Wow. I don’t even know where to start. This was certainly a milestone for us. Both kids are now in school. Indira started third grade and Drew started Kindergarten. To say that it has been emotional is the understatement of the year.
Let me start by saying that I can get a bit neurotic when it comes to planning. Anything. Vacations. Parties. Christmas. Anything. You can imagine how ridiculous my summer has been planning for the first day of school for Drew, and Indira for that matter. I still, even though she is in third grade, get super organized when it comes to getting ready for school. I am a list-maker, which means that at any given moment this summer, I could whip out a list of what we had already bought and what we still needed in terms of school clothes and supplies. I’m a planner. Can’t help it. If I have learned anything throughout this experience, its that sometimes it really doesn’t matter how much you THINK you have it together. Things just don’t always go as smoothly as you had hoped. (And you really DON’T have it together, at all!)
We’ll just start with the letter I received from the school on the Friday before school started. It was from the nurse and she pointed out that Drew was missing some of his immunizations that are required for the Kindergarten year. Now, I just KNEW that this was a mistake. How could I have failed to make sure he had his immunizations? After all, it was just a few months ago that we got the shots in question. I remember distinctly being in the Doctor’s office and thinking to myself, “Well, he is 5, so this should do it for awhile.” I must have given the school the wrong copy of his records when we registered at Kindergarten Round Up back in April. So, I thought I would just head over to the Doctor’s office and request an updated copy so I could give it to the school. Case closed. When I popped into the office and spoke to the receptionist, I explained the misunderstanding and kindly asked if she could just re-print his records so I could show we were up to date on everything. She looked at the screen, and to my horror….said, “He isn’t up to date. He needs DTAP, MMR and the Chicken Pox booster.” I guess it had been almost a year since the shots I THOUGHT were the right ones! (I guess time does fly…I could have sworn it was just a few months ago!) Now, I realize for most people, this wouldn’t be THAT big of a deal. But I was just mortified. How could I let this happen? At this point, we are just days from starting school and I am just embarrassed that we are behind on shots. I don’t have any idea what I was thinking, but somehow I dropped the ball on this one. How, I do not know. So after all was said and done, we had to make an upcoming appointment for the following Friday to get our shots. Let’s hope the school is okay with that. I think mostly, I just feel a little embarrassed. I am a stay at home Mom, for crying out loud! I don’t have a 40+ hour a week job to distract me! This IS my job!
Fast forward to the day that school started. Friday, the 14th of August. Everything went great that day, (for the kids.) PJ took a vacation day so that we could take them together and they looked so cute. Indira is getting so big and can’t have her picture taken without striking a Paris Hilton-esque pose. She has no idea who that is, but seriously…she has that look down. Hand on the hip and all! I’m not quite sure how I feel about that either. She is getting prettier and prettier and losing that “little girl” look. This school year, she will turn 9. Drew was a little nervous. He was excited, but nervous. Thank goodness he didn’t get upset or anything when we walked him to his classroom. He did just great!
After leaving the school and crying a little, PJ and I decided we would take the day to relax and shop, eat lunch, anything that can normally be frustrating to do with kids! Other than feeling very, very sick to my stomach that afternoon from either lunch or nerves, (or both) the day went rather smoothly. I was upset at the fact I didn’t feel well at first. But then I realized that while I will probably remember the fact that my Kindergartner didn’t have his immunizations up to date and I was feeling very sick on the first day of school, Drew probably won’t.
I don’t know why I put this unrealistic pressure to be perfect on myself when it comes to my family. But I do. The truth is, I will make mistakes. Lots more of them. So I don’t really know why I am so hard on myself EVERY time it happens! Hopefully, my kids are not going to remember that they started Kindergarten without their shots….or that I am always behind with the dentist appointments, (which reminds me….) or….(I won’t go on, you already know that I space stuff!)
So here we are a week later and our Doctor’s appointment is today. The first week of school went really well. The kids BEGGED to buy their lunch today. I don’t know why. I thought everyone hated school lunches? But, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to do that sometimes. It certainly gave me a little unexpected break from the chaos of packing lunches this morning! The dreaded shots are this afternoon at 3:30. I still feel guilty…but I think I may just have to get over it!
Until next time….LIGHTEN UP, ALREADY!
