So this morning the school calls and tells me that the Captain’s lunch is missing. I know it was there, because today was a special day in which parents were invited to a Meet The Teacher breakfast, so I personally dropped the Captain off at his classroom, hung his backpack on its hook, and saw his lunch bag in the backpack when I took out his water bottle.
I immediately guessed it was stolen. And you know, I had left his backpack a bit unzipped, and you could see the lunch bag poking out, and I actually thought to myself at the time, “I should zip that closed so no one takes his lunch,” and then I thought, “How stupid, who is going to take a kid’s lunch, and it’s not like zipping it all the way closed is some Fort Knox-style protective device, anyway.”
So I didn’t zip it.
And the lunch went missing.
Man, was I pissed off. Since the Captain can’t eat any of the backup food that the school keeps on site due to his allergies, I had to rush to make him another lunch. The whole time I was frantically making sandwiches and washing grapes and preparing chocolate rice milk I was stomping around and muttering under my breath about HOOLIGANS who STEAL LUNCHES and what the HELL is this world COMING TO, anyway. I paused occasionally to dash off angry emails to Sir Monkeypants and to protest loudly about the injustice of the universe on Twitter.
When the second lunch was ready, I packed up Little Miss Sunshine and dashed over to the school, and guess what I found in the Captain’s backpack?
HIS LUNCH BAG.
It turns out that my leaving his backpack a bit unzipped had caused it to fall onto the floor, where it apparently TURNED INVISIBLE. Seriously, Captain! The teacher asked him to do a “thorough search” of the hallway, floor, and his cubby area, and that blue thing? Sitting in plain view in the middle of the floor under his hook? The squarish thing filled with food? Was IN DISGUISE. Completely hidden by the wide expanse of WHITE FLOOR.
It’s the 007 of lunches, I guess.
It wasn’t that big a deal in the end, because I had to be there to pick up Gal Smiley anyway. I know I’ve vented quite a bit here about how dreadful it is having to walk back and forth to the school all the time, like, write me a novel and call it Turtlehead’s Progress, but here’s a little secret…
There are actually some good things about it. I know! It’s shocking!
The second best thing is that I can eat a cupcake every day after lunch now, and not gain any weight. Which is AWESOME.
The best thing, though, is that when I go to pick up Gal Smiley, both she and the Captain are having outdoor playtime, and I can watch them from the side of the school grounds. Usually they don’t notice I’m there right away, and I can see them interact with their friends completely candidly, and it’s so wonderful. I just love seeing them playing tag, or digging in the sand, or just chatting with their buddies, all grown-up and child-like and GORGEOUS. It’s a little window into their World Without Mommy, and I love being able to play Peeping Tom for a few minutes a day.
Gal Smiley has to play in the kindergarten area, which is fenced off from the rest of the playground, and the Captain’s class usually gathers in the area right outside the kindergarten fence. Often, the Captain and the Gal are on either side of the fence chatting with each other, which is so awesome it melts my heart right away. Yesterday, when I arrived at the school grounds, they were chatting at the fence when the bell rang, and the Captain gave the Gal a quick kiss on the cheek before running back into the school. It was my proudest moment to date as a Mommy.
I freakin’ LOVE those kids.
Anyway, due to the whole no lunch/lunch thing today, I got to watch them on the playground for an extra ten minutes. A whole extra ten minutes of watching the most beautiful kids in the world. Ten minutes of pure delight. Ten minutes of joy.
And then I came home to a pre-made lunch of sandwiches and grapes and chocolate rice milk.
So a happy ending, don’t you think?
TurtleHead 
Well, I only hope your kids never read this blog post because as charming as it sounds to other mothers to be able to watch your children surreptitiously as they play with their friends, it would totally creep out your kids. Or maybe that’s just me thinking of the possibility that my mother was lurking around the school yard when I was a kids watching me at recess.
You made me go “awe” because the kiss was so cute. How lovely. When I have gone to pick up the girl she has been waiting at the gate for me and starts yelling at me to get her. 🙂
The cupcakes totally make it worth it!
I totally love having a chance to watch the kids before they see me arrive to pick them up at daycare. I love seeing them interact with their friends. Back when Hana was going through a phase of saying she hated daycare i loved catching her in the act of having fun. “Haha–I caught you laughing and having fun!”
I am glad it turned out well. We have that problem with D when he loses things at school. We will ask him to go look in the Lost and Found box. He claims he looks and said item isn’t there. We go, and there it is. I swear they are blind sometimes.
Yes, the health benefits of the walking rock!
I often sit at the top of the stairs and watch M and my neighbours son play. It is so fun to watch them interact.
I’m with you — watching my kids when they don’t know I’m there is just unbelievably awesome (especially when they’re behaving). It’s a chance to see them being themselves — something that’s hard to do in your own home. And when you see that, and you see that they are happy and confident in their own world — that’s the kind of reward that makes all the trials and tribulations of parenthood so worthwhile.
I totally love getting a minute or two of watching the jellybean when we go pick him up at daycare. we don’t usually get a lot of time because he sees us right away. yesterday though we got to see him playing and laughing with his friends and running up and down the hill at the back of our caregivers. it was awesome. it’s like knowing that you did a good job because he is happy and social. a good pat on the back for all of us.
Ha. Been there. It almost makes me forgive my mother for all the times she said “If I go down there and find it…” after I couldn’t. Almost. If I ever don’t want my kids to find me, I just sit very still and put an eraser or something on my head. They’ll never look under that.
Awww…that’s sweet. I was best friends with my brother when I was really little too! (He’s still a good friend but he lives in Toronto so I don’t see him as much)
Aww so sweet.
what a great twist to the story.
and omg, what is with things turning invisible? my kids can see a smarty under the couch, but can’t see the notes etc. in their backpacks for the life of them.
Pingback: Welcome to 2010 « TurtleHead