"What Kind of a Mom Am I?"

Today I got a call from the nurse at Abby's school. She said that Abby had been in to the office several times complaining of a stomach ache. The nurse had seen her at lunch time and took her temperature but she did not have a fever so she sent her back to class. She now had come back to the nurse once again (it was ten minutes to three o'clock - school gets out at 3:35pm). The nurse asked what I wanted to do. I told her I would leave immediately and come pick her up. I scooped up the baby and got her and Sammy in the car. We drove over to the school and walked in to the office announcing that I was there to pick up Abby. A girl came out rather hesitantly and looked at me. I told the secretary that the girl was not my child. She looked a bit confused and looked for another child. The nurse came out and wondered what the problem was. Why was this little sick girl being rejected. We all realized that I had been called by mistake. The nurse had called me thinking I was the girl's mother. The girl's name was also Abby but somehow they called me instead of the girl's mother. No big deal. However, since I had just made the trip to the school I asked if I could just take MY Abby out a little early and take her home. Of course was the reply after many apologies. They called Abby out of class and we sat waiting in the office for her.

While we were waiting, Alexandra kept crawling into the Principal's office where he seemed to be on an important phone call. So I picked her up and held her in my arms, just then the Librarian entered the office. She took one look at Alex and said,"is that Abby F.'s sister?" Wow! I couldn't believe this Librarian who sees hundreds of school kids a day, connected this random baby to Abby in less than a minute. (I guess they really do look alike.)

Anyway, after a few minutes Abby appeared. I told her how there was a mistake and we thought she was sick. She immediately replied that she wasn't coughing very much. She felt fine. "I know," I said. "We are just going to take you home since we are here." She could not believe it. How could I come and pull her out of school. She was in music class and they weren't done! She protested that she liked school and wanted to finish the day. I tried to explain to her that there was only twenty minutes left of the day anyway. We walked out of the building and there in the parking lot the tears came along with a tantrum! How could I do such a thing! She wanted to finish school. She liked school, she cried. She refused to get in the car and started walking back to the school. I couldn't possibly let her go back in now. I would have to move my car because I could not park there after 3:15pm. I would basically have to drive home and then WALK all the way back to get her. It was also quite a cold day. That seemed a bit insane. So I bribed her! I told her I would give her hot cocoa and Halloween candy if she would come home with me right then. What kind of a mom am I, I thought to myself. Here I am, not only taking my child out of school early against her will but BRIBING her to do it! Poor Abby. She finally got in the car but she cried all the way home and was so upset for quite a while. I guess I am grateful that she loves school so much and that we don't have the opposite problem. I am still in a bit of shock though that she wouldn't be thrilled to death to ditch school early and get called out of class. I would have killed for my mom to do that but it NEVER happened to me! That's my Abby!