call me!

Yup, I did it.  I became one of *those moms* and Gage became one of *those kids* today.  It all started rather normally.  He greeted me outside the classroom and we spoke briefly about his day.  We both moved slowly.  But then his teacher appeared outside, which is rare, so I took the opportunity to chat with her for a few minutes.  We were discussing the selections Gage had made at the annual Book Fair and assessing the pro's and con's of buying him a Kindle for Hanukkah.  Then, we parted ways and I turned to leave.  Without Gage.  Poof.  Gone.  

The school was still bustling so I checked in at a few of his favorite haunts and with a few of his closest friends.  Not in car line.  Not at after school care.  Not on the play structure or the basketball court.  Not in the book fair.  (ok, this school is not small either so I'm covering a lot of ground here).  Then I check everywhere.  Again.  Now I'm mad.  And honestly a little scared.  What mother wouldn't be?  So I do it.  Yup.  

I enter the front office and ask the lovely lady at the front desk to please page my son on the intercom.  Which she does.  Sternly.  Both his first and last name.  And he is to "come to the front office IMMEDIATELY".  I run to check the book fair one more time where I learn that he had been sighted earlier playing by the trees.  Right outside the front office.  So, of course when I return he is sitting there waiting for me.  Looking guilty. And really sweaty.  I cry.  We leave.

But wait.  It gets better.  

It's early release week at Gage's school due to teacher conferences so, even after the last eventful 15 minutes, we still have some time to kill before we pick up little sis. We sit quietly in a corner for 20 minutes reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid before we walk into the pre-school next door to retrieve Zuzu.

Now, what's important to understand here is that Gage's Elementary School and Zuzu's preschool, at one time, were one big Middle School... ages ago.  And for some insane reason that completely escapes me, they have never separated the intercom systems.  So when the bells ring at the Elementary School they ring at the preschool.  Even during nap time.  And, when a mother loses her son after school and has him paged to the front office, he is paged in every room of his former preschool as well.  

You wouldn't imagine the royal greeting he received there today.  By the director, the teachers and even Zuzu's classmates.  I swear the little four year old girls now think he's cute AND famous.  

The teachers... not so much.