He's going to be the death of me.

Cute Smile - Devil Hair

If you guessed (by the title of this blog) that this will be about my sneaky little Archer, then you were CORRECT!
Archer's first day of full-day Kindergarten was last Thursday. I've been meaning to do a post about that, but haven't yet. It was even semi-eventful. My little guy decided that since he never walked home before (because I'm such a mean mom and don't let my 5 year old little guy walk 5 blocks down a busy road by himself) that he was going to. Without telling anyone. Yeah. Lovely.

Archer's 1st day of school... Shirt says "I walk to my own beat"

VERY TRUE.

I showed up at the school for Parent Teacher Conferences with Tanion's teacher but had to get Archer from his class first and he was no where to be found. I wander the playgrounds and halls yelling for my 5 year old who is gone. I ask our friends if they have seen him. Nope. He's vanished. I start to panic when the playground is empty and all the other kids have gone home and he's still not there. I call my neighbor to see if he, by chance, walked home. Sure enough, Archer was there with her little guy, Sean (who is 10). Archer ran through the other 3-4 intersections before he caught up with Sean who was almost at the stop light by our house. I don't want to think about it too much because I'm sure he probably didn't look to see if cars were coming or if he was okay to cross. I asked her to keep an eye on him while I went to the Parent Teacher Conference that I was now 25 minutes late for. She agreed. When I got home, I asked him WHY he would walk home when I told him that I would be picking him up... His answer? "Because I've never walked home by myself before." Yep. Just wanted to do it. Me, Jeremiah and my upstairs neighbor lady all gave him the whole "That's dangerous for reasons 1, 2 and 3 and don't do that again cuz you scared mommy" lecture.

Think that story is the reason for this post?
Nope.

That's just a "SEE!?!" story. So you can sympathize and know that he is a child that just likes to do stuff like that.... There are actually several on the blog about him doing things like that... But now for the story that inspired this post...

stupid tube slide...

This morning, I decided to let him walk to school with Tanion and Sean. They agreed to stay right with him and make sure he was safe. I am trying to be an understanding mom and let him have freedom. But, yeah, maybe not anymore... The boys all headed outside without jackets on. I told them to come downstairs and get their jackets on and Archer still needed his backpack. I had to use the restroom so I said to Archer - "I'm going to the bathroom and when I get out, I'll get your book order in your backpack and you can go. Come get your jackets." Less than 2 minutes later, they were gone. They had grabbed jackets and left. Without Archer's backpack.

I was annoyed but not bad. I know how panicky Tanion gets about getting to school on time so I figured he was trying to rush everyone else. I changed Robyn from jammies to regular clothes and grabbed my shoes and purse. I put the book order in the backpack and headed out to my car. I figured I'd just go drop it off to his teacher with the other school supplies that I was finally able to go buy. I got into his class just as the first bell rang. That's the "okay, come inside" bell. The kids have 5 minutes to get into class before it starts. I watch kids filter in through the doors and hang up coats and backpacks. No Archer. I hang out until the 2nd bell rings 5 minutes later. Still no Archer. So I head outside and start looking around the play areas. I'm yelling his name, walking around - nothing. All the kids are inside and Archer is no where to be found.
So I'm thinking he just realized that he doesn't have his backpack and maybe he went to his class anyway or maybe he's at the office checking on it... Or maybe (thinking it's a worse case scenario here), he's walked back home to get it. I check with his teacher and he's still not in there. I tell her I'm going to go see if he's walking home to get his backpack and ask her to call me if he shows up there. I left the backpack in his cubby area and head down the hall. I run into Tanion and ask him - just to be sure - if Archer stayed with them while they walked to school. He said that they all stayed together and maybe Archer went to Sean's class. I knew he wouldn't so I kept walking to the office. No Archer.

I drag Robyn to the car, load her in and drive home. He's no where on the sidewalks on the way there. I check my house - he's not inside there. I knock on my neighbors door. He's not there. Great. Lovely. Dang child! I tell my neighbor to call me if he shows up and let her know that I'm heading, once again, to the school.

I call the school while I'm on my way there and asked to be transferred to his teachers room. When his teacher answered the phone, she said he still wasn't there - but then her door opened. In walks Archer. Without shoes or socks on. She asked me if I wanted to talk to him and handed him the phone.

I was fighting the urge to scream at my kid - I could feel the anger boiling up and my voice raising. I tried to calm myself down enough and ask him where his shoes and socks were. I know he had them on when he left the house. He informs me they are on the slide outside. Then I asked where he had been. Again, he says the slide outside.

He told me that he saw AND heard me when I was out on the playground before, but that he didn't answer me. He was in the covered tube slide - hiding from me and everyone else because he still wanted to play outside. I calm down enough to tell him that he scared the beegeebers out of me and that I would go get his socks and shoes off of the slide and come talk to him in his class.

I hang up and am ready to hug, then kick the kid across the street.


Seriously, I love this little guy. I mean, how could you not? He's the cutest little independent stinker around. He's super curious about thing and he likes to do his own thing. Play by himself. I love his facial expressions, personality and his cute little apologies. But it's honestly going to drive me batty! I don't know how many times I can handle him disappearing (or so it seems) from school. I think the kid needs a 24 hour chaperon.

Any takers?