"Must be for a different school," I yelled down to him.
"Um, Lila is getting off of it and running back in the house..." Ryan continued.
"WHAT?!" I ran downstairs and met her in the hallway. She was all flustered (but not crying), and told me she had her bus driver, Miss April, bring her back home because I forgot to give her a check for her lunch. I rushed her back out to the waiting bus explaining that I bought 10 lunch tickets for her the other day that she bought lunch, and she didn't need a check today. Then Trudy, all worked up from the commotion, charged past her and knocked Lila over in the mud. The kind and patient Miss April handed us paper towels to clean up, but I could see Lila was about to lose it. I thanked her for bringing Lila back home, and told her I would drive her in now.
Phew! What 6 year old convinces her bus driver to turn the whole bus (full of K-4th graders) around and take her back home because she forgot her lunch?!?! Lila, that's who. I think Emma, or any other 1st grader, would have quietly cried until she got to school instead of speaking up.
When I drove her in, we had time to chat about important things a first-grader should know, like:
Sometimes your teacher can let you call your mom if it's really important.
Mommy can drive things in to school during the day, Miss April doesn't have to do it.
If you don't have a lunch to eat, the school will give you one and send a note to Mommy.
And perhaps most importantly - Mommy has it all under control, and Lila can relax and enjoy school instead of carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
School has been going well, by the way. The only other problems I've heard about are:
1. You can ONLY sit "criss cross applesauce" during circle time and it hurts Lila's legs.
2. You're not allowed to wave and say "hi" in the hallway, you can only smile. ("Mom, what if they don't notice me smiling at them?!?! Then they think I didn't want to say hi!")
