It's back to school around here! I can't tell you how different the prep work has been for me this time. Things have changed in our household. I only had TWO school aged children to buy for. I haven't had that happen for many years! So you would think that would make things a little easier for me but, no luck. Jonathan started college so I went from knowing exactly what prepping for back to school meant to uncharted territory and boy oh boy has it been a challenge! Things have been hectic to say the least. I was trudging along doing my best to get everything figured but then I messed up, people. I messed up big.
It started off decently. I was so excited to watch Jonathan grab his stuff and head off to his first class on Monday!
As we drove up I say to him "Son, I'm going to take a pic so don't run off fast." He says "MOM! Not while people are watching! It's bad enough that my MOMMY is dropping me off at college!!"
Ok then. I will just get one in sneak mode. No problem. :-)
This year I managed to put myself in a precarious position with school supplies for the Elementary kid. School starts on Wednesday. I didn't even start getting his school supplies until MONDAY. That's right. Two days prior to school. I am one of those Moms that claims I am going to start back to school shopping AND Christmas shopping in advance "this year". That way I won't be waiting until the last minute and cause myself to go in to a frenzy trying to find things. Every year I fail to do it. Every year I go in to a frenzy but I have NEVER cut it this close. I had succumbed to the fact that I wouldn't be able to find much and would just have to buy as much as I could, when I saw things back in stock. I hurried off to the store and to my amazement, there was still a good amount left! By Tuesday afternoon I had every item on the list except for one so I was feeling pretty proud of myself and told the kids and hubby just as much.
Little John is very specific about wanting to be prepared for school. He is borderline obsessive about it. He spent the afternoon organizing his items just so in his back pack, making sure he had everything ready and sharpening all his pencils. Take a look at just how consumed he gets with keeping the brands of pencils apart and making sure to put them back in the box they came in, eraser DOWN. He wasn't very happy that Sophie wanted to help either. He didn't want anyone else touching his stuff but he loves his sister so he agreed to let her help some.
Then he went about the task of placing them sideways in a bag to keep all the boxes together in his backpack. He was so happy!
Then comes the boom.
Little John comes to me close to bedtime (the morning before school is set to start), hands me his list that I had put back on the refrigerator and asks me "Mom, why does this list say Fifth Grade?"
Do you guys see the problem? My son is going in to FOURTH GRADE. My heart sank to the FLOOR! How did I not see that? I mean, it's printed in big letters right on the top of the page! I quickly told him that was the end of the list from Fifth Grade that must've printed on to his Fourth Grade list so he wouldn't panic (maybe some kind of printer problem) and he seemed to accept that answer. I am sure glad he slept well because I did NOT.
I stayed awake for hours trying to decide how to tell him, what to tell him, whether I even SHOULD tell him. Then I came up with a plan. It really was my only option at that point. I got up earlier than I normally would and I set about the task of unpacking his backpack, printing off the CORRECT list and checking off what he already had. I could see, at that point that it wasn't as bad as I imagined. The list of things he needed wasn't catastrophic. I would just have to go to the store after I dropped him off to get the items and hope and pray that our local stores still had supplies. As my other family members started to wake up to get ready for their day I told them what I did. They couldn't believe it. Yep, having another baby has done me in! My brain no longer functions like it should. I am really going to have to double check myself from here on out!
We all agreed it was best to tell Little John the truth. That kid is super perceptive. I just knew if I didn't tell him he would get to class and start unpacking his supplies and notice fairly quickly that he had different items than the other kids. He would've immediately remembered showing me that paper the night before, and that would've caused him to feel like I deceived him in some way and I don't want him feeling that way about me.
I heard him stirring in his room and knew I was going to have to break the news to him. I also knew it would end one of two ways. He would either laugh hysterically or he would get really upset. I braced myself, told him what I did, and to my delight he put his hands on his hips and said "I just KNEW IT MOM!" Then he started laughing straight from his belly. WHEW! What a relief. I didn't ruin the first day of school after all!
Of course, John P and Sophie had to get in on the pic action! My super sweet Sophomore was ready to see her friends again.
We gathered up Little John's haul and headed off to Fourth Grade. I just love this pic of him. He had the hardest time trying to open up his eyes in the bright morning sun but he gave it his very best try.
After dropping him off, I rushed to H.E.B. and I was elated to see that they still had quite a few supplies left. I was able to get 98% of my list. Boy did I luck out on that one. It could've ended much differently and I am so grateful. I never want to go through that again!
Next year, I promise to start back to school shopping in advance so it doesn't end with me in a frenzy. ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment