Adventures in preschool parent helper land

Today was an exciting day for my son, his very first classroom party. And a Halloween party at that. We've been ready for this all week, costume ready to go, home made chocolate suckers to pass out to all his little friends it was all good in the hood. Only bummer was that there were already about 5 parents signed up to be classroom helpers and adding one more was just to much so I was a little saddened that I wouldn't be able to be apart of his class celebration but I would at least be able to go up and see all of the little ones as they paraded around the school in their spooktacular finery.

So we got him all dressed up as Count Dominic (my little vampire) and off to school we went. When we got there it seemed like a lot of kids were there  but a few adults were missing. So I asked the teacher if she needed any extra parent helpers or if she was still expecting a couple more people. While I'm talking to her one of the dads that volunteered drops his daughter off and proceeds to say he's not staying, he doesn't have anything else to do he just doesn't feel like it. I'm literally ready to smack this man in the head. Does he not realize how precious these years are and how much it means to our little ones to see us show an interest in things like this. So off he goes and the poor teacher is just standing there flabbergasted,she says well yes looks like I really do need you. I of course hadn't expected to be staying so I was pretty much in pj's and still had to grab my daughter who starts school a half hour after my son and needed to be dropped off. I now have to speed racer it home dress, and drop her in record setting time and get back to my sons class before sixteen 3 and 4 year olds on sugar highs over run the place. I managed this admirably well if I do say so, which I do.

For the next two hours I played games, sang songs, and fed what could probably be deemed as illegal amounts of sugar to these adorable kids. We made wicked witch hands with plastic gloves, candy corn and popcorn, ate cupcakes and drank juice (well I had pepsi)  and at the end of the day we paraded through the school for the big kids to see us and then outside for all the parents who couldn't or wouldn't sign up to be helpers the kids also put on a little sing along for everyone with all the Halloween songs they learned this week. I loved every minute of it and so did they. 

As annoyed with that dad as I was for his lack of interest in his own child, I have to admit for my own selfish reasons I'm kind of glad he bailed because it gave me another chance to be there with mine as well as all the other little munchkins.It's such a rewarding experience to be in that classroom with those kids and watch them learning and growing. They're only little for so long and I for one am going to eat up every single moment of it, and if I catch you slipping I'll eat up your moments to.

Just like mother~Pretty much~

Ever since I was a little girl I've been told by one person or another "Oh you look just like you mother", or "You remind me so much of your mom" 

When I was 5 I loved it because my mom was my hero, by time I was 15 it drove me insane ( not that my mom wasn't a beautiful woman) but she has some issues (I won't go into further detail on the issues but there were things that went on in our lives that made life a lot more difficult) and I just wanted to be my own person. So at 15 I started dying my hair blonde (hers is dark aurburn) and doing just about anything to distinguish myself as different. Different hair, clothes, make up, and I would go out of my way to change mannerisms that were similar. If someone said oh my you sound just like your mom when you say that I'd make sure I'd never say that again. When someone said how much I looked like her I would say no it's just this one feature, we share similar cheek bones, but the rest is more like my dad. This has gone on for years.

A few days ago a finally had a grown up moment an realized I'm pretty much just like my mother. Not her twin in looks or actions but I am her daughter and I do look and act like her in more ways than I ever wanted to admit. I'm finally ok with this because I realized that although my mother has caused some serious heartache in my life none of it was ever intentional. She always loved me and even though she has problems some of which I picked up over the years, and many of which have adversely affected my life she never meant any harm. She went into the role of motherhood with good intentions, so she stumbled and fell along the way. What mother can say she has gone into this position and done it perfectly? I went into it saying I'd never make the same mistakes as my mother or many of my friends mothers. Can I say I've succeeded? For the most part yes because I learned from the mistakes made by the women that came before me, but even I have fallen into some of those potholes along the way and it's a long, long road I have left to travel I'm sure I'll trip and fall a few dozen more times. Will I hurt my children at some point I'm sure, not on purpose but this role we take on the day we deliver these bundles of joy doesn't come with a manual.

 It took having my own family, being treated ridiculously badly by people who (also happen to be family members)  claim to be good Christians and 30 years to come full circle to realize that I'm completely ok with being just like my mom~pretty much.