Today was picture day for The Daughters. That thought briefly crossed my mind as I hit "Wake" instead of "Snooze" and accidently slept 15 minutes longer than we should have. Sadly I had not slept well. It's hard to sleep well when you're up every hour or two chasing down a sleep-walking, sleep-talking Daughter 2. In her defense, she was chasing the kitty cat. In my defense, we don't have a kitty cat!
Luckily, no one asked for anything special in the hair department, but I did insist that they both - at the very least - brush their hair. This was met with moans and groans of protest. Eventually, with the threat of "cootie season" fast approaching (and as long as we're in school, it's always cootie season!), I was able to dry The Daughters' hair. This is quite a feat as Daughter 1 is content to just dry out her bangs and Daughter 2 throws her hair into a pony tail as soon as she's out of the shower!
All of this extra primping in conjunction with our oversleeping made us very late for school. We frantically grabbed back packs, keys, purses, lunches and sprinted toward the minivan. We were about halfway to school when Daughter 2 piped up in an extra-sweet voice. "Momma?" she barely whispered, "Ummm...I forgot something at home."
"Suck it up, Buttercup!" I chimed in my best frazzled momma voice. "Whatever it is, you don't need it."
"But, Momma..." she started.
I removed my hand from the 2:00 position on the steering wheel and threw it toward the back seat in a talk-to-the-hand manuever. "Don't wanna hear it!" I said as we raced toward school all the while I was making a mental list of things I would need to do in the two extra minutes I may or may not have before my students burst through my classroom door.
And then, in the back seat I heard a tiny little whimper. And then a sniffle. And then a hiccup'd breath.
And then... I heard the full-blown sob.
"Look!" I said to my forgetful daughter, "Whatever it is, you'll just need to explain to your teacher that you forgot it and take the consequences. Everyone forgets things from time to time; you'll just need to have a better memory tomorrow!"
This only increased the volume of the bawling.
"Momma!" Daughter 1 intervened with a very uncharacteristically sympathetic plea, "Can't we just go home and get them?"
Completely baffled by my even-keeled Daughter 2 getting so emotionally distraught over forgotten things (wait -- did Daughter 1 just say "them?) and perplexed by Daughter 1's commiseration, I finally questioned, "What did you even forget, Honey."
 |
| No Shoes, No school |
Uh-huh... She sat in the back seat with her pink linen top and black leggings and completely bare feet.
If it hadn't been picture day and if their hair hadn't looked so darned cute, I wouldn't just let us all stay home and shoeless all day long!
