As They Grow Up

Wednesday, September 5, 2007
I'm traumatized. Day went smoothly for Monkey though. I dropped him off, he had a great day at school and Matt picked him up right after class. Problem was he wasn't supposed to. He signed him out at the office like a good daddy, and said bye to Monkey's teacher.

I on the other hand, called the after school program at 3:45 to make sure that Monkey got to the program okay, and the worker told me he wasn't there and that he hadn't been Tuesday either. I'd left a message saying he started JK on Wednesday, so they should have known to go find him. I freaked out completely. I told the worker that she had better find my son. He's 4 years old. Where is he! Fighting tears and trying to figure out the next rational thing to do and keep on working with the kids and not freak them out, I decided to call his school and see if the secretary could page his teacher or if she knew anything.

I called the school, and said "It's Amanda Coughlin calling and my son Monkey was to start with the after school program today. He just started JK today and they don't know where he is. Do you have any idea where my son is." I said this as calmly as motherly possibly under the circumstances and frankly my voice sent chills down my spine. The secretary told me it's not her responsibility to know where my child is, and that I need to make arrangements for him. WELL POO HER! She then told me that Matt had picked him up. Why couldn't she tell me that in the first place! Granted I could have called Matt before the school, but I wasn't thinking about him being with his dad, I was thinking the school had my son, likely in his classroom, and the secretary could page the room to check! She also gave me heck for freaking out the workers. Well excuse me, but if my son is lost, they had better be freaking out. He's 4 and it's his first day of school!

Well, I'm angry again right now, and everything worked out fine. Yesterday, I told work I'd be late so I could make sure he got to program okay. I NEEDED that for my peace of mind. I've had 2 nightmares about him being lost since, and with it having been real to me so recently, it's not just the scary dreams, I wake up and run to his room to make sure he is really there. Traumatized! I'm telling you!