Standing tall at school

Maria had a half day of school today due to teacher/parent conferences.  What a pain.  I guess I should be glad that the teacher did not require one for Maria, which means she has “no issues” to discuss with us.  I am quite sure we won’t be so lucky with Mario. 

I had to take the day off of work because of Maria’s 11:25 early dismissal.  By the time I took her to school and Mario to daycare, I would have only had an hour at work.  Monday morning will not be fun.  I had told Maria that she could go to a friend’s house after school but she begged to be with me.  I told her that I had a YMCA Board meeting at noon and she would have to go.  She was all for it because she remembers the food buffet at the last meeting! When I picked her up, she hopped in the car and asked if we could get Mario.  I had not considered it because having Maria and Mario at the Board meeting would be a recipe for disaster.  But Maria pleaded on behalf of her brother, and I caved.  When we walked into Mario’s room at 11:40, his eyes widened and he asked coyly “Do I get to go home with you?”  When Maria yelled “Yeah” Mario gave her a big ol’ hug. 

We walked into the Board meeting after ground rules were laid out to the kids (Maria knows them already but Mario, not so much).  I had the IPad, the IPhone, coloring books and crayons.  I knew if I had the IPad for Mario then we would be ok.  An hour playing with that device is like a piece of heaven to him.  When we walked in the door, we smelled the chili and cornbread.  Maria yanked at my shirt and whispered “Look, Mom, they have chili and bread!”  Mario just kept begging for the IPad.  We situated ourselves at the back table.  Maria brought us all waters and napkins.  Our little waitress. 

The kids did a great job throughout the meeting.  Mario played with the IPad the entire time as I knew he would.  Maria drew me a picture but then went for my phone.  When Mario had to go to the bathroom, she took him back to the bathroom for me remembering exactly how to get there.  The meeting was inspirational – I love these types of meetings where we talk about the Y’s mission, how we help the community, what the Y means to people in need.  It’s nice to talk with other board members for a bit rather than fly in and out of the meeting every month.  Everyone got a kick out of M&M playing away on their electronics; they all remember their kids drawing or reading a paper book.  Ahh, those were the good ol’ days. 

M&M did a nice job saying goodbye to folks and giving the Executive Director a hug and a thank you for letting them attend.  After the Y, we headed to Pier Imports.  I could tell the sales ladies were a little worried when Mario walked in since he was flailing everywhere. I cannot believe that we made it out of there with nothing broken!  Between Mario picking up vases the size of him and Maria trying to carry glass pigs over to me, it is a miracle.  I was in such a deep shopping trance, that we almost forgot to pick up Alana from school.  We pulled up just in time and we all headed home for popcorn and Ben 10. 

After Ben 10, Mario played some Wii while the girls ran upstairs to play by themselves.  The boy is a Wii fanatic.  After he played a couple of games, he asked me to come into the room.  He came over to me and said “Mom, thank you for picking me up before nap today.”  Those are the moments I know I have done something right.  Warms my heart.  A while later, I got so excited when the kids approached me and asked if we could walk to the park.  Is my love for walking and the outdoors finally hitting them!  It does seem that when Alana is over they tend to ask that more.  She is a good influence.  We walked to the park and to the library.  Maria and Alana want to walk by themselves.  A group of ten-year old boys were walking across the street and I could hear them behind me giggling.  We are in trouble. 

We ended the night with dinner at Wendy’s and a little Justin Bieber.  Can life get any better?!