September 20th - The AWOL kid

In a practically euphoric state today, no idea why. Well, SOME idea why. It's the first week of school so everything's still got that "First Week Glow"; the kids are good, they still listen & care (for the most part), the teachers show no signs of burnout, and my room is divinely clean, organized, and beautiful. I need to bring a camera in here, seriously. Oh, yes I'm at school. And blogging. I'm a bad girl, what can I say? I'm actually quite caught up with my usual rush of "holy crap I have to finish this now" stuff.

I have to tune my autoharp so I can take it to my Thursday school tomorrow & play happy folk-songy ditties with the Kindergartners. I have to get 4 copies of my schedule to my principal. And...um, run copies for chorus preview next week, and then we're pretty good. Oh, and update my plans. Oh, and make a sub packet for the mystery sub. That's pretty much it. Of course I'll find more in 10 minutes, give me time.

The PTA made a fabulous breakfast for the faculty this morning, and it's all sitting in the work room across the hall...calling me. Yeah, we're off the GD wagon this morning. I'm having a barely- there-carb lunch, though. Planned it that way. God bless mommies who know how to make banana bread and cinnamon rolls and some kind of eggy sausagey wonder-food with swiss cheese on top.

Let's see, what's been going on? Well, yesterday I had one go AWOL because he missed his mommy. Seriously, a 9 YEAR-OLD. That may not sound very old to you but in Elementary terms he's practically grown up. He was freaking out all day the day before because Mommy might not pick him up after school. And the next day (yesterday) it was raining, and what if she didn't pick him up because...it was raining? Anyway, he spent the morning at the nurse, and when he was delivered to me for music w/ his class, I was told "Do. Not. Let. Mathew. Go. To. The. Nurse." 20 minutes later, he's still quietly sobbing in the back of the room, and asks if he can go to the bathroom. I figure he's got to go compose himself, wipe away the tears, get rid of the red-eye, and I say sure, but hurry back. Not 2 minutes later his teacher delivers a hysterically crying Mathew to me, quite disgruntled that I let him get out. Apparently the darling ran down to the office and demanded to call his mommy, and to go home. Lovely.
Well there's the whole hullabaloo, and it turns out that Mathew ALSO ran out of the school yesterday, shortly after being dropped of, straight through the line of cars and the insane traffic out there, to try to run away home. His teacher had to leave her other 19 kids unattended and drag him back through the traffic into the building.
Yeah, and TELLING me that the boy has an overdeveloped fight-or-FLIGHT instinct MIGHT have been helpful when dropping him off, no? Instead of "no nurse" how about "the kid will run like the Fugitive, don't let him out of your sight or near any open doors"? The principal was slightly put-out, but when I explained that NO ONE told me NOTHIN', she got this "I'm being Punked, aren't I?" look on her face and went away. 10 minutes later we had a memo to the faculty explaining dear little Mathew and his magic disappearing act. So now at least people know. Who, in their right minds, wouldn't share this information with a fellow teacher?

Sure, she'll sarcastically tell me which one's "a biter", but she won't tell me that.

Well, time for me to go pretend really need more tea and grab a second plateful.

On the upside, 2 PTA moms told me how thin my face was looking. The rest of me, they don't comment on, I notice. :-) Actually, that makes me quite happy. Maybe this whole baby-weight thing is a battle of the bulge I'll finally win. Not TODAY, obviously...