First, let me say: school is going great. We are loving school at Casa de Katie. Bee has declared she has the nicest teacher evah and has many new friends…although she can’t remember any of their names. (“Mom! I am going to ask them their names today. Would dat be a good idee-a?”) Gracie is Gracie and so has reveled being back in school like a fish returned to its favorite stretch of pond. Which, um, means happy, splashy and full of smiles? Or something.
But the point is everyone is having fun, no one has complained about anything, everyone has managed to get to their classrooms without getting lost, and my arms haven’t fallen off yet from making all the lunches. Except for the wee little matter of Bee-girl almost getting on the wrong bus on the way home from school yesterday.
Yeah – that gave me pause, too.
We were driving home from daycare, ho-humming and chatting about our day. Bee had volunteered that she remembered her classroom, which made Gracie point out to me that she was right because she wasn’t allowed to walk her sister to her class (“The kindergarteners line up in the gym and walk as a group, Mom.” Fine, fine, I was wrong.). And then Gracie thought it was a great idea to somewhat blurt out, “And Bee almost got on the wrong bus, but I saw her just in time, and I said, ‘Bee! No! That’s the wrong bus!’, and so then I saved her and brought her to our bus just in time.”
Commence small, internal Mama freakout.
Bee, using her spidey senses to deduce than an explanation would kinda help out here, offered, “But the YMCA bus was white, too. I didn’t know how to read [Daycare] bus.” Duh, Mom.
Okay, this is entirely fixable, I thought. We’ll just pretend I’m not almost panicking about Bee wandering around the city. “Well, Bee, [Daycare] bus starts with ‘C’.”
“Yeah, but YMCA has a C in it, too.”
Wiseass. Still – she was right. “Yes, yes, it does. But [Daycare] starts with a ‘C’ an the letters are in different colors, and… Hey! I know what you can do. How about when you get on the bus, you ask, ‘Is this the [Daycare] bus? And then they will say ‘Yes! It is!’ or else you can get off the bus and ask for help.” Ta da! Tools to help her out. Bee was pleased with the explanation. Gracie promised to make sure she was on the bus. And instead of worrying, I wrote my cell phone number on the kid’s backpack, lunchpack, and maybe the back of her neck. Kidding! (Sort of.)
See? No point panicking when you can just prepare – the kid with the tools she needs to not freak her mama the heck out any more, and myself with more chocolate.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch Casa de Katie, my sister and I spent the evening cooking, cleaning, spray-painting, and plotting escape plans while we watched projected paths of Hurricane Irene. But that is a story – and a batch of chocolate – for a whole ‘nother day. Suffice it to say that alllllll the squiggly lines devised by Jim Cantore with a wobbly marker and lots of (ahem) science have Irene headed straight for Kim’s House. Submit songs for our Hurricane Mix CD below, please.
Tags: hurricanes, kindergarten, school, survival strategies
August 25, 2011 at 2:03 pm |
Ohh, I would have had an internal freakout too. She would have been fine either way – they would have gotten her to the right place eventually, but how wonderful that Gracie “saved her”.
Sorry, no song recommendations for me. We are still making earthquake jokes with “Feel the Earth Move”.
Hang in there Mama – she will be a pro just like Gracie in no time at all.
August 27, 2011 at 9:53 am |
Yay for good first days of school!!!
The bus has given me more than one panic attack in these past 13 years. I’m glad Gracie caught Bee in time to get her on the right bus!