Bad Mommy Moments

I'm not quite sure how it happens, but somehow I consistently miss the reminders in Monkey's backpack.  I almost missed his Halloween brouhaha they had.  I almost missed his parent/teacher conference.  Then today, my luck ran out.  I missed the sheet of paper that said, "Bring your teddy bear to school on January 18".  It was in his backpack and I had pulled it after school on Monday, I know this because on the other side was a picture Sunshine had drawn of the Easter bunny.  She had even shown me the piece of paper from across the room and asked me if she could use it.  It wasn't until I got home and saw the piece of paper, proudly displayed with a pencil depiction of Mr. Bunny himself, that I really read it.  I flipped it over and there was a teddy bear with the request from his school.  Oh. No.  What day is it?  I looked over at the calendar, hoping in my heart it wasn't the 18th, knowing in head it was.  Sure enough, there on the calendar, staring right at me was 18.  It was practically mocking me and my bad mommy moments.  On my sister's somewhat illogical reasoning I call the school to see if he's upset with the thought that I might drive the stuffed animal over to school.  It is already a 1/2 hour into preschool, it's an 8 minute drive, plus 5 minutes of wrestling Bug into a coat.  He's not upset and, not to worry, they had "brought in extra teddy bears for just this situation".  "This situation" of course means cover-for-the-terrible-moms-that-forgot-to-bring-their-kid's-bear-on-"Bring-Your-Bear-To-School-Day".  I lamely justify it in my head and, ready to relay the excuse to Monkey, that he doesn't actually have a teddy bear.  Dog, giraffe, skunk, and bird?  Yes.  Bear?  No.  I suppose I was really saving him the embarrassment of all the kids asking him why he brought a skunk on teddy bear day.

Yes, that is why.

Vicky