Oh my goodness...I have a 1st grader!

Seriously...I don't know where the time has gone. Just 6 short weeks ago my son turned 6, and has now wrapped up his first full week of 1st grade. The way our family calendar shapes up from late summer into early fall makes things seem like they're happening so fast. Tommy's birthday is at the end of July, and in our house it marks the beginning of the end. For 2 summers now, we've scheduled a family vacation for the 2nd week in August. This is great timing...kind of our last hurrah for the summer. Once we return, it's time to start thinking about going back to school.

2 years in a row, I have sent Tommy off to school before I've really had a chance to digest the idea that he is another year older. And, with my birthday coming up in a couple of weeks, I'm also thinking about how I'm another year older. (But that's another story altogether!) My mind has already strayed to thoughts of having to send BOTH kids to school next year. Trying to cast those thoughts aside for now...at least until spring.

Didn't you get the memo?

If you have any children in school, you know that school is a constant source of papers. From homework and crafts to notes from the teacher to Market Day order forms...there's ALWAYS something in my son's folder. Some evenings I get it all out and go through it. Other evenings, I'm lucky to even get the papers out of the folder. Take my being a working mother and combine it with my history of being a paper packrat, and you have yourself one big pile. Most nights, I am able to look through the papers and at least sort out which ones are important. If they're important, but not urgent, I hang them on the fridge.

Last Thursday was Parent-Teacher conference day at my son's school. Probably a week before that, there was a note sent home from the teacher about conferences. I quickly scanned the sheet, double checked that the date and time were what I thought they were supposed to be. I then added the note to the important (but not urgent) ones on the fridge. The day of the conference, when I went to pick the kids up from daycare, I ran into one of the other Kindergarten moms. She was headed in to pick up her daughter, but had her Kindergarten son with her. Being the nosey bug that I am, I asked her why he was with her and not at daycare. "Conferences" she says. "You actually took him with to the conference?" I asked. "Yes, we're supposed to." Oh phooey...how could I have missed this. Oh yes...the note...the one on the fridge that I didn't read. I quickly expressed my gratitude towards her for saving me from embarassment and hurried home to read the note. Sure enough, right there on the page..."This conference will involve student attendance and participation."

Perhaps I will actually have to start reading his notes from school if I want to avoid potential embarassment in the future.