Today Nolan's preschool had their annual picnic in the park. I am always grateful when my kids' teachers don't go overboard- I have a problem from both an educator's and a parent's perspective when kids have "graduated" 4 or 5 times by the time they finish high school...daycare, preschool, kindergarten, grade 6...My 4 year old wearing a cap and gown is not something I need to see to know that he has had a wonderful, enriching and FUN year with his teachers and his friends in the 6 hours a week he spends at school.
But I digress. Back to the picnic.
I brought a bag of sand toys with me, along with the sandwiches I contributed to the potluck, and at the last minute tossed two of the boys' diggers into the van as I left the house in the morning. Not the dollar store diggers...these were the big, die-cast metal TONKA diggers, the real deal! Upon arrival at the park I had just too many things to manage (and a less than ideal parking spot due to our late-ish arrival, due to my spinning class earlier...but I am digressing again!) ~ stroller, picnic blanket, tray of sandwiches, Ryan, mom-purse, and a fairly busy road to cross. So, I gave Nolan ONE of the diggers to carry, and left the other in the car.
We had a lovely time at the picnic; the boys played, we all ate, I was able to chat with some other parents there...very nice time indeed. When we packed up to leave, I gathered all our sand toys, along with the digger, and put them in the big "SAND TOY" bag. The digger was sticking out of the bag and as I made my way across the park toward my car, another mom ran after me- "Sheila! Sorry..I think you have Bobby's (not his real name, obviously) digger," as she wrangled it out of the bag, which was over my shoulder. I turned to face her and said,
"No, this is Nolan's digger. We brought it with us from home."
Other mom: "Well, I brought 5, and now I have 4. This one is the one I'm missing." (who the hell brings 5 diggers to a preschool picnic anyway??)
Me: "I brought ONE, and this is it."
Other mom: "I really think it's Bobby's."
Me: "I am positive it is ours. Really."
Other mom: "Mmmm...it's just funny that it looks exactly like the one I am missing."
Me: "Are you seriously doubting my word on this? A digger??"
Other mom: "Mmmmm...I suppose it might turn up." (Very skeptical tone)
Me: "I hope it does."
I have to say that even 2 years ago I would have perhaps not stood up for myself...believe it or not I might have helped her scour the park for her digger in an effort to prove I was not the digger thief. Whether I am getting wiser as I get older or just more tired of BS, I don't know, but even though there was barely a seed of doubt in my mind as to the accuracy of my memory of giving the digger to Nolan to carry into the park, I stood my ground.
If I WERE a digger thief, does anyone honestly think I would choose to steal a digger from my son's preschool classmate, at the preschool picnic, in front of all the parents and the teachers?? If I WERE a digger thief, I would surely have more brains than to do that, wouldn't I?
When I got to my car, that little seed of doubt reared its head- I was saying a very fervent yet silent prayer that I wouldn't slide the door open and see our digger sitting there!
Phewf. It wasn't!
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And if you were a digger thief, would you have bothered bringing sandwiches to the picnic? A real digger thief would've sent her children ahead to distract the digger owners (Nolan-the-feisty-four could've thought of something!) while discreetly snatching a few diggers (why stop at one?) and placing them in the incognito "mom-purse" (admit it... at least 2 diggers would fit in there!). Who would let a stolen digger stick out of a Sand Toy bag anyway!? You are definitely NOT a digger thief, but if you were, you'd do a heck of a better job than you were accused of today!
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