"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind... We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith." -- Margaret D. Nadauld

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Gettin' A Ejucashun

First day of school. WE SURVIVED!!!

Well.... some of us did.

(I think the children planned "Pull A Weird Face For First Day of School Pics Day" and didn't tell me. )

Inigo was so excited for the first day, he beat the alarm by 15 minutes. He came bounding into my bedroom bursting with enthusiasm and energy and dragged my sorry rear out of bed. And I'm glad he got up early... with the extra time needed to take photos, we would have missed the bus. However, he didn't get the piano practiced like I wanted him to...

**Note to self: We need to always plan for that extra 15 minutes! Augh! I hate mornings!


Buttercup is an old pro at this first day of school stuff. She got herself up 1/2 hour before the rest of us and quietly and calmly got ready for the day. No drama, no last minutes "I FORGOT's!" She was mortified when I took her to school on the back of the Piglet and made me drop her off on a road by a field where there wasn't a student to be seen.

(First of all: she doesn't really need a ride. We live a 3 minute walk from the high school. She was waiting for friends to walk with and it didn't work out so she was running late .
Secondly: The Piglet is really cool and she loves having rides on it. She was mortified because I was wearing my gym clothes, my hair was barely brushed and I had no make-up on. Silly girl. She needs to turn 40 to realize that things like that don't really matter.)


I was lonely but okay after the kids left.


I was very surprised when the phone rang at 12:15... lunch time. The caller ID doesn't tell me who's calling, but I recognized the number as coming from a school. I didn't know which school. I thought it was probably a recorded message that I'm getting several times a day from the district, giving me information and annoying me... (what happened to sending a note home with the kids?)

I answer: "Hello?"
Small pause. Yes, it must be a recorded call because it always pauses before it plays the message. And then I hear: "Mrs. Valerie?"
Dang!! It is a live person and since they called me Mrs. it means it is regarding one of my children. "Yes! This is Mrs. Valerie."
The person on the other end didn't identify herself. (One of my pet peeves. Not everyone has caller ID and immediately knows who's on the other end.) "I just want you to know...."


I would like to take a minute here and take you into the dark recesses of my mind. I am a conversation anticipator. When people talk to me, my mind anticipates what the person is talking about. I don't think I'm alone. I think a lot of people do this. So while the person is talking, my brain fast forwards to the end of the statement. Back to the story:


"I just want you to know that Inigo had an accident on the slide and busted...."


Brain anticipation moment! When a mom hears the word "busted" over the phone and it's regarding one of her children... what do you suppose she's going to think? YES!!! A busted leg, a busted head, a busted arm .... any number of body parts that can be busted. My brain immediately went to "busted arm or busted wrist."


"I just want you to know that Inigo had an accident on the slide and busted his lip."


His lip? Seriously? Who busts a lip? My goodness! There are a million and one different ways to let me know that Inigo cut his lip on the slide.


"It's bleeding pretty good and we were wondering if you wanted to come over and look at it."


Since we live a mere 2 minutes from the elementary school and since it was the first day of first grade I thought I ought to go look at it. The secretary didn't sound too worried about it, but I did think for a second we might have to get stitches --

I walk into the office and when my boy saw me he broke down and started sobbing again. His mouth was pretty darned sore, but it wasn't too serious.


You can see from the pictures what the damage was. That little cut isn't big, but it was deep. It oozed and bled for a little over 4 hours. He ended up with a fat lip and crooked glasses. There is even a little scratch on the inside of his mouth, in the gum line above his tooth.


He wanted to come home. Part of his tears were over the fact that his teacher actually made him do 5 papers already that morning and that was "soo much work!" Being a mean mommy ;-) I made him stay and he had a great rest of the day.

Buttercup's day at high school was mostly non-eventful. The girl that has bullied her since 9th grade thought she'd get a dig in as Buttercup walked to lunch and yelled something unintelligible, but my girl is getting a thick skin and was able to blow it off. (I turned this girl in last year and she was put on probation. If there are anymore reports of bullying made, she will be suspended.) I gave the girl a buy since it was the first day of school. But if there is anything... anything else done toward my daughter, I will be in the office faster than she can flip her hair and get it taken care of! Grrrrr.....

And thus ends the first day. I think it will be a good year!

(Buttercup has decided to try out for the fall musical. Keep your fingers crossed that she will do well.)

5 comments:

Corps of Discovery. said...

I am a blog post anticipator. I thought for sure that the call from the school was going to be a report that Inigo was stung by hornets. Apparently there were hornets nests on both ends of the monkey bars and several kids were stung yesterday. Oh, the perils of public education.
Devani

Sarah Miller said...

Don't you love the "Mama Bear Instinct"! My kids are still little and if anything or anyone does or says anything to my kids, look out, I get a little protective. That would be a hard situation to deal with a bully, especially a girl. Girls are so mean and they leave a nasty mark. Good luck to both kids with school! And you did a good job with the first day!!

Unknown said...

Poor Inigo. I can see why he wanted to come home. The first day of first grade can be so overwhelming for the kids AND the teacher. Those little kindergartners are not used to all the demands that first grade has. Good luck. I have a feeling this is going to be a busy year for you all!
P.S. If you ever need a break from it all, I know a lovely place that you could visit where it is quite warm and only a few hours south of you!

Unknown said...

And what the heck is Sarah doing up at 7:53 in the morning! That makes me sleepy!

Yvonne said...

Poor Indigo. My Heidi teaches 1st grade--and that change is HUGE.

Can I just say bullying makes me VERY ANGRY. I'm glad to hear Buttercup is developing a thick skin, but still bullying should not be tolerated.

Keeping my fingers crossed.