Dad On Duty #49

BusinessfairSantaFluBarfapalooza!

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Probably the busiest day at this job that I’ve ever had.

The 5th grade business fair would have been interesting enough. But we also did Cookies with Santa.

That was pretty crazy.

Then there was the barfing. Lots and lots of barfing.

That kinda took it over the top.

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Tori was feeling pretty bad last night, so we (tried to) let her sleep late this morning before deciding if she’d go to school or not. (The nut case female Aussie saw an imaginary threat at 0730 and woke her up….so much for that plan).

Tori and I had previously trained The Emergency Spare Backup Daughter and The Designated Substitute Daughter to assist me with the Bobby the Bobcat routine.

And today they got their chance.  

Myself, the ESBD and the DSD arrived earlier than usual, and the girls did great. Got me dressed, kept the tail pulling and tooth yanking to a minimum, and steered me clear of obstacles. To my knowledge, we didn’t trample any children, and that’s always a win in the Bobby suit.

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The flu and some other viruses are currently running rampant in our neighborhood and, subsequently, in our school.

In the first hour of school, the nurse’s office was full. Several times over the course of the day, Mary was eight kids deep. If she saw one kid, she saw a hundred.   Literally.

Within 30 minutes of each other, two kids barfed in the hall on the way to Mary’s office. One made quite an impressive mess, and we used some of our multi colored traffic cones to mark off the area while the custodians cleaned it.

The Boss came out, unaware of the underlying situation. She complimented us on the colorful pattern of traffic cones we’d arranged in the hallway: “nice! Is this something new we’re doing?”   “Um no ma’am….its barf……”   “O…….k……” as she steps gingerly around the ‘issue’.

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Right about then, the 5th graders are marching down to the cafeteria for the business fair (where they sell products that they’ve made). 

I’ve now got a few minutes to do the perimeter check (and sure enough, there are a couple of issues..need to handle…).

Then it’s time for 3rd and 4th grade to come down and go shopping at the fair.

But first, no less than four of our parent-friends text me and ask if I can loan their kid some money for the fair. Sure…..chase down those kids and give them cash.

In the midst of all this, the littler kids are moving through the hallways to their “specials” (PE, music, art)….because we need more moving parts right now. So I help with traffic control for a bit, then it’s time to re-rearrange the cafeteria back to lunch configuration. Mark Kruse and I help the staff get that done in the brief window we have.

Now it’s the usual lunch and recess melee.

In the midst of that, I try my best to help Mary as much as possible. Take a temp, apply cool cloths, catch some more barf, dress a boo-boo. She remains cool as calm as a Zen master although her office looks like an urban ER.

And now, here come the Santas…..sure…..cmon….

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Today, we’re doing Cookies with Santa. Over 350 kids have signed up. And we only have 200 cookies. That won’t work. Emily Klein runs to the store and gets several more pounds of sugar coated carb discs.  

We set up two Santa stations; one upstairs and one downstairs. We only have a few minutes to move furniture, spruce up trees and set the tables with cookies. Janae’s husband is working like a madman. 

Kids start lining up to talk to Santa. A bunch of other parents and some older students….including both my boys….are there to help. It runs very smoothly.

Both Santas are fantastic. They will have their own amazing stories to tell.

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While kids were visiting Santas, I went on to my other tasks.

Did my afternoon security and perimeter check. Some minor issues handled.

Helped Amy decorate our teacher’s door. Yikes….I’d rather move tables…..that was hard….

Ran back upstairs to check on that Santa. All ok. Now down to the cafeteria to check on the other Santa. Doing good.

Saw some kids headed into the library. Nobody was in there (all on Santa duty). The kids really wanted to get some books. And I thought “well, that’s pretty important. We should do that. That’s very scholarly”.

I have absolutely NO idea how to check out books.   But the kids knew the routine pretty well. Just needed a grownup on the other side of the desk to push the buttons. Ok, I bet I can do that.

And we did. I think. I guess we’ll see when Janae tries to find those books in a few days…

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At the very end of the day, one of my boys came to me and lamented that we didn’t spend any time together today. I know, I’m sorry. Too much going on.

“What about next Friday?” he asks.

“We don’t have school Friday. We’ll do our Friday stuff on Thursday”. I’m distracted, looking around at the crowd.

He sighs. “I won’t be here Thursday”. Looking away.

I realize: this is important. Focus. “What days will you be here?”

“Monday, Tuesday…and I think Wednesday…”

“We will do our thing Wednesday”. He warmed up and smiled. Chatted a bit more.

And I felt…..relief…..and pressure….and then finally, blessed.

And then I went home and collapsed.