And I was proud, so very, very proud!

It was pride night at Hemenway last night. I hoped that my husband would get home in time to watch Will but no. So, I loaded the kids in the van and drove to Hemenway. I wanted to listen to music but instead listened to the kids argue the entire time about whose class we would visit first! I circled the school looking for a place to park but was forced to park at a shopping center and walk in. Jake and Lizzy played the Are You Going to Run into the Street game. Then Lizzy decided to try the Psych! I don’t need my mother to cross a busy street game.

We did make it in the building without any loss of life so the evening started well. We stopped at Lizzy’s room first. I tried to get Will interested in the toys and tried to get Jake to watch Will. Didn’t succeed at either. I tried to look at all Lizzy’s work while keeping an eye on Will. Unfortunately, Lizzy’s teacher left of list of 15 items we should do in the class and Lizzy felt very strongly that we should do all of them. So, in between visiting the Worm Hotel and writing a love note to the class; I tried to drag Jake away from the toys and drag Will to the toys.

The classroom was wall to wall people. Will hit a couple of five years olds with the rocking chair, rearranged the calendar, dumped out some books and drew in yellow marker over a welcome board. A couple of parents gave me the LOOK. Little FYI for you: the LOOK only works if the person receiving the LOOK cares. I am so over the LOOK. You can give me the LOOK all day if you want. I still won’t care. If you give me LOOK long enough, I’ll walk over and tell you he’s autistic then watch you stammer with embarrassment. However, Lizzy has a great teacher and I don’t want to wreak her classroom. I convince Lizzy we don’t need to read a book (item 14 on the list) and we leave.

I hang on to Will while watching Jake’s power point presentation on Komodo Dragons. I call my husband’s cell to see if he’s at the school yet. He is. I yell the classroom number in the phone but we get disconnected. I try again and yell it several times. It is so loud that I hope he understood. He shows up a few minutes later and rescues Will from my firm grasp on his shirt. I ran into a few friends but I’m soon ready to go. Problem --can’t find Jake! (Wow didn’t see that one coming.) I look in a few classrooms. I recruit a few of his friends to look for him. I roam the halls considering whether I should ask the principle to page him. I return to the classroom. He’s there. I ask him where he went. “I didn’t leave. I was in the classroom.”

Where, under a desk?