Monday, March 2, 2009

So, if we both have ADHD then who the heck is supposed to keep track of...wait...what were we talking about?

(eta: I've tried to fix the font of this post several times but apparently blogger hates me this morning. My apologies)

My son's school had a book-a-thon...er....read-a-thon? One of those thing...a-thons..where you try and get people to sponsor you for every hour you read. Well about a week and a half ago, the folder went missing. I figured I'd just misplaced it because that's what I do. So I've been looking for it off and on for about a week without any luck. This morning I tried looking for it again since it's due TOMORROW! With no such luck again. When I mentioned to my son that I was looking for it he said "oh I already turned that in" wait...what? So basically since I just assumed that I lost the folder, I didn't even ask him if he knew where it was. Sweet.

So here was the plan. Since I bring him to school in the morning I was going to have him go into his classroom, grab it out of his desk all smooth like and hand it off to me. Piece of cake right? Did I mention that we both have ADHD?

Here's how it really went.

We leave the house right on time, like right on time if you don't want any extra time to get to school because
a.) he kept getting distracted by the tv while trying to put his snowpants on.
Yes, I know I should've turned the tv off but then my younger son would've had a meltdown once he realized that I was leaving the house without him.
b.) I went downstairs for my keys and came back upstairs with my glasses and a hat so I ahm...had to go back downstairs for the keys.

So we finally get outside and I see that my husband who is so sweet and incredibly thoughtful has washed my car. It's so shiny and pretty and...oh yeah...school. So we go to get into the car and the doors are frozen shut. I'm eventually able to get the driver's side door open so I have him climb through. He thinks it's fantastic...I think that my butt is going to be wet and cold from him stepping on my seat with snowy boots.

We get to school and get him out of his boots, coat and snowpants and into his tennis shoes. I watch all of the kids with organized parents walk into the classroom and place their homework folders and book(read?)-a-thon envelopes on the shelf. I remind him of his mission. "Go into the classroom all stealth like, grab the envelope out of your desk and bring it back to me."
"Okay mama" he says with a sideways glance and a little nod of his head like "no problem. I've got this." Partners in crime that's what we are...me and mister T.

I quietly stand in the doorway to watch. My partner in crime walks up to his desk...yep things are going good...then he glances into his desk sees his friend and starts talking to him. Oh no! I'm losing him! Then he sees that the teacher is making hats of some sort out of paper and heads over to her. NOOOOO!!! The mission!!!! Don't abandon the mission!

"Did you look?" I ask him
"I didn't have time" He says

wait...what?

So the teacher asks if she can help me. Doh! I've been spotted.
"I ahm...well...he uh...said he turned his read (book?) a thon folder in already."
"oh yeah he turned that in about a week and a half ago."

awesome.

So I asked him to check his desk again and she goes "you might want to check his desk"
ahhh...I instantly knew what she meant.

I went over to his desk and immediately flashed back to 2nd grade, watching the other kids with clean desks eating smarties candies left by the desk fairy while I stared into my messy desk feeling ripped off.

Oh yeah, this is my son alright.

The kid's desk was packed. I'm talking filled with paper. I don't know how he can fit anything in it. I knew that's exactly why she said I should probably look. That's why he glanced into his desk for a second. He saw the black abyss of worksheets that is the inside of his desk and got overwhelmed. I dug around for a while, found the envelope, gave him a hug and a kiss and slinked out the door.

I drove home thanking my lucky stars that he's as smart as he is. He's a damn smart kid....but I'm pretty sure his teacher still thinks I'm a moron.






6 comments:

  1. You crack me up Jess! Did I ever tell you about the PTA packet I never received last year and I was CERTAIN that it was a conspiracy because I wasn't good enough to join the PTA? Only to find it mid-June in a heap of papers that Dominick shoved in his desk at home. Turns out the PTA really did want me to join or atleast they really did want my money. lol!

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  2. How I wish I was a fly on the wall to see that!

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  3. lol Heidi that totally sounds like something that would happen to me. I forgot to mention that we didn't even get the packet to the book-a-thon thing until a week later because mister T didn't bring it home! I kept reading about how the "book-a-thon was well on it's way" and I was like uh oh...did we get info on this?

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  4. haha Alaina! That probably would've been funny to see. The deer in headlights look on my face when the teacher spotted me. Sometimes I feel like I'm pretending to be a grownup...and everyone knows :oP

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  5. Thanks for the story. I love the part about pretending to be a grownup. Sometimes I think that kids are so hard to handle when they're teenagers because they finally realize that adults DO NOT know everything! (or anything) They see the weakness, and exploit it. They punish us for making them think that we were supreme, all-knowing beings, torturing us slowly . . . until BAM! They ARE us! Ha Ha Ha! The cruel irony of the circle of life!

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  6. I think you're on to something Sandi! I must admit though, as a teenager I thought I knew a lot more than I did. I guess it's one of those, the more you know the more you realize that you don't know much types of things. My oldest son is six going on sixteen. I swear with the attitude he has some days I'm terrified for his teenage years!

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