The New School Year

We attended an open house at Bradley’s school on the Friday night before school started, and we were thrilled to see that he got Mrs. Fewins as his teacher! Then we headed over to Ella’s building and talked to her teacher, Mrs. Ingram. Ella had Mrs. Ingram in the spring so we were hoping it would be a smooth transition. I’m sitting with Mrs. Ingram and she says that school will be much more structured this year, and she’s already working on her lesson plans for the week. So she shows me the calendar, and says that Tuesday will be “red” day, and I said, “Oh, I don’t know if Ella has anything red to wear, and she says, “She can wear a ribbon on her uniform or in her hair,” and I said, “UNIFORM?!?!?!?......But she’s only 2!!!!” So of course the next day was spent at the mall searching for uniforms small enough for Ella to wear. Turns out the smallest size they come in is size 4. They are about a size too big for her, but it was the best we could do on short notice. I’m just thankful she’s a tall two, or I would have to be doing some sewing! She could stand to have some darts in her skirts, but being the non-crafty mother that I am, I sent her running down the hall and back and the skirt didn’t fall off, so I said “we’re good!”

This is out of order, but I thought I would throw it in with the school talk. So Thursday afternoon (this week) I get a call from Rick that says that Ella was in trouble at school. I’m thinking, she’s 2 ½, how can she be “in trouble” at school? Then he starts to read to me from the standard school form, where there are 12 checkboxes, and she has no less than 6 checked. The only ones she didn’t have checked are the ones that could probably only happen to a high-schooler. Wow. I kept going back and forth in my mind – is the school too strict, or are we not strict enough? I finally decided on somewhere in the middle. Parenting is tough, and we all just do the best we can. That’s what I’ll keep telling myself when I’m visiting her in juvy.