Freaky Friday

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems like nothing is going right and everything just seems really off? Today was one of those days for the Skinners.

As I've mentioned, we pulled Samantha and Jack from daycare for the summer and my niece Tara has been acting as their nanny/babysitter. When I told Samantha's teacher at daycare that she would be leaving for the summer, she told me "Well I really hope you'll let her come back for graduation." I assured her that I would and, being a good mom, put the date on our calendar.

Earlier in the week I realized that I didn't know the time for graduation which was scheduled for today (5/29) so I called the daycare, spoke to the Director and she gave me the time (6pm). I told her the Skinners would be there.

I dressed Bear and Jack in nice clothes and put on a skirt. We met Ned at the daycare. I dropped Samantha off with her old teachers and went to sit down for the program. Here's where it starts to get weird.

1. All of the other kids are wearing these red t-shirts that say something about graduation 2009. Bear is not wearing one of these shirts. In daycare's defense, when I called earlier in the week to get the time, the Director told me (when I asked about attire) that the preschoolers (i.e., kids who would be entering kindergarten next year -- not Bear since she doesn't turn 5 until November) would be wearing red t-shirts. I notice at some point in the program that the back of the T-shirts have handprints on them with kids' names below them. "Samantha" is not one of the names on the back.

2. The program has the names of the graduates listed. Bear's name is not among them.

3. Five minutes before "graduation" is scheduled to begin, Samantha's former head teacher comes out to me and Ned and says "We screwed up. We don't have a diploma for Samantha." Ned and I assure her that we are ok with that. She says we do have a t-shirt for her. At this point I don't know that the t-shirts have the names and handprints (excluding Bear) on the back.

4. The "graduates" march in to begin the program. Eight kids in red t-shirts and Bear (in pink and green) bringing up the rear.

5. They sit Bear down on the front row and then the other eight "graduates" stand up on the stage and say the pledge of allegiance. [I'm now starting to get a little bothered that my daughter is being left out.]

6. They sing a song and bring Bear up for that.

7. They hand out diplomas; no diploma (or any recognition at all) for Bear.

8. Then starts a slideshow with pictures of the "graduates." No pictures of Bear.

9. Last song. They bring Bear up with the "graduates" for that.

Ned and I are giving each other puzzled/perturbed looks the whole time all this is going on. They invite us to a party/reception afterwards but we beg off with other plans. We leave. Samantha wants me to get her t-shirt that apparently someone has promised her. I tell her we'll get it later but I'm thinking "Yeah, right. I'm going to go track down a shirt for you that has the names and handprints of eight other kids on it but not yours. Sure thing."

The minute we pull out of the parking lot, I call Ned on the cell phone and we have the following exchange:

"WHY THE HELL DID HER TEACHER ASK US TO COME BACK FOR THIS GRADUATION???? IT WAS CLEAR THAT THE CEREMONY WAS FOR RISING KINDERGARTENERS. DO THEY THINK WE HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO ON A FRIDAY NIGHT THAN COME TO SOME LAME CEREMONY WHERE OUR DAUGHTER IS PRETTY MUCH EXCLUDED??? I MEAN I KNOW OUR LIVES AREN'T THAT EXCITING BUT WE HAVE MORE GOING ON THAN TRYING TO CRASH A PRESCHOOL GRADUATION"

I was basically the one shouting because Samantha was in Ned's car and we have to be careful what we say around her. After scratching our heads, all we can figure out is that Samantha's teacher got ahead of herself (it's her first year as a teacher at the daycare) and, once she figured out Bear wasn't supposed to be a part of it, never corrected her mistake. But she should have known, if I tell her that I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it.

The rest of the night wasn't any better. I bring a belated birthday gift to one of the "graduates" and when I'm talking to the mom about her kid being out of daycare for the summer it becomes clear that she and her husband have split up and I walk right into that quagmire. AWKWARD.

Dinner at Famous Anthony's. STRESSFUL. Jack was all over the place-- wouldn't sit still. Bear was sloppy and loud. It was probably the last time we will eat out as a family for about a year. It was that bad.

I was going to scan Bear's graduation program for you all to see but wait. Her name is not in it.

I was going to post pics of Bear's graduation but wait. Bear didn't get to graduate. Basically she just looked like some poor little wannabe.

You get the drift. You can tell that I'm upset. On a brighter note, Bear handled the whole thing like a champ. She was very classy and never acted jealous or upset.

Speaking of daycare/preschool nightmares, Ned and I got sucked into this movie/documentary on Showtime last week called "Nursery University." It's about the competitive/cutthroat/crazy process of getting your kid into preschool in Manhattan. It's a true story and it's crazier than getting your kids into college. Seriously. There is this one part where a little girl (probably two years old) is on her "interview" and the preschool director is working a puzzle with her. The kid can't get the puzzle piece in the right place and her parents are stressed and trying to gently help her without touching her. You can tell how stressed they were. Heck, Ned and I got stressed watching it. Check out the trailer.

http://www.nurseryuniversitythemovie.com/trailer.html

It makes the whole preschool waitlist dynamic that is Blacksburg seem like a cakewalk. But, in very good news and somewhat ironic considering the subject matter of the rest of this post, both Bear and Jack were accepted into the new preschool on the VT campus that will be opening this fall. It's accredited and everything. We are pretty excited.

Love,
Allie