High School or Kindergarten

A friend of mine at work was telling me the other day how her son had a minor emergency at work, and had been calling her several times in the morning while she was trying to get some work done. 'They only remember mom when there's an emergency', she rolled her eyes. I had to share my story from that morning.

I drop Miss Haana to school in the morning everyday. Most days one of her classmates car pools with us, and i drop both kids to school. When we reach school, i park the car, we all get out. The three of us walk over to the school building, i holding Miss Haana's hand. Once inside the building, we walk across the cafeteria, towards the corridor past the double doors. That's how far i can go without the additional hassle of a visitor badge. This is where i say 'Bye, i love you',  give a hug and plant a kiss or two on her cheek. Miss Haana and her buddy walk down the corridor to her class. I watch her go with her backpack on her back for a few moments, then turn around towards my car. This is our daily morning routine.

That day, as i was parking the car, Miss Haana and her buddy saw their friends walk to the school. They were eager to catch up to them. So, as soon as Miss Haana got out of the car, she said 'Bye mumma'. I arched my eyebrows, bye? Here? Why? I was contemplating this, meanwhile Miss Haana was already running towards the school building. Not wanting to be left behind, i ran behind her. We ran into the school building and ran past the cafeteria. I tried to catch up to her before we got to the double doors, but the little girl was ahead and ran through. Giggling and saying byeee! And there i was, i said 'Bye!', and watched her run and finally catch up to the other kids further down the corridor. No hug. No kisses.

And so i returned back to the car. My friend laughed to my face at my attempts of running down the little girl. I admitted it was kind of... sad😊. But i thought this was supposed to happen in high school, not at kindergarten!

Pajama Party

We had a landmark day this weekend. Last week when Miss Haana went to her gymnastics class, she came back with a news. They're going to have a pajama party at the gymnastics place this Saturday. They had raffles and prizes (including a secret spy kit), and gymnastics all evening. What would be not to love about that!!

The following week i heard the wish list (to go to the pajama party) on repeat mode, several times. Little Miss Haana has been to pajama parties before, but that's either at our place or at a friend's place where we (parents) are there too. I wasn't sure I had reached a place where i can let her go to a party all by her 6-year-old-self! More repeat cycles of how she excited she was about the party played during the week. Including a reminder that the raffle prizes included the secret spy kit, which she was definately going to win!

Finally, i made some calls. We weren't going to be sending her to the party alone. So i arranged for her best friend Rushil and her to go to the pajama party together. They were both stoked! Us parents were looking forward to an evening dinner with grown up conversation unpeppered with kids.

On Saturday, kids brimming with excitement, were dropped off at the gym. We were a little shaky leaving her there, but this gym is a known territory for her and for us. And they had our phone number in case anything comes up. We adults went over for a dinner with some real conversation. Towards the end of the dinner, though, we were eager to pick up the kids. Are they sleepy? Are they tired? Did they have fun? Was it too much?

I was expecting when we pick them up, they'll be terribly disappointed to see us. Turns out, i was spot on. Rushil wanted Miss Haana to come over to his place from the gym, for a play-date, and was heartbroken when he was told that wasn't happening  (at 930pm). Miss Haana was in a line to get a nail paint in 1 finger nail, and was heartbroken when she saw us, thinking we will pull her out of the line when she was so close to getting that blue nail paint. We waited till the snail-paced line moved so the little girl could her nail painted and almost her heart's content.

Driving back home in the car, we were told, remember that secret spy kit in the raffle prizes? She didn't win it! Another kid got it. Oh! The secret spy kit was amazing. I got my hint and took to some internet shopping. Meanwhile i was wondering if the pajama party sans parents may be the beginning of a disturbing trend. I have to say, I'm not ready for it just yet.