I Am The Leader!

(Scene: last night at bedtime; the girls had just returned from their weekly date with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Carol.)

E2, kindergartner, was choosing her clothing for the next day and was telling me all about this new outfit she'd wear as leader of the day. For the past six months or so, she'd worn the same outfit on the days that she was the leader. However, this week has been warmer and she was straying from her self-imposed Leader Uniform.

"Well sweetie, that's a nice outfit, but remember you're not the leader tomorrow. You're the leader on Friday."

"No, Mom. I'm..."

I gave her my best 'talk to the hand' because the past week had been rife with her disagreeing with me over this, that, and the other. I can totally see the benefit of the Children Should Be Seen And Not Heard school of thought.

"I'll bet you a quarter I'm right. Go look at the calendar on the fridge."

She skittered down the hallway and returned seconds later.

"I'll take my quarter now."

"But Mom, I'm the leader after C and she was the leader today."

And so it began, round and round, point and counterpoint with her quickly moving to I'm-so-tired-I-must-collapse-into-a-heaving-ball-of-tears. When I could once again understand what she was saying, I reminded her that A's Mom brought his new baby sister in that day for show-and-tell - because HE was the leader. She claimed he was the leader the day before - his baby sister wasn't there for show and tell - she was just there.

We went out and looked at the calendar, lining up Friday with E2's name. She begged, while sobbing, to bring a show and tell item "just in case" and SWORE she'd leave it in her backpack if she didn't need it.

"What happens when Mrs R says it's C's day to be leader? Are you going to fall to the floor crying then too? Mrs R made the calendar. If the schedule had changed she would have sent home a note. Did she give you a note?"

Eventually, I agreed to the "just in case" plan, but then she wanted to pack a lunch as well. You see, the Kg leader gets to be first in line all day...BUT, when they walk to lunch the kids who brought lunch go first and the hot lunch line up after them....SO, E2 never eats hot lunch on the days she's the leader so she doesn't have to give up her first-in-line privileges.

It was late and I was SO not packing a lunch.

Then, I came up with the brilliant plan that we'd call Mrs R about 15 minutes before we left for school the next morning. She's usually at school by that time and we could have her clarify and proclaim me the winner of a quarter. Both parties came to an agreement and the negotiations were settled for the night.

This morning dawned gloomy and rainy and E2 was up earlier than usual. At 8am, I made the call. Mrs R picked up in the teacher's lounge and I explained that we needed clarification. She admitted she wasn't sure without looking at her schedule, so she'd call us back in a bit. I advised her we had a quarter riding on the outcome.

The return call came in...

"Well, you're both kind of right."

Turns out, one student was sick earlier in the week and she'd let another child take-on the leader responsibilities. So, E2 was correct, C had been the leader the day before. And, I was correct, because E2 wasn't scheduled as the leader until Friday. She asked if E2 would be willing to wait until Friday so they could swing back to their regularly scheduled leader list. We said that would be fine.

No quarter for me.

Then E2 said her tummy hurt. I took it to be a direct result of the anxiety surrounding the leader stuff and made sympathetic noises, but mostly ignored her. I sent her off to school, figuring once she got around her friends she'd forget all about it.

It should be noted that the few times I've done that with E1 it's always resulted in her up-chucking at school. I was with Grandma Carol, who knows my unfortunate "you're fine, just go to school" history, when I got the call at 12:45 that E2 wasn't feeling well. She laughed at me.

When we got home, I plunked a sleeping E3 into her bed and then asked E2, "Now what?"

"Well...I thought I might play Barbies?"

"UMMMM, No? You're sick and you need to let your body rest. Where do you want to take a nap - the couch or your bed?"

She suggested my bed so she could watch tv, and when I shot that down, she argued that she wasn't tired. Too bad, so sad, sister. I finally offered a compromise of sorts; she was to rest in her bed until E1 returned from school (about an hour) and then she was welcome to come out and play. She slept about two hours.

She seems fine, although she still has the stuffy nose that's been hanging around the last day or two. Grandma Carol reported that she'd gotten weepy after realizing she'd misunderstood about what they were having for dinner. Maybe she just needed a mental health day. She kept down a couple of crackers after her nap, so I let her play in a mud pit before tossing her in the shower and feeding her a bowl of cereal. I took pictures, of course, because that's what good parenting is all about (photos tomorrow because I'm too lazy to hike upstairs for the camera).

Is there a moral to all this? I don't know, I'm too exhausted from all the negotiations.