This Day

This day did not go as I had planned. Not that I had a lot planned, but there were things I should have gotten done or needed to get done, but didn't do. This morning when dropping Katie off at school, Kyle went into his normal whining fit about wanting to stay at school. He LOVES school which is a good thing, but he's only signed up to be at school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. So every Monday or Friday that I take Katie to school he gets really upset that he can't stay. A couple of months ago I inquired and found out that his class is full on Mondays and Fridays so there was no point in even asking if I could enroll him another day.

So this morning we dropped Katie off, went and signed her in and then headed over to my classroom. I had decided that I would pick up some posterboard that I had asked my assistant to paint for me for next week. I knew she wouldn't have time to get to it today so I figured I'd paint it today at home. For some reason Kyle cannot handle going into my classroom when there are other kids there. He turns into a little monster and decides to destroy anything in his path. I was planning a quick walk across the room, pick up the posterboard and walk out. I didn't want to interrupt the class as they were beginning their day. Unfortunately I was asked where a project was so I had to start digging through files which left Kyle unattended in the block center. He started dumping big cardboard blocks all over the floor and then kicking them. Then for some unknown reason he picked up two of the blocks, put them under his arms and ran out the door. He went through the cafeteria and onto the other hallway before I caught up to him. I tried to be a good mom and I made him go back and clean up the mess he had made. As soon as the blocks were picked up he tore out the door again. Luckily I was finished and I went after him. I tried to be calm and patient calling after him. But this time he made it to the hallway on his way to the Kindergarten room (Katie's classroom). When I saw where he was going I started running after him trying to be careful not to drop the two posterboards I was carrying while my purse is banging on my shoulder. The next thing I hear as I round the corner is "well, Hi Kyle!", a cheerful greeting from Katie's teacher as I skid to a stop, grab his arm and drag him out of the room. Oh, embarrassment. He's in tears. I'm flustered because this is where I work afterall and what do you think about a teacher who cannot handle her own child? I drag him out to the parking lot where the morning care teacher sees us and greets him. The next thing I know she is telling me to leave him at school because she only has 4 children today and he can stay in her class (which is right next door to his regular class). Oh Bless You! I end up going in to let my boss know that he will be staying today which she says is fine and then I head to my car to run off and pick him up some lunch.

When I got back to drop off his lunch I overheard something that had absolutely nothing to do with me, but of course the way my brain works I can turn anything into something I did wrong. I overheard my boss talking to the teacher that had offered to keep Kyle and that made me think she was getting in trouble for letting me leave him there. Of course I know this is nonsense, she could have been talking about ANYTHING, but the seed was planted in my head. I stewed over it for hours thinking that I was wrong in leaving him there rather than enjoying the blessing of an extra day to myself this week.

And what did I do with the extra day? Not much. Laundry, shower, some website work and painted the rainbow for my Noah's Ark center next week. At least I got one thing done that I had planned! There were so many things I could have been doing, but I wasn't in the mood. I needed to clean my kitchen. I needed to vacuum. I needed to make a doctor's appt for Kyle and a dentist appt for me. I needed to go grocery shopping. I should have gone to work out. By lunchtime I was so overwhelmed with trying to decide what I wanted to do and worrying about leaving Kyle when it wasn't his day that I ended up going shopping to distract myself...but not grocery shopping which is something I needed to do. The good news is, I didn't buy any clothes. I decided that I didn't want to buy any clothes right now because you know I'm losing weight and all and pretty soon I should be down another size. Right???

By 1:30 I was back at school. I found some things to work on (laminating posters and using the die cut machine) but I was a full hour early for picking up the little guy. I ended up going into my boss's office and just flat out asking her if she really was okay with me leaving him on a day I wasn't supposed to. She looked at me and said, "well, you really didn't let yourself enjoy the gift that Sharon gave you, did you?" Um no. Then she called me a stupidhead and started laughing at me. I deserved that. But at least now I can relax the next time I leave him on one of his "off days"...which Sharon said I could do any Monday or Friday that I needed to. Thank God!