Field Trip Mom

 

I took the day off work yesterday to chaperone a field trip to the children's museum. Because that's the kind of career mom I want to be--the kind that puts school performances and field trips in front of work, no matter how busy work may be at that particular time.

It was a pretty good time. Ella is still at the age where she adores me, so she's always ready and willing to parade me in front of her friends. That's my mom, she'll say with pride. I know it's only a matter of time before it will not be cool to hang with her mom, so I'll take it where I can get it. As it was, Ella declared that she would prefer to ride with one of her friends on the bus trip back. Seriously??! She didn't get her wish, though, as the teachers more or less instigated the bus seating.

Once at the museum, we broke off into groups, with each chaperone responsible for three children (her own child, plus two more). Now, I'm naturally quite used to being responsible for two children almost all the time. We go a lot of places, too, so I'm pretty versed in the skill of watching multiple beings in busy places. But I'll tell you--when two of those children are not your own, it's a whole different story. If I lost track of one of these kids for even a second, I was in a panic. I guess the moral of that story is that it's okay to lose your own kids but not someone else's!!

An interesting aside: Both of Ella's teachers have now mentioned to me (on separate occasions) in an offhanded, joking way that they expect Ella will be the president someday. It's always interesting to see and hear about your child from someone else's point of view, and the comments made me wonder what it is about Ella that makes them say that. They definitely see her as a leader (they both said as much), which is something I see in her as well. Her teacher also told me that I don't need to worry about Ella being picked on since she can clearly hold her own. Which.... Yeah, I don't know. Definitely interesting.

It's funny, too, that they have such a clear impression of Sadie's personality since they have only seen her a handful of times. The aide said something yesterday about how easygoing Sadie is, and that's definitely right on the money. Funny.

Incidentally, Ella got her most report card and has now "mastered" all of her preschool skills. Which is good since the White House is apparently calling.