Some Dropped Balls Bounce

Today, I dropped the ball. I forgot it was show and telland therefore, L went to school show and tell less. 

We'd made a plan of what to take on the way home last night.i even knew right where the thing she wanted was. But as so often happens, we walked in the door, and life happened. It was snacks and jammies and bedtime, and show and tell flew right out of my brain. 

I say "I" dropped the ball, because even though I tell her things like "You'll have to put it in your backpack" and "It's your job to make sure...." I really mean "we" and "our" because this girl of mine is 5 and figuring out how to be a school age kiddo is a thing we're in together. 

And so, when I remembered towards the end of the day, I held my breath and thought "I hope she saves the meltdown for me and doesn't share it with her teacher". And then, after school, I saw her .... And she didn't even mention it.

Free pass? No such luck.

Later while playing Legos it came out:"Mom! You forgot show and tell. It's every Friday and you forgot." ...."Yes, we forgot" I corrected "We didn't get it put in your backpack this morning,did we. I'm sorry that happened."

She looked at me ... She added some more Legos to her creation ...and she sighed "Well, let's try to remeber next week okay? 'Cause I like show and tell."

And that was it. Not the first,most important thing she remembered from the day ... No scarring childhood drama ...just a mildly insulting moment with a little disappointment. 

Thank goodness this dropped ball seems to have been made out of rubber instead of glass. Thank goodness children are (mostly) understanding little people filled with grace. Thank goodness she is usually able to breath through and move on. Because goodness knows it won't be the last time I (or we) drop a ball. Goodness knows it won't be the last time she's disappointed. 

And though sometimes the fact that she's realizing Momma isn't perfect comes with comments like "Mom, Dad really drives the trick better than you do." and "Well *my teacher* says it this way...", I sure am glad that she's starting to grasp that she and I need each other I this wild ride of life. I have a feeling she's going to keep being an increasingly awesome chaos survival teammate.