That's Not My Name

I started out yesterday's post and so did not intend for it to go that direction.  As I wrote, my thoughts just went in that direction and I had a huge, pitiful moment.  It's been a long week. I am sorry.

Tonight was Kiddo's Kinder Camp at his school.  We waited for Hubby to get home so that Kiddo and I could go without the distraction of baby brother. Hubby literally got out of his car as we were all walking out the door; he scooped up little Port and carried him kicking and screaming back into the house and we screeched out of the driveway.

We walked into the school a couple of minutes late, but lots of people were still arriving. The school had posted all of the class lists on the wall. We were instructed to find out who our teacher was and then sit at her table in the cafeteria. I scanned each list carefully. Again. And again. And people crowded around me all looking for their child's name. And I look, and look and scan and scan.

I couldn't find Kiddo's name.

Now, this is where I have to say that for someone like me this is a very bad situation.  Not finding his name meant that -
ohmygoodnessIhaveto TALK tosomebodyandtheyaregoingtothink I.am. an. IDIOT.

Yes, this is what runs through my head. My stomach flip flops, I start to sweat, and I pray to God to please, please don't make me have to talk to someone! Please!!!

But I couldn't find the name. *sigh* So I walked over to the nearest official looking person and asked him what we do if we are not on the list. He looked really surprised and stumbled a bit before heading out to look for the registrar. Meanwhile, I went back over to the lists to take yet another look.

Aaaaannnd there was his name.

See, with a last name like Fry I would never expect for him to be the first on the list. But he was. And of course I missed it because I automatically started around the middle of each list. GAH! The guy returned and I sheepishly let him know I had indeed found the name (and was indeed an idiot) and we scurried away toward the cafeteria. By the time we got to the doors, the troops had been alerted and the registrar and another staff person found me and were trying to help. I politely explained (that I was an idiot) that I had found his teacher and breezed past them on the way to the cafeteria. Things had already begun inside as the last of the latecomers filed in. I shuffled Kiddo to the back of the room, thinking I could take a good look and get an idea of where we needed to go from there. They had hung a sign with the teacher's name on the end of each table. However, the signs on the tables on one side of the room had been placed on the door end of the table, making it impossible to read from the middle of the room. Of course, I couldn't find the name we needed, so I turned Kiddo toward the door so we could head out and look at the other tables from the doors. On the way out a school staff person offered to help, and while she was trying to help me was actually introduced by the speaker in the front of the room. I had to basically duck and run while she waved to the crowd who was ALL looking in that direction.

You have to understand how incredibly painful and embarrassing all of that was.

We thankfully found the table and sat down. On each table they had a sheet of stickers and each child's name was inscribed on a sticker for them to wear. I looked at the sheet and Kiddo's name was not there.

However, there was a Robert F.

Now, Kiddo has 2 middle names, and one of them happens to be Robert. After the list debacle though, I wasn't about to take the sticker and assume it was for him and was just a mistake. So I left it there and listened to the presentation. At one point the staff took each class for a tour of the school while all the parents stayed in the cafeteria. Not wanting Kiddo to go off without a name tag, I took a deep breath, found a pen in my purse and scratched out Robert and wrote Kiddo's name. I slapped it on him and sent him off with his class.

And the staffer leading them was the same guy I had asked originally about not being on the list. Kiddo jumped to the front of the line with his scratched out name tag. *smacks hand to forehead*

I am sure the guy thought I was trying to pull a fast one - couldn't find the name, suddenly found the name at the top of the list, making my own name tag....uh huh It's all very suspicious, isn't it?

The parents eventually ended up in their kid's classrooms and the children joined us after a few minutes.  Kiddo was excited about his class and his locker, and especially the goodie bag inside. He was the first kid to open the locker and find it. 

He thanked his teacher, I filled out all the required forms and we left. After walking out, Kiddo noticed his name tag was missing.  He wanted to go back in and look for it, so I let him. I walked in after him and when he couldn't find it, we turned around and walked out again. We walked through the entire school and then back to the van, got in and I drove home. When we got home, we met Port and Hubby in the driveway. I was talking to Hubby about how everything went when Kiddo suddenly exclaimed,

"THERE IT IS!! My nametag!"

It was securely clinging to my rear end.

Oh yes, not only am I an idiot, I am "that mom".

At least they won't forget me, right?

Until,
D :)