Schulzahnarzt für Alex

So I messed up this morning.

Last week Alex brought home a note from his teacher saying that today the class would be visiting the school district dentist for full cleanings and a checkup.  Really!  In addition to six fluoride treatments per year, administered, for free, in the classroom, my little Alex is also getting a state-sponsored trip to the dentist through his Kindergarten classroom.  Neat, huh?

Only, I didn't bother to write the appointment on my calendar.  The teacher asked that we moms be sure to have their kids in the classroom by 8:15 today. Alex is always perched at the doorstep just a few minutes after 8:00, waiting for his teacher to open the door.  So I figured it was nothing to worry about, left the flier on my counter, where it quickly was buried by vacation brochures, receipts, granola bars, and other flotsam.

Can you see where this is going?

This morning Alex really wanted me to walk him to school, again. Halfway to the building, the boys spotted their little gray kitty friend and, simultaneously, Dennis called with the report from the physical therapist that Alex had so enjoyed visited last Thursday.

He'll never get to see her again.  Our Alex was fine, just fine.

But, as we were talking, we realized that I was getting dangerously close to 8:30, when Alex's teacher rings the final bell for attendance.  So the boys and I said goodbye to kitty and husband, and we walked, double-time, to the school.  And, on the way, one of the other mothers mothers from Alex's class leaned out her window, calling to me: "Die Klasse ist weg! Heute ist der Schulzhanarzt!" 


Enschuldigung?


"The class! They went to the tooth doctor today.  You are forgetting! Many mothers are forgetting. Four kids are there without a class. They go to other class, to other teacher. Take Alex there."

Oh...nein!

We ran along to the school and found Alex's class door shuttered. The teacher in the other Kindergarten classroom was looking very harried and was scribbling name tags for all of her unexpected new students.  I wouldn't say she looked pleased to see me.

But I had an idea: I got the address of the dentist, intending to catch up with Alex's class.  I assumed it would be easy: I remembered reading that the kids were taking the tram there, but how far away could they possibly shepherd kindergarteners?

Pretty far!  I had to call Dennis for help with directions and finally rode a bus for ten minutes to get close enough to walk the dentist's office, located on the upper story of a grade school.  Poor Alex was really trying to be brave in the face of all this upheaval.  Walking as fast as his little (but provenly agile) legs could carry him, he asked quiet, worried questions. Would his teacher be mad? Would the dentist be nice? Would I take him inside?

Would it be okay?

We rounded the corner of the school building, and there was Frau Simmen.  When she saw me, she threw up her hands and then stubbed out her cigarette, saying something exasperated. But she saved a smile for Alex, and she took him by the hand to go inside. Poor little guy: he gave me a questioning, slightly panicked "Mom?" but, at my nod, followed his teacher.

After an equally relaxing trip to the grocery store, where I almost lost Joey several times as he joyfully dashed away with his kid-sized shopping cart, I finally, finally got home and had coffee and breakfast, just in time to turn around and make lunch for Alex and Ella. 

I'm glad to say that Alex's day got better: he got to watch cartoons while the dentist cleaned his teeth, and he's cavity-free.  And Ella came home with all of two minutes' worth of homework and immediately started begging me to take her back to the dinosaur museum this afternoon.


When it became clear that Joey wasn't going to be napping today, I countered with an offer to take them to the zoo, and a deal was struck.

The ride to the zoo takes most of an hour but the kids have become really relaxed on the trams, so I didn't mind. And we arrived just in time to watch the seals do some tricks and be fed before walking the rest of the circuit of the zoo, spending more than a little time on the playgrounds. Long enough to exhaust Joey into finally taking a nap on the tram ride home, freeing me up to read a book for most of an hour. 

So I guess my day got better, too.