Friday, October 25, 2013

Playing Hooky

Bennett attends a Montessori school full-time. It's one of those situations where the teachers and staff treat it like a fancy preparatory academy and the parents operate like it's a daycare and disregard rules about snotty noses (I'm a primary offender) and wish they were open past rush hour and on the weekends (only sometimes). Because of this confusion, we parents are faced with quarterly parent-teacher conferences and the corresponding school closings (this is only slightly less annoying than closures for "summer vacation" and "fall break"). We send our kids (with green noses) to school 40 hours a week because we work 40 hours a week and would much prefer daily texts and notes home than wrangling back-up child care or sacrificing our precious vacation days for said parent-teacher conferences.

The inevitable happens and yet another school closure sneaks up and you and you gripe and moan. But then you don't have to wake up and shower and you can enjoy your leisurely cup of coffee while you kiss your husband goodbye and you kick up your heels. Parent-teacher days maybe, perhaps don't suck.

Bennett certainly doesn't think so. When your day begins with the discovery of Lightning McQueen stamps at the post office, it has to be an indicator of a pretty awesome day. From there, we treated ourselves to breakfast smoothies immediately followed by a lollipop at the kiddie hair salon. You would have thought I blew this little kids mind when I took him to the indoor play area at the mall. I'm not sure we will ever take this kid on a legitimate vacation when this is the kind of fun he can find by himself at the freaking mall.

I didn't think this kid even liked to dance, but apparently super-sized faucets bring it out of him.
We had a legitimate errand to run at the mall, but the kid got sidetracked by Build a Bear. The lights! The music! The stuffed my little pony on roller skates! The grown adults that program plastic hearts to contain teddy bear personalities! I knew we were a goner when he saw the play bath tub where he got to brush his new best friend's fur.
 
Not sure if he's concerned or concentrating.
But to this little kid, the supreme ultimate was the packaging. His new friend got a house! That we had to carry around the rest of the day! All future purchases had to go to the house! (We have not seen the new best friend since he can't come out of said house.) Next time, we're buying the cheapest creation there, going straight for the bathtub and departing with the house.
The spoiling only continued from there, grilled cheese and chocolate milk for lunch. A visit to the toy store for a "I'm sorry I made you get a flu shot on the best day ever" toy train. And as if mom hadn't spoiled this kid silly enough for one day, she taught him about licking batter off the beater. 

I'm going to have to negotiate for more days off because we can't wait until the next parent-teacher conference. For the record, his teachers told us he is smart, attentive and not the least bit spoiled. 

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