Three different schedules, three different temperaments, three different kinds of activities, three different lunches, three different stories to listen to and three different futures to look out for.
- Daughter heads off to High school
- Son stays at Middle School
- Munchkin steps into Kindergarten at Elementary school. The one the older kids went to, the one where almost all the teachers and admin staff recognize me with warm hugs and grins (thanks to all those hours of volunteering) and into a class where the teacher once taught the daughter.
Each kid is within a short mile of each other, I head east 23 miles and husband heads south 10 miles. The home’s empty by 8.
..and to end the post with a chuckle.
Since two days, munchkin is repeatedly told that she needs to get off the bus whens he sees her sister standing outside or me or both at 3.15. She also is shown this other kid who is a friend of ours and is in 1st grade. Told again and again that she gets off the bus whens he sees this kid get off. Not before.
Reality: I make it on time joyously to stand with the video that the iPhone offers, taping. I wait. Kid after kid gets down. No more kids get down. The bus driver engages the drive. I panic. Where’s mine? I don’t see mine getting down. Where is she? I yell. All moms stop and stare. I jump onto the bus, there are 4 huge 6th graders staring back at me. Oh gosh, where is she? You should know I ask the driver.
One pretty kid pipes in “Is she like a kindergartner?”
I nod.
Is she wearing pink and has black curly hair?
Yes! Yes! That’s her.
Oh, she got down with her friend at the stop before.
What the heck?! She doesn’t have a friend. She knows not a soul in the neighborhood who’s her height. Her sister’s age, most definitely yes, but her age, apart from this kid whom she was to get down with, no other pint sized little kid! 😐 Someone screams from teh sidewalk.
There she is!
I scramble down and indeed there is the munchkin.
Walking hand in hand with this another cute purple-hued little doll with a band of 5-6 kids a year or two older, marching down the long path. I see one mom behind them all, walking as fast as the ones ahead of her would allow.
Once in ear shot, I reproach her “Munchkin! You got off early?!”
..But I got off with my friend Livia!
Everyone starts to laugh
Livia chips in her support: She’s my friend, and she didn’t know where her home was, so she got down with me. Our home is right there in the corner.”
The driver rides away chuckling. (though how she could have let her down without a parent to greet her is a rant for another day.) Everyone shake their head and the kids clamor around excitedly.. and suddenly my munchkin’s made an entrance to all the elementary school kids of the neighborhood and the moms.
Not a shabby end at all to the first day at public school I say! If this is any indication of how her school years would be, I am in a big soup.
To ensure that such an incident does not happen ever again (and to let the little one post on Facebook, Tweet or blog should something go wrong), Rads gives up her iPhone to a greater cause.
Great! The girl already has usurped my old cell phone and *charges* it overnight just like we do. 😐
Isn’t it the bus driver’s responsibility to drop kids off at their stop? I don’t know..I am asking. My heart just skipped a beat reading this.
True. She should have (elementary school bus drivers are usually sweethearts!) and thats’ what we all were shocked about. Ironically that’s what I bragged about the whole system to a colleague. I plan on talking with her tomorrow morning.
that is sooo precious. I had my older one chaperone the younger one for one whole year 🙂 This year he is on his own!!
heh, yea. The older two looked after each other, this one’s on her own. I think she can too!
Yikes! Does one hug her or give her a slap and then hug her?
Well, her completely complacent grinning happy face didn’t allow me to stay mad at her for long. This bus is just for our neighborhood of 120 homes. I had no idea we had that many elem school aged kids to fill a bus!
Scary..
Btw, I will be facing this road down the line. Next year, oldest will be heading off to middle school, younger 2 in elem and one in preschool..
Right, and it gets challenging as they grow older. The kind of attention they require’s different.
We all learn with them anyway, so the trick is not to fret, but just take it as it comes. 🙂
Oh that was so cute of Munchkin! but scary for a Mommy.
I really look forward to seeing more posts on handling three diff schools and schedules etc 🙂 I will walk down this tunnel sometime down the years…..hope this prepares me.
oh really, 3 too? Nice! 🙂
These days time’s on ration. I would love to write more, just that it gets harder putting all down.
Oh not 3 here, still on 2 and will be only 2. But it is just that reading about 3 makes me more comfortable and feel that whole deal is managable.
More like an inspiration 🙂
I think she did it purposely for all the constant instructions 😛
Is she always in pink? 🙂
lol@pink. If I can help it, no. It isn’t too bad, it’s a phase .. which teh older one didn’t care much for, so this is new to us.
Woah – that would have aged me 10 years in a day! Your zen-like attitude is great!
M
ha, well, it didn’t take long to discover her, but that’s a paranoia I live with. Missing one of them kids ..
Oh that must’ve been the longest few mins of your life!
already making friends and making a mark on the toddler’s circle huh? way to go, munchkin!!
Usha, She plays a different league compared to my older two. Those are still such dimwits compared to her!
I am so glad that the scary story ended so well.How come the driver was so laid back about her folly?I am really surprised at that.
Munchkin looks so cute ..backpack and all 🙂
Yea, she was. Am not too happy. But didn’t want teh first week to start off bad, so let her go.
Thank you, they are all adorable at that age 🙂
Cute! cute! Cute! Cute!
What a great post! It’s only now that I’m catching up with what’s been going on in the blogosphere over the past 10 days or so. I vote for this post as my favorite– out of all the posts I read!
Oh, and I also see that you crossed the border to here (i.e. Canada), didn’t you? [Though we’ve crossed that border already via blogging.]
And sorry about your i-phone 🙁
hahah, thanks Kama 🙂
Don’t get me started on teh iphone! Neways, I have a new one now! 🙂
I was thinking about you while we were in that Toronto highway. Was there 6 years ago, and nothing’s changed! ..and that 401, oh boy, nothing there! 😐
Rads…I can’t express my feelings in words. You are soo different and artistic. The pictures, the details you care about and even the words you use. Glad to find you and your blog.
Seenu, You made my day. Thank you 🙂