Backwards

I have gotten into the habit of keeping my phone close by while I'm teaching. This comforts me because I know that if Abby needs me I'll be able to catch the call. This also allows me to quickly check my email throughout the day. I like to do this for my parents' sake as well. There have been several times when they've had questions that needed quick answers about what is going on in school or about their kids.

Today, during a quick check, I noticed that I'd gotten an email from Abby's teacher. Since the regarding line was "Cute" I took a moment to open it up, anticipating a particularly darling story about something that Abby did. I was greeted with this short message:

"Abby came in all ready for Backwards Day.  She said "cheese" for the back shot.  So cute!"

I was a bit confused. My first thought was: I don't remember seeing a paper about "Backwards Day". That's when I saw an attachment. I was quick to click on it to open it and saw these pictures of my darling:

It seems that she somehow ended up at school with her pants on backwards. I must have been having a slow morning because I wrote her teacher back to ask if it was actually Backwards Day, or if she just showed up like that. I just couldn't wrap my head around how she'd made it to school with her pants on backwards. Oh, I had theories, like she'd been in a really stubborn mood and wouldn't let Jason fix her pants before they had to get on the bus...but, I usually will hear from Jason if there is a particularly rough morning, and I'd only heard good things about the morning. My second theory was that she'd changed her pants on the bus - after all, she's been known to pull her pants off while driving in the car when she was younger.

I needed to know, so I forwarded the email on to Jason inquiring if he knew anything about this. It was around recess time that I got this text from him:

"Cassi must think I drink."

I'm sure that "Cassi" (Abby's teacher) doesn't think he tips back the bottle, but I bet she was very curious as to how this happened. It wasn't until I got home from school that I got the full story. We like for Abby to be independent, and she has been dressing herself for quite some time now, but she doesn't always get it right. It isn't unheard of for her to put her shirt, or the occasional knit pants, on backwards, and depending on her mood it can sometimes be difficult to put her back to rights. Apparently this morning she got herself dressed and Jason just gave her a quick once-over before rushing out to the bus. He said it wasn't until she was walking up the steps of the bus that he noticed that he was looking at the zipper of her pants, instead of the snazzy pockets he expected to see. According to Ms. Cathy, Abby's bus driver,  it was at that point when his face got bright red - she could see his embarrassment. The poor guy couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed her pants were on backwards, but at this point it was too late to do anything about it. It would have to wait until she got to school. I can just imagine how mortified he was. 

I will tell you the whole thing got me laughing, and I'm sure that I wasn't the only one. What I like best about this story is that although we may not always have it together, when we have a flub we usually handle it with humor, and quite a bit of aplomb - I love my family.