Mrs. Bramer(aka: Reading Mom)Goes PTA

I have a not-so-secret to tell ya.
This whole stay-at-home-mom of school-aged kids is different.
And weird.
Wonderful...
But guilt-inducing.
It's perfect... and a little too much free time.
But not quite as much free time as I had expected.
All at once.

Weird I tell ya.
Last week I think I was at school four days.
And I think two of those days I was there for over 3 hours each time.
Ummm... they should just hire me and it would take care of my little issue of needing to
find a part-time job.
That might work.

Our new school became a Project-Based Learning Laboratory School this year associated with
the University.
We love it.
Its a different approach to learning and it is working great for the kids, for all of us.
I think as a new parent +  new kids at this school, which has a lot of big changes going on
this year, we want it to be successful.
There are other of families just like us that switched schools to go here and also lots of families just starting out with this whole
school thing and I think we're all hoping for the same thing while doing what we can.
It feels really good to feel good about our decision to make this big switch.
That means a lot of volunteering but also lots of cool + unique projects and extra stuff in the evenings
and on weekends.
But, I am taking full advantage of the fact that I am able to spend so much time over there this year, it's a big year full of changes and
lots of good stuff...and who knows, next year might look different for us.

The other day at school I heard someone mention my name in conversation and said;
"Mrs. Bramer is here...." and once again my first thought was; Huh? My mother-in-law is here?
Some days you just wonder how you got from being in school yourself to becoming the Second
Grade Reading Mom of a kindergartner and second-grader?
Weird, I tell ya.

Mrs. Bramer Goes To Kindergarten.

We had our Parent Teacher conference the other night.

I was anxious to hear what the teacher had to say about my little kindergartener.

Not too worried but in the back of my mind did hope

 there wouldn't be any surprises, ya know.

When we (Mr. & Mrs. Bramer) walked in she said she was happy

 to be ending the evening on a high note.

She told us Wyatt was doing very well and is very bright,
his report card was great,  

he gets along great with the other kids, is able to express himself and his feelings,

and she can tell he has been read to a lot.

We thought we knew he was just where he should be academically
 but I have to say,  more than that

I loved hearing what the teacher thought of him, of his personality.
The best thing she could have said?
That he's a nice boy.

She said she thought he was a really neat kid and that she could

 just take him home with her.

Can you just see my heart melting here?

I think that was even better to me than hearing how he was doing in school, where

 he is compared to the other kids.  Actually it was better, much better. 

Just knowing that she is spending a good part of the day with my
 boy and actually likes him, 

and sees in him what we do...makes me feel really good about school.

For this mama, who dreaded this school year with everything in me, this makes me happy. 

Very happy.

And proud of my little guy.

And content in our school choice. 

A good teacher, a really good teacher, makes all the difference.
And for that I am so grateful.

Today was Mrs. Bramer's day to volunteer in the classroom.
I love that I am able to do this because I get a little
 sneak peek as to what is really going on in the classroom.
I get to see Wyatt interact with the other kids and them with him.
I get to see what he is working on day-to-day, the process of it, not just the end result.
It's funny and interesting.

One boy asked me if I was there to make sure Wyatt was being good today.
I hear; "Mrs. Bramer....Wyatt's mommy... Mrs. Bramer, Wyatt's mom?"
over and over and
 I can only imagine what the teacher hears in just one day alone.

A couple of weeks ago when I was volunteering in the class this was
my conversation with one of the little girls--my favorite so far :

Her: Wyatt's Mom, do you like my skinny jeans?
Me: I do like your jeans.
Her: Look, Wyatt's mom, they have sparkles on the pockets.
Me: Oooh, I like those.
Her: Wyatt's mom? My stomach and legs hurt. Bad.
Me: They do? (knowing good and well why they do)
Her: Wyatt's mom? I told my mom these skinny jeans were too tight on me.

Now.
What I wanted to do was write Little Miss Skinny Jeans' Mom
 a note and slip it in her backpack.
Like adults, not all children should wear skinny jeans.
I still cannot figure out how she got into those jeans,  let alone sat and
bent over all day in them.
She had to have been miserable.
She belonged in skinny jeans no more than I do.
Which is absolutely, positively not....not ever.

*****
Hope you all are having a great week so far...
I'm glad tomorrow is Friday and there is no school due to conferences.
Yay!