This morning started out OK. Woke the boy, made his lunch, talked to him while he ate his breakfast. I realized just as he was about to leave the house that he had a doctor appointment at 8:50am and he could have slept in. Ooops. He complained and said - get this - that he WANTED to go to school. Ugh. Seriously? OK, let me think. I sent him to school and told him I would pick him up at 8:40a. Bye mom. Bye son. Wait, did I say 8:40am? Crap! That’s precisely the time my daughters catch their bus. OK, let me think. Maybe, for the first time ever, the girls (9 and 6) could walk to the bus stop by themselves? I would have to leave the house at 8:25a, they would be at home alone for 15 minutes. Run this by husband for a sanity check. All systems GO. Got the girls up early so I could make sure they knew exactly what was going on, where they had to be when, and to make sure all of their gear was together before I left.
What could possibly go wrong?
I had just gotten to the doctor’s office with the boy when my cell phone rang. Unfamiliar number. Stomach lurches. It was Carson. Crying. On the cell phone of the father of the other boy at our bus stop. Lainey had fallen and had a bloody nose. I told her to take Lainey home, put her on the couch and give her some tissues for her nose, I’ll be home in 30 minutes. Then the dad got on the phone and said he had cleaned Lainey up and the bus was here and she wanted to go to school. OK, let me think. Tell her to get on the bus but go see the nurse as soon as she got to school.
I called the school to give them a head’s up and asked the nurse to call me after she looked at my daughter’s face. And to please check her teeth! (parents always freak about teeth)
Ran to the Mall to return the boots I bought yesterday that I HATED the minute I got them home.
Next call was from the nurse. Lainey was alright, a little banged up and was hanging in the nurse’s office for observation for a few minutes with an ice pack. But Carson was very upset so the nurse had her talking to the Guidance Counselor.
Next call was from the Guidance Counselor. Carson was fine but is a very sensitive child (What???) and was very upset about her sister. She felt as the older sibling she had messed up her obligation to take care of her little sister. I called Carson’s teacher who put Carson on the phone. I told her it could have happened even if I had been there and not to worry about it.
Next call was from the nurse. Again. Lainey was in pain and her temp was 99.3. She wanted to come home. Told the nurse I was getting my son’s prescription and would be there in 30 minutes.
My therapist told me that I had to give my children responsibilities if I wanted them to grow up and be responsible people. Next time I will just have them clean their rooms.
