Wednesday 21 September 2011

Meet the teacher

Deaglan's teachers are like an old married couple.

You know how there's always the husband who doesn't say much, sort of nods, smiles, shifts uncomfortably? And the wife who apologetically makes up for the husband's one word answers by offering beautiful flowing sentences full of information, even if you didn't ask?

Or is that just me and Shaune?

At Meet the Teacher Night a few hours ago, the gushing lovely wife told me that our son was sweet, agreeable and the youngest one in their class. (He was born Christmas Eve) He gets tired in the afternoons she said, picks an activity that requires low energy. Today he built a birdhouse with blocks.

Then she explained with great detail how they'd constructed the reading cubby, how she had remnants leftover from when they got new carpet last year, but then a few months ago at Dollarama, the one on Wellington, she noticed that they had peel-and-stick carpet tiles, so she replaced them with those, but did I notice how the edges were coming undone?

And the reserved brief husband-ish one, well, she smiled and nodded, stood close to an exit.

Naveen plowed through the room tiny-tornado-like, stopping to throw down yogurt containers full of crayons,  empty out baskets of doo-dads, rip pictures the kids had drawn off the walls when he could reach them.

And I was overdressed and sweating, still in my work clothes, a scarf accessorizing my dress; carrying my oversized bag, Deaglan's backpack, the kid's jackets and a family pack of pre-ordered Swiss Chalet meals that none of us had had time to eat.

Shaune just walked in a minute ago and asked hopefully if it had gone okay even without him. He works late a few nights a week and had forgotten to book the night off for Meet the Teacher.

I'd get all chatty and wife-ish but I'm beat.

I'm not going to bother explaining to him that while we were in the lunch room with all the other families, me overdressed and melting, opening our dinners, Naveen was running around all wild, grabbing what he could from other families' dinner tables, dipping his grubby (yet adorable) little fingers into their Chalet sauces within his reach.

I don't have it in me to tell him how after we'd waited in line almost twenty minutes to get our pre-ordered Swiss Chalet, found a seat, and were just about ready to eat, Deaglan suddenly had to pee.  And then when we finally made our way back from the other end of the school, having left my purse, the food, and even my scarf with  a room full of strangers, after I'd set out each kid's food, Deaglan announced quite proudly that now he had to poop!

I won't explain to him that I'd been operating all day from the strong belief  it was Thursday.

13 comments:

  1. That first paragraph described my husband and I perfectly. You should be very proud of yourself for going to that function without your husband! I've been in single-parent mode for almost 3 weeks (my husband was in the hospital for 10 days, had surgery and is now recovering) so I completely get where you're coming from!
    And what a wonderful Christmas present!!

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  2. Oh Kim, wow. Good for you for making it through today. And even blogging, lol! Get some rest today. It IS almost Friday.

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  3. Oh my goodness, I think I could actually feel your sweat coming through your words. This was wonderfully written. Our little toddler is a tornado, too - I feel your pain.

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  4. Oh no! You've so excellently captured yet another frazzled moment of motherhood.

    Pierce has two teachers too, and woo-boy, one of them is really a talker.

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  5. I've had too many moments like that, especially since my husband travels and works late. Luckily it's only been with one child. You've earned yet another notch on your mommy belt!

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  6. What a day Kim, what a day!!

    My hubby is a man of few to no words too:)

    Happy Friday!!

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  7. Kim-it's not Friday, is it?

    Should I be worried about the state of my brain, I wonder? ;)

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  8. Watch out for those cute little tornadoes!! I'm glad that you survived. And that's really what it is all about when you have to play a role and try to be dignified with little ones. It's nearly impossible. I bet everyone had the biggest smile seeing Naveen walk around. Who wouldn't smile seeing your handsome guys????

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  9. Kudos for juggling two active boys at a school function. I would have had a meltdown. What are Swiss Chalet dinners and where can I buy them because now I have a craving for them.

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  10. How do you juggle it all? I think I would have had a serious meltdown. And I would have taken it out on my husband!

    Maya has to go potty every single time we sit down to eat at a restaurant. She often has to go twice. I am convinced she does it to irritate the living daylights out of me. I am convinced!

    Now why haven't I heard of Swiss Chalet before?

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  11. I always had to go to that stuff myself, but when my hubs went he was checked out anyhow so it didn't matter. Bless your heart for dealing with all that chaos!

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  12. Oh Lord - my 3 year old would have been right there tag-teaming with Naveen and I would have been somewhere sweating trying to hold myself together and keep my blood pressure down. Even when the Canadian comes along, he is often very little help! These days are long and tedious, but fleeting my friend. :)

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  13. You're my hero. I love how you look at your challenges and still see humor. I need some of that...I need to learn from you; to roll with the punches and then laugh at the insanity of it all! :)

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