School Scurries

If some evil mastermind had plotted to assassinate me last week by creating a variety of situations that would cause such huge adrenaline-spikes to my anxious-mama self that the adrenaline overdose would take me out.... they would have made a fine effort with the stuff that got thrown at me this past week - a fine effort. Fortunately, we are made of stronger stuff than that, worries and all.

All of this occurred during the last handful of staff development and teacher work days leading to the first day of classes (for my husband, myself and the Girl) on Monday.

My allergy mama stress of Monday continued Friday when I called the school nurse from work to see if the faxed paperwork had arrived from the allergist and was told that it had and she just had a few more pages that I now needed to sign and get back to her. Fortunately, my sister, who was taking the Girl to the doctor (a different doctor for a different medical issue which is still far from resolved) for me, stopped by the high school for me so the Girl could pick up those forms which she will return to the nurse when she arrives at school on Monday morning.

There is also the small issue of the loose sway bar links on the car.

There is also the looming issue of my husband having lost his temporary crown and being in some pain and finding little bits of tooth to pick out of his disintegrating tooth while he awaits his emergency appointment on Wednesday afternoon.  And we don't know how we are going to pay for that.

The biggie, though, was the Lone Star Baby's school.  

Since the LSB has been attending her lovely little Spanish-immersion Montessori school on a scholarship, we put her on the waiting list for a couple of other schools last spring in case the scholarship did not continue.  When we were told it would continue, we gave up the slots she was offered both at her old lovely dual-immersion Montessori charter school and at Metro-E, the newish public magnet school in town that is supposed to be all lovely and artsy and project-based.  During the summer, after giving up the slot, I heard that her old school, CCMS,  was beefing back up its Spanish program for this year (very important to us)  and, when the LSB's school started talking this month about possibly changing early and after-care hours as they figure out how to make the finances work, I started to realize that I probably should have taken the slot at CCMS.  Teaching jobs don't really allow flexibility in when you drop off and pick up your kid, after all - we just don't have the resources to experiment there.  I put her back on the waiting list, just in case, but everything seemed to be working out fine at her school.

On Thursday, Lone Star Pa picked the LSB up from after-school care in the evening and was handed a notice from the after-school care teacher:  the school was closing, effective that moment, licensing issues with the preschoolers and the hours they were open.

Can you say panic?

Both Lone Star Pa and I were supposed to be at work on Friday and classes start Monday!   We needed to get her enrolled in a school, some school, along with an after-school care program, for Monday ...stat!  I let my new principal know that I wouldn't be in Friday morning (wince - who wants to start out like that?) and we frantically gathered all the documents - birth certficate, immunization records, proof of residence, etc. - that we would need to get the LSB registered.  Then, we took the girls out to dinner just to be comforting.  

On Friday morning, we got up and got dressed and I headed over to CCMS first, making sure we'd be there before anyone else was.  I didn't think they'd have miraculously come up with a slot for the LSB, but I had to try.  If that didn't work, I was going to head for Metro and see if they still had our slot, but I didn't really think that would work either.  I fully believed that we would probably end up with her registered for our neighborhood school by 10am.  There is nothing in the least wrong with our neighborhood school except for the testing pressure that makes almost all traditional public elementary schools heavily over-emphasize math and reading.  The LSB, however, already knows every scrap of third grade reading and math that they will test her on in the third grade so I really did not want her to have to spend the year practicing it endlessly and pointlessly (for her) with no Spanish and very little social studies, science, art or music.  If that was what we had to do, it would be what we had to do, though.  I'm sure she would find something to occupy her mind - and hopefully something legal.  Could even be good for the little stress-pot, really.  Deep breaths.

We got so lucky.

CCMS had just had two slots open up.  They let her in!  They said she probably won't be in the dual-language room, which is full, but can be moved there later when there is an opening.  It might not be until next year, but that's a whole heaping lot better than nothing!  They were so nice!  The Lone Star Baby was so happy to see her friends and the familiar surroundings from first grade.  It is the best possible outcome, given the situation.

I got her registered for early and after-care, too, and the commute will be ever so much better than the one we had.  I dropped her off with her sister and got back to work by 9:30!  

We are all fine and we are ready for Monday!