blubbering Alice sitting in the teeny tiny chair crying while my daughter read a book to me.

When Jason read his first book to me, I was all happy and proud and excited. I am of course happy and proud and excited for Keira, too. But when it’s your baby that’s learning to read, well, it’s just a bit more emotional.

I also believe that part of the reason I was so emotional was that I realized I will no longer be able to spell things to my hubby to keep her from knowing what we’re talking about. One less mechanism available to keep our kids in the dark.

We had our first parent/teacher conference with Jason’s teacher last night. You can only trust your children when they tell you things about school . . . I mean, we know our son and what he’s like, so we can of course make some judgements about what he tells us. But our meeting with Mr. K last night bordered on funny

Here are some samples of what Jason told us throughout this first quarter and what we heard at the parent/teacher conference.

Jason: We’re only on the letter P for getting our special fun time for being quiet. It’s so annoying that David and Gabby talk all the time when they’re supposed to be quiet. They’re the only two that always make us lose our letters.
Mr. K: Jason got this lower score because of his listening skills. He certainly is a talker!

Jason: Mr. K. did a desk dump today. My desk didn’t get dumped. He said my desk was the cleanest one.
Mr. K: Did Jason tell you about the desk dump? His didn’t get dumped but it’s certainly on the edge. It’s one of the worst ones.

Jason: I had to sit on the line at recess for 5 minutes today. Mr. Krich said I was answering too loudly in class. But I’ve never gotten in trouble before. (this was the day I got a note sent home from the teacher)
Mr. K: Yah. He’s a talker. He has to sit on the line at recess about 3 times a week. His mind is just going constantly and he’s just not mature enough yet to be able to stop his mouth from talking.

Jason: I’m always finished with my work first in class and I do a good job. Then I just sit down and work on the other things we’re allowed to work on while we wait for the other kids.
Mr. K: Jason thinks that he has to finish first no matter what. That’s why he got this lower score here. He can do the work, but he needs to take his time and think about his answers. And when he’s finished, he needs to work on the list of things I’ve written on the board and not bother his friends who haven’t finished yet.

So there you have it . . . what boys say and what teachers say We of course sat down and went over his report card with him and explained what Mr. K said and also explained that while he did well in most things, he needs to really work hard on taking his time and not the talking when he’s not supposed to so he can try to raise some of those scores.

Ahhhhh - his first foray into report cards. Only 10 more years to go!

I did my first stint as a volunteer parent in my son’s 2nd grade classroom today. I don’t get to do it often since I’m a working mommy, but on the days I can, I’ll gladly do it. Anyway, I got to go in from 9:00-10:00 and help the kids with English stuff . . . right up my alley being the technical writer that I am It was fun to see all the kids and meet them so I can put faces with names I hear from Jason . . . it was interesting to see the wide range of levels of knowledge . . . does that make sense? All the kids were very polite and fun and worked hard. I must say that this is a very ACTIVE class . . . lots of boys and lots of personality. God Bless Mr. Krich and every other teacher out there because I don’t know how you do it all day every day! THANK YOU!

We are soooo pleased with Jason’s teacher. We really wanted him to have a male teacher and were lucky when that happened his first year in public school. Mr. Krich is awesome - he makes the classroom so much fun for the kids . . . they don’t even know that they’re learning! For example, they have a VIP jar. Mr. Krich filled this jar with marbles the first week of school. All the kids got to guess how many marbles were in the jar. On Friday, the one who got the closest won the contents of the jar and is the VIP the next week. That next Monday the VIP brings in the jar filled with “something” and the guessing starts again. The kids love it and really look forward to the guessing and finding out who is the VIP for the week! Of course there are lots of jobs in the classroom for everyone to do as well.

Another fun thing is the tooth contest. There are 2 huge mouths, void of teeth, on the front wall under the whiteboard - one for the girls and one for the boys. Each time a child loses a tooth, Mr. Krich gives them a paper tooth to write their name on and they put it in the mouth and will see who lost the most teeth at the end of the school year.

Another fun thing is the nacho party they are having on the 10th. For each timed math test they pass (0/1, 2/3, 4/5, 6/7, 8/9, 10/11, 12/13, 14/15) each child earns part of the nachos. They each have a blank piece of paper on the wall and get to paste their next ingredient on the paper . . . plate, napkin, chips, beans, cheese, sour cream, black olives, salsa. Now that each child has passed all the timed tests (2.5 minutes to complete 30 problems for each set) they get to have a nacho party. They’re doing the same thing for subtraction with ice cream sundaes - what a great idea!

Last Friday Jason told us about something “new” that Mr. Krich did - he called it a Desk Dump. Mr. Krich expects the children to help keep their classroom clean and neat and also expects the kids to keep their desks organized. So on Friday he had a surprise desk inspection. He looked in each child’s desk and if it wasn’t organized he dumped it on the floor and they had to organize it. Jason was proud that his desk was the most organized and didn’t get dumped - I told him surely this couldn’t be true because I SEE HIS BEDROOM every single day He was also a little disappointed that his desk didn’t get dumped because he thought that looked like fun, too. Hey - maybe I need to find a new name for cleaning up toys . . . like Toy Box Boogie . . . turn on some tunes and tell them to boogie while they pick up their toys

I must say that one of my favorite things I witnessed today was how Mr. Krich gets the kids’ attention. Rather than yelling for the kids to quiet down or ringing a bell or something, he gets out his duck call - which being from a midwest hunting family I thought was great! When it’s time to change work stations, he gives a “quuuuuuaaaaAAAACCCKKKKK” with the duck call. Every one of the kids, without missing a beat, says in unison “yyyeeeeeEEESSSS?” At that point they’re all quiet and he gives them direction. I LOVED IT!

So, I’m actually looking forward to my next volunteer hour in the classroom. The hubby gets to go in on Thursday morning this week. It’ll be fun for him to see all the kids, too!

What fun things do your kids’ teachers do or do you remember that YOUR teachers did?

Wow! That’s the expression I have for what we got to see this past weekend. We took a tour of the canyon that contains the largest documented site of dinosaur tracks in North America. It was AMAZING! Not only did we get to see dinosaur tracks, which was totally way cool, we also got to see Indian Rock Art, an ooooooooold Catholic Church and cemetery, and one of the original ranches in the canyon, dating back to the early 1800s. The entire tour was 8 hours long - it was HOT in the canyon, but it was fun. We took an auto tour - meaning we drove our own vehicle and followed the forest service dude 10 miles out in to the middle of nowhere and down in to the canyon on the tiniest 2-track dirt and rock road. You can get there on foot, IF you want to hike 5.5 miles ONE WAY through cactus-filled desert-like prairie and down in to the canyon - there is no water and no shade anywhere to be seen - then you can hike back out because you’re not allowed to camp in the canyon since it’s prone to flash flooding, even during the droughts. So we chose the auto tour. I have quite a few photos of our day, but I’m going to concentrate on the dinosaur part in this post. Just FYI, taking photos of dinosaur tracks from the ground is a bit like taking photos of the Grand Canyon. It’s cool and all, but you had to be there to appreciate it.

Here’s Jason and Keira by the sign pointing the way to the dinosaur tracks.

The sign letting us know that we have indeed arrived.

A sign talking about some of the tracks we’ll see.

There was no doubt that you found the tracks! They were amazingly easy to see. It was REALLY cool! Here is one allosaur track.

So you can get an idea of the size, here is Keira with her hand in the track.

To get to the biggest set of tracks, we had to wade across the river. The clay getting to the river was very slick, and the river bottom itself was very slick with lots of deep holes. You had to walk very carefully and feel before you actually stepped, unless you wanted to take a bath. We had to carry the kids because the water was to their waste in some spots. Here’s Jason getting a free ride across the river.

After a picnic lunch on the other side of the river, we wandered around and explored the tracks. It’s truly amazing what you can see! The Brontosaur tracks are HUGE - almost look like elephant feet. It’s very easy to see exactly where they walked, and also that they walked side-by-side, suggesting a herd. It rained a couple days ago and the river got really high, so there was water and mud in the tracks. When I stepped in the tracks, the water was over my ankles - that’s a heavy footprint! This photo is of Jason standing at the end of a set of water-filled tracks.

I just can’t even explain how cool this was! The aerial photos that they showed us of the tracks were really neat. Of course all good things must come to an end. So we hopped back in to the Jeep and started the drive out of the canyon. This is what the Jeep said:

Did I mention that it was a bit toasty in the canyon? And that it’s totally worth it to do the auto tour rather than then 11 mile hike?

It’s Monday!

NEW BEGINNING #1 - MIMI
The first new beginning for us this week happened on Saturday morning. Jason’s birthday party was Saturday evening . . . an Army theme with 10 kids coming to play and eat pizza - fun! I got all the laundry ready Saturday morning and went in to the kids’ rooms to bring down their mimis and blankets (mimi is the ’special’ blanket each of them has slept with since day one). I found Keira’s where I expected . . . on her bed along with her gazillion babies, stuffed things, and books she takes to bed each night. But when I got in to Jason’s room, I could not find a mimi or blanket anywhere. It’s been a long time since he’s taken any of them out of his room, and really, in the past month or so, he hasn’t even “used” them - when I fold them after laundry and put them on his pillow, they stay folded and he mostly uses them as his pillow . . . but he still likes to have them there. So I asked him where his mimi and blankets were and he said “In my closet. The guys are coming over tonight and I don’t want them to think I’m a baby.” Ahhhh, the 7 year old peer pressure. My dude has officially shunned his mimi and blanket. Of course it makes me sad, but how exciting that he’s growing up at the same time. I think I’m OK with it because I still have Keira . . . but when her lisp goes away and she can say the letter R, I know it’ll be a sad day in the Boedie house. I was sad when my “yegs” started being “legs”!

NEW BEGINNING #2 - THE BUS
As planned, we all got up together, got everyone ready for school and work, and headed down to the bus stop. Jason was so excited to go that we left 20 minutes before the bus was due to arrive . . . it’s only 4 houses away! It was fun, though - we got to meet the other kids at the stop and their parents. And when his buddy Hayden came walking down the hill, Jason was beside himself. He ran up the hill to meet him and they skipped and hopped to the bus stop. I of course made them stand still for a picture - I couldn’t miss out on that! Then the bus shows up . . . without missing a beat, or stopping to say goodbye to his mommy or give any hugs (I hadn’t planned on hugs, but it would have been a nice surprise!) he fell in step behind Hayden, in between the older kids, and disappeared on to the ginormous yellow bus. He squished himself in to the front seat next to Hayden and one other boy about their age and was laughing and giggling - thinking he’s the luckiest kid on the planet to be on an actual school bus! And with Woody driving it! Yes, his bus driver is the same one that drove the route last year - a young 20-something named Jonathan who wears a cowboy hat . . . so the kids call him Cowboy Jonathan As the bus pulled away, I saw Jason’s arm stick up above Hayden’s head to wave furiously. Amazingly, there were no tears. I surprised even myself!

NEW BEGINNINGS #3 - NEW PRESCHOOL TEACHER
Keira started preschool today, also. She’s been there all summer in summer camp, but today she started in a new classroom. We decided to move her to a new classroom this fall when her other teacher left at the end of last school year. The replacement teacher has been at the school for years in one of the 2s rooms. We’ve heard nothing but good things about here . . . she’s sweet, she’s intelligent, she’s loving, and she’s very laid back. However, after having Keira in the classroom with her for the summer, we realized that it most likely would not work out well. Quite frankly, the main reason was that we thought Keira would eat the replacement teacher alive. My sweet, loving, caring, independent child can be a real pain if you don’t set boundaries. She’ll take anything she can get from you . . . in return, if you set firm boundaries and let her know the rules, she’s great and tons of fun. We had all kinds of fun last February when she decided that she was in charge instead of her teacher . . . so we had to work with her teacher a lot to get that all straightened out. So, we moved Keira to a different classroom with a teacher that had subbed for my son’s class as well as Keira’s before she became a full time head teacher. Keira is OK with it because it’s the P5 room . . . she always wondered why she was in the P3 room if she was 4, and we had to explain that the numbers had nothing to do with age. But now that she’s in P5, she thinks where she should be since she’ll be 5 in December I’ve always had the thought that there will always be teachers you don’t like or that your kids don’t like, but you have to live with it. It’s part of growing up and learning to deal with things. So maybe moving her to a different room wasn’t the best move, but she loves Miss Lupita and is very excited about it - and I feel better knowing that she’ll be learning tons and having a lot of fun.

So here’s to a new week with lots of new stuff happening!

Let the games begin! I’ve been trying to prepare myself for life dealing with the public school system. We live in a great school district, so I’m not at all worried about the education my kids will receive. What I do worry about is ME dealing with those that are supposedly “in charge.” I know I know . . . I have to just let it go and be prepared for a gazillion snow days, other random days off, and late starts for my son’s class so his teachers can help the 3-5 grade teachers with their “new grading standards” - no I’m not kidding - we actually got that letter in the mail on Tuesday. The K-2 kids will lose 2 entire days of school for Friday late starts throughout the year so their teachers can help the older kids’ teachers with new grades . . . apparently changing from A, B, and C to Excellent, Good, and Average is hard work.

But back to orientation! I called last spring to see if we could tour the school. They said no. School was already closed for summer, but hey, we’ve got this great ice cream social planned for the Thursday before school starts, so you can come in, get a tour, meet your child’s teacher, and get acquainted with the school.

So yesterday I leave work early and head home so we can all go to this awesome ice cream social. We get there and not only is there no ice cream (the horror!), but there is no tour. In fact, there IS NO TEACHER! Yup - you heard me right . . . no teacher. We found my son’s classroom by looking at the lists on all the 2nd grade doors. Very exciting stuff (really, I’m not trying to be sarcastic here). But, we notice that the room is void of an adult. Then we notice that the name plate on the door is void of a name! All the other rooms had adults in them - presumably the teachers, whose names were neatly printed on the name plate outside the classroom. So we look across the row of my son’s name and see that there is another classroom number and a teachers name for his TT Room. So we head down there. It’s a 5th grade room. Hmmmmmmmm. I’m thinking he’s accidentally been assigned to 5th grade . . . which is OK cuz that would be easy to fix . . . tell the admin. and he gets assigned to a second grade class. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The 5th grade teacher is his Thunder Time teacher - apparently this is the public school’s version of circle time in the morning. It’s actually a cool idea. So we meet his TT teacher and head back to the 2nd grade classrooms. We walk in to one with a teacher in it and start asking questions. The exchange went something like this . . .

Me: Do you know where the teacher for that classroom is?
Teacher: Um, no I don’t. But let me get an administrator to help you.
Me: Thank You.

Administrator of some sort joins us - she looks about 18! But she is very nice and helpful.
Me: We were just wondering where the teacher for my son’s room across the hall is.
Admin: Um, there isn’t one.
Insert crooked face weird look from Mommy here
M: There isn’t a teacher? Is she coming later?
A: No. There isn’t a teacher. They just created that new classroom 30 minutes ago. We’re going to hire a teacher tomorrow. Then we’ll set up some time for everyone to meet the new teacher.
M: But school starts MONDAY.
A: I know - it’s frustrating isn’t it.
M: Um YA!
A: Actually, let me go get someone to stand in that room for the other parents that have questions, too. Do you want to go walk around and meet me back in that room?
M: Sure. Thanks.

So we head out to the cafetorium that is filled with parents and students who have done this before - they’re all standing in line to get the required PE uniform (actually fairly stylish - nothing like the late 70’s early 80’s attire I was required to wear), their kids’ schedules, put money in the lunch accounts. We buy Jason’s student planner and then head to the Literacy table to sign him up for a testing time next week so they can see that yes indeed he can read. But of course, there is no sheet for his class because there is no teacher! The literacy lady tells me that they have to wait until they hire a teacher and then figure out how said teacher wants to do the testing. Well, let ME tell you how said teacher wants to do the testing . . . just like every other friggin’ elementary teacher in the school, there will be two pieces of paper with 1 hour time slots throughout next Thursday and Friday. We will write our kid’s name on one line and bring him to school on the appointed day at the appointed time so he can take a standardized reading test.

Back to his classroom, where we meet a VERY nice lady . . . Mrs. Mary (yes she has a last name, but I wouldn’t put it here even if I did remember it.). She is a TAG teacher and VERY helpful. She explained how this was indeed a nightmare for them, too, and she is sorry there isn’t a teacher, but explains that last year they did this new classroom thing 2 weeks in to the school year, which was much worse . . . I explain that I do understand why they did it, but we just need to make our little due (and MOMMY!) a little more comfy. Afterall, we’ll put him on the bus Monday morning and wave goodbye. Where does the bus drop him off? Where does he go when he gets here? We assumed his classroom, but were informed that is wrong - he goes to the TT room. What does he do with the 15 pounds of school supplies he’ll be bringing with him? What about his backpack? Is there a place for it, because this school is totally void of lockers or cubbies of any kind? What about after school and getting on the correct bus home? Mary very kindly gave us a tour, showed Jason where the bus would drop him off, explained how there would be teachers outside helping the first week, told him to go into the cafetorium and look for the big purple sign that his TT teacher Mrs. Boaz would be holding up, explained that she’d take care of them the first couple days until they find their way around the school, assured us that at the end of the day no bus is allowed to leave without it’s full roster of children accounted for.

THANK YOU MRS. MARY! The 10 minutes she spent with us, one of the new families, is all that we were asking for. A small tour of the elementary, an explanation of how the bus drop off works, and a little assurance to our little dude (who was very nervous) that he would indeed find his teacher very easily and would not be lost.

Whew . . . there you have it. I went home and talked to My Hubby and as always, said that I need to just expect this stuff, not let it get to me, and go with the flow. I’m really going to make an effort to do that . . . which for me will be tough

So, we’ll spend the weekend grilling Jason on his bus number, his TT teacher’s name, and his 2nd grade classroom number. He’ll remember, he’ll get on the bus, I’ll cry, and all will be well