Field trip

I went to first grade today. With a bird and a 2 year old. Don't you wish you were me?
Damien is MVP in his class this week, which means he gets to do all the special stuff like take the roll call to the office and pass out paper.
It also means that he gets to bring his family in on Wednesday and share some of his toys. Patrick was right in the middle of replacing some plumbing so even if he could take a break, ewwwww, shower! So it was just me, the girls, my 12 year old brother Noah, and Jack Jack, the bird.
Damien's teacher is the nicest woman I have met in my entire life. She never gets even slightly ruffled, and seems to see the best qualities in everyone. I wish she could be his teacher for the next 10 years or so.

When we first got to the school, the older kids were out on the playground, so we were bombarded by Emily's friends. 4th grade girls are just dying for attention, they are out there every day, fighting it out, who knows more, who knows who, who's going to talk the most and the loudest...........

Friend 1: "are you Emily's mom?"

Friend 2: "HI BRANDI"

Friend 1: "I'm Emily's best friend, I'm moving back to Kansas, I'm glad I got to FINALLY meet you before I left"

Emily: would you like to see my bird?

Noah: "it's not your bird Emily, it's DAMIEN'S"

Friend 2: "I already know the bird cause I've been to Emily's house"

And I'm busy rolling my eyes and checking over my shoulder for the entire herd of children to notice the people with the birdcage and come stampeding over. So I usher Cali away from the playground, and Emily from her adoring peeps, and finally make it to Damien's class.

We all sat at the front of the class while Damien introduced us and answered a series of questions like he was a total celebrity.

I learned a lot. Apparently all they care about are his favorites.

Favorite color: red and black
Favorite number: 9
Favorite movie: Wall-E
Favorite second movie: Monsters vs Aliens
Favorite Legos: star wars

and on and on.

Caliana ran around the room "reading books", sitting at people's desks, trying to do their math worksheets and basically making a nuisance of herself. Damien's teacher thought she was brilliant and adorable, so I didn't feel too bad.

Towards the end, everyone in the class had to say something they like about Damien. 1st graders are terribly unimaginative when put on the spot and every one of them like Damien for being either "nice" or "funny", except one girl who likes him for being "kind, sweet and bringing respect to the classroom" She obviously just made all that up. And one girl who likes him for letting her chase him at recess. Now that I believe.

The teacher pointed out 3 different girls in the class that adore Damien and will do anything, ANYTHING to get him to pay attention to them. While at 7 years old I think that is terribly cute, I also know that Damien is power hungry and sometimes callously indifferent, and he will be breaking hearts someday.






It was fun to leave my desk for a little while and pretend I was a stay at home mom who gets to visit my children's classroom and help out. I do make time for the important things, conferences, Back to school night, "special" meetings with the principal, but the fact is, there are 5 weeks of school left and this classroom of 7 year olds that my son spends every day with, are virtual strangers to me. I haven't chaperoned their field trips or brought in cupcakes on Valentines Day or read to the classroom, and I know there are parents that do.

So thank you to those parents for taking the time to aid my child in their education. If your kid has purple crayon scribbles on their math paper, that was my probably my child. Just trying to give back a little.