I started this post a few weeks ago but just finally had time to finish it...
Last Thursday was Kindergarten Round-Up for Hudson. I am super excited about having all school aged kiddos; but there is still something that just pulls at my heartstrings when I think about my “baby” starting school in a few months. It’s such a huge hurdle and something that we have been looking forward to for a long time!
The few days leading up to it I felt completely confident about everything – not like that nervous new mom feeling I had when taking Nolan. I had pulled out all of Hud’s paperwork (birth certificate, SS card, etc) and put it all in my purse days ahead of time. On Thursday all I had to do was print out a copy of Hudson’s most current shot record and add it to the stack of documents and then we were all set for registration! When I went home to pick-up the boys, Hudson was asleep on the couch. Mom said that he had crashed in the car after school so she just let him sleep knowing it was going to be a late night. (We also had my Grandma’s 77th birthday party after round-up and the boys were spending the night at MiMi’s.) I woke Hudson up which can always go one of two ways – I was just hoping for the best! Let’s just say “the best” is not exactly what we woke up to! He was grouchy and whiny and not about going AT ALL! I had to pull him off of the couch – force him to let me fix his hair and drag him to the car. I was hoping for a change of attitude once we were settled in the car and even let him pick out the music to help pep him up.
I thought we were back on track until we pulled up in the parking lot. He started crying and saying that his legs hurt and he was too tired to walk into the school. He was begging me to carry him which was not going to happen! I tried to stay calm and explain that I cannot CARRY a big Kindergartner into school! He screamed the whole way up the walk, hanging onto my legs with every step. Lovely. Once inside, we immediately saw Mrs. Maurer. She was Nolan’s kindergarten teacher and absolutely who I hope that Hudson gets! She walked right over and said hi to us and asked Hudson if he wanted to come with her and take a tour of her room. He pulled his head away from my leg long enough to say “No thanks – I’ve seen it!” and then buried it right back into my thigh. Awesome. I was mortified and of course started making excuses and explaining that he fell asleep in the car but the damage was already rolling. Then it was my turn in line at the big registration table. They asked for all of the requested documents so that they could make copies and then handed me an envelope full of paperwork that I would need to sit and fill out. I went to pull out my nice organized stack of documents from my purse only to realize that I had left the whole stack on my desk at work!! I was humiliated because who walks in to sign-up their kid and has nothing? Hello? Me, apparently. I explained that I must have left all of it at work and they said it was okay and that I could bring it back up there later. Then I had to explain that we had just recently moved so I also needed to fill out transfer paperwork while I was there for my older son as well as this kindergartner. This just completely through the ladies for a loop. She had to get up and go ask a different lady in the office what I should do since I didn’t have proof of residency with me. (Did I mention that there is a line out the door at this point and a big brat still attached to my leg – oh and Nolan was running around like a maniac through the cafeteria with a friend!) I seriously didn’t even claim him at that moment because one more strike against me as “one of those moms” was just more than I could handle! She came back after about five minutes (felt like two hours) and said they would go ahead and get a copy of my license and I could fill out the registration paperwork but that I would need to come back with the rest of the documents before they could give me the transfer papers for both students. I had not even thought about it until that very moment but my license had expired last month on my birthday so I had just renewed it with my mom’s Fort Worth address. Suddenly I had a flood of panicky thoughts over this… I was planning to give them Scott’s proof of residency (electric bill) that obviously doesn’t match my new Fort Worth addressed driver’s license. I didn’t know if it would even matter but what if they asked who was the primary parent and then what if because I am listed as the primary and I have a Ft. Worth address they tell me it’s considered out of district transfer? (Which is thousands of dollars instead of hundreds and would not be happening!) I freaked and I am sure I suddenly looked really shady because I had no documents and was now debating on if I should pull out my DL so she could make a copy. I didn’t really know what else to do so I just went ahead and got it out and handed it to the lady hoping she wouldn’t notice.
I made my way to a table and sat down to start filling out the large stack of paperwork. Right off the bat it asked for address information which of course I don’t know and never wrote it down because I had planned to just get it off of the electric bill. I had to nonchalantly call Scott to ask for it. As I was trying to quietly ask and write it down when the lady walked over with the copy of my driver license. I jumped about a mile when she touched me on the shoulder to hand it to me – BUSTED. I finished up my phone call, gave a couple of finger snaps and stern looks at Nolan (hoping to gain control without identifying myself as his mother) and then continued with the paperwork. Hudson began to "come out of his shell" about page 3 of 10 – not a good thing. He started flirting with the little girl across the table and then got down and it was all over - the shy scared baby was gone and full force Hudson was up and at em! Once I had everything filled out we had to go stand in another line to hand over all of the paperwork to the registrar. Hudson had now joined Nolan and his friends playing chase in the cafeteria which I just allowed at this point.
When it was my turn at her desk she started looking over the files and instantly questioned my Fort Worth address on my license. Ugh. She first asked if that was my old address, I said no – it’s actually my new address. She looked puzzled and said "Well I thought you said you just moved to this address (pointing to Scott’s address on the forms)?" I quietly explained that my husband and I had just divorced and that was his new address and it is the permanent address that should be used for the boys because mine is temporary since we just sold our house. (BTW - it still completely embarrasses me to admit that I am divorced. I know there shouldn’t be any shame but for whatever reason I hate saying it!) She said “Oh okay; so you are DIVORCED and living in two places.” (I felt like she was talking through a bullhorn and announcing it to the whole cafeteria!) I just nodded and that seemed to somehow let me off the hook. She kept all of the paperwork and smiled and told to just drop by with the documents sometime soon so I could complete the transfers. I smiled back in relief; thankful that we seemed to finally be on the same page and that it appeared my kids would for sure be going to Wood next year.
Just as I was starting to feel good about the night, I heard Nolan let out a blood-curdling scream. I whipped around to find them wrestling with each other in the middle of the stage. Hudson had Nolan in a choke hold and is obviously “winning”. Everyone stopped what they were doing to see who was screaming and what happened…including Mrs. Maurer. I just yanked both boys up and walked them both out to the hall as Nolan was still yelling at Hudson. Not my best mom moment! Just goes to show you that even when you think you know that the heck you are doing as a parent – you don’t!
