Real School, Day 2

So with less apprehension today, we entered into day 2.

And in an unlikely turn of events it was "raining" this am. meaning there was something between a fog and a light drizzle happening on the way to school. And also meant that kids weren't meeting on the playground.

We discovered, or rather, i asked and they realized, that the other kids drop off their backpacks on the hooks outside (yes. that is outside. as in outdoors, since the classrooms open to outside not to an inner hallway. We don't have winter here, remember?)  their classrooms before they go to the playground. And we realized today that kids go straight to their rooms when it's raining.

Joey's been talking to a boy in his class and although he doesn't know his name, he's been sitting near a boy, talking about boy things, I consider that making friends in boy-world.

Sonia's been studying the other kids. She says the kid who sits next to her is named "Saul" but pronounced "S -owu-l" like Raul ( with the little upward accent over the last u), There is also a Phillip. I asked if she could maybe be friends with the girls rather than the boys.. we'll see.

Kayla is just Kayla. Everything is "great" or "awesome" or some other superlative.Her teacher asked me if she had a twin at pickup today, so I'm guessing Kayla's been sharing in class. What she's sharing I'm not 100% sure of.

And today I met with the Brownie (girl scout) leader which I'm now a co-leader to. They needed a leader and co-leader to have a troup and I thought fondly (or that pesky nostalgia i have) for my days as a girl scout and said I'm not up for the challenge of leading a group myself but could certainly be there and co-lead. In fact I think the meeting will be over before the parking lot traffic jam clear out afterschool anyway.

So.. as I'm trying to find the correct mom I'm supposed to meet at the planter in front of the school... I find myself seeing all sorts of mom waiting to meet other people they don't know what they look like and I see a group of moms. I recognize my (PTA president) neighbor and guess it's a PTA gathering.

And after I meet up with the girl scout leader mom in conversation of waiting for the other mom who said she'd volunteer to help but who's daughter told the leader that she's not doing girl scouts this year afterall.. anyway. She didn't show up.

But the Girl Scout mom says "oh, those are PTA supermoms"

huh?

and the tone of voice and the rest of the sentence I wasn't paying enough attention to catch exactly what was said led me to realize..

OHhhh.. this is just like highschool.

Those are the popular cheerleader girls. (well, in theory. In my high school I can't say being a cheerleader made you popular or anything close to popular. But this is California and I believe all those TV shows and movies with popular cheerleaders were in California.)

We're the nerdy girls here with the girlscout troop.

Right.

So I mull that over through the day and decide maybe they're just the sorority sisters of elementary school. And of course PTA president lady is tall, insanely skinny, tanned from sitting on her yacht (which parks behind their house) and blonde straight from the salon. She's a real life walking Barbie. No. not jealous. not of that. their Porche, on the other hand...but anyway...


They were having PTA membership drive at the pick up time today. So.. for $10 I joined. And I'll see for myself what the fuss is about. If there is a fuss. For 1 Wed Am a month, I think I can handle the time commitment. And since I'm not the one trying to teach my kids right now, I feel like I'm rich in time. And I never joined a sorority before. This might be something to blog about.

But in reality, I don't feel rich in time. In fact the past 2 days I've been more stressed about time than before. Mostly because 3 times a day I have to be somewhere at an exact time. (drop off, Kindergarten pick up and grade school pick up). Add to that the stress of soccer and Awana and I'm 1 week into burnout.

And to speed burn out along, I semi-volunteered to be soccer team mom for Sonia and Joey's team. In truth they didn't have any other volunteers and well after the fact I said I could do it if no one else would. I guess that's the way it works the one with the most guilt the fastest becomes team mom.  I learned, tho. And I waited for another mom to do it for Kayla's team. Messing it up for 1 team is more than enough.

Anyway.. at 1pm I got a call from the coach asking if I was willing to be the team mom, I said sure, and he asked if I could tell everyone we had practice that night at 5;30

OK. first of all.. when we signed up our practices were supposed to be Tues/Thurs. Today's Wed.
Second of all, we have Awana at 6:30 and it's 30 min away from the soccer field, Unless you can somehow teleport my kids and feed them at the same time, this is a problem.
Third of all.. ok. what are the phone numbers of the families?

He'll email them to me.

2pm rolls around. I don't have an email. I call him at work and he says he sent it. I Check. nothing there and wait while he re-sends it while I'm on the phone.
Finally I have it in hand and get it printed. I figure I'll work on it while sitting in the parking lot at school waiting for the kids.

Cept JM brings a harmonica with him in the car. Oh, yeah, and he's playing it.

So I get call #1 done. The phone number is for the dad's work number. I ask "uh, is the parent of Ashley Smith (ok changed to protect the innocent) there?" and I get the flurry on the other end of the line and hear "Major Smith here" and think. oh, great. I think this is a bad bad thing. WHY am I calling the fathers at work? Don't these kids have mothers with phone numbers?" Apologize for the calling at work, explain they have practice and the coach needs to collect the $20 for shirts and banners and get asked "what team is this?"
-uh... coach Julio, the kids named the team the blackhawk lightening team.
"what age is this team?
(sheesh.. I didn't expect to have to answer this kind of question!)
-well, sir, I think it's the 6-8 year team. My kids are 7 on it.
"well, my daughter's only 5 I don't think you have the right team"
-I'm sorry for the confusion, It looks like she was at practice last week, she has the number 2 jersey. (and I have her birthday in front of me and she turned 6 on friday. But you're her dad, you probably forgot.)
And them I'm told  "well, wednesdays are not going to work for us"
(well.. ya know it doesn't really work for us, either, but that decision isn't mine to make.)
-uh, yes, sir, I understand, it's not ideal for us either, shall I let the coach know Ashley won't make Wed Practices and we'll see her friday?"
"well, I guess so"
-thank you, we'll see you then. (hang up and wonder if I needed to remind him to bring $20.

And after that call, i realized it wasn't going to be a 30 second "hey, practice is tonight, bring $20) call.

Although for the most part I talked to voicemails and answering machines.

Of the 23 phone numbers I was given, 2 went to voice mails that in no way resembled the names on the list, like Allen Smith's voicemail  answered the phone for some named Juan Martinez. At least half were work numbers that went straight to voice mail and the rest I left messages on what ever voicemail I got, hoping it was the right one. Half the kids showed up, So I guess some of the numbers were right. And if you account for the father I talked to (work number again) who said he didn't think his son was on a soccer team, that he was called by a football coach last week, the above Major who said Wednesdays don't work for him, the father (work # again) who said his son was already at home and he didn't think they'd bring him back for soccer, (not sure where the boy goes between school and soccer on a soccer night, but we go home in our family...) and the mom who called me back to explain that it's the last weekend of Motorcross (???) and they would be able to start the soccer season next week it looks like only a few may not have gotten the message. And since no non-team kids showed up ( I assume there were still 5 other teams practicing there) I guess I may not have inadvertently invited too many kids to our soccer practice.

And tomorrow it starts again.

*yawn*