Riding the bus.

We live too close to the elementary school for Ian to ride the bus.  In fact, we are considered "walkers".  Although, in the past 2 years, I can count on one hand how many times we actually walked to the school; either to drop Ian off or meet him after the school day was over to get him home.  In my opinion, Kiss-n-Ride is the way to go!  It is not rocket science to know that it has always been easier to have Sam securely strapped in her car seat, sitting in an air-conditioned car, rather than risk whatever fanatical behavior she has up her sleeve trying to walk with her from point A to point B.  After a certain point it just became the way we did things and driving to Ian's school was like flying on automatic pilot.

This year, however, Sam is starting a new school for her last year of pre-school.  The school, not only is a 15 to 20 minute drive from our house, but also has a 9:00am start time.  I resigned myself to the idea that Sam was always going to be late for school.   Even if I somehow got lucky enough to get Ian to school, right when they opened their doors at 8:45am, there is no way possible Sam would arrive at her school any earlier than 9:10am.  And this was IF we were the first car sitting in line waiting for the doors to open.  I think those parents get there as early as 8:15am, waiting in their cars for that to occur.  Again, this would be an unlikely event for us and waiting for the cars to unload and move up ahead of us would add precious minutes, making Sam even later for her school.

There was little I could do and I figured that Sam's future college would never find out she was late every single day to pre-K.

Three days before school started, we finally received the teacher assignments in the mail.  With it came the bus schedule.  I never paid attention before to these forms and quickly put it aside.  Then it hit me!  Like a light bulb going off over my head.  Super bright wattage too!  Why don't I find a bus that leaves as early as I need it to and put Ian on it?  I can drive to the bus stop, make sure Ian gets on okay and then with Sam (still securely strapped in her car seat) continue to take her to school ON TIME!!!    O. M. G. !!!!   I think I am on to something.  I looked at the bus schedule and found there is a bus less than a mile away from our house that picks up the kids as early as 8:25am.  Sweet!! 

I couldn't wait to tell Ian.  He always felt like he missed out on the riding the bus to school thing.  This was going to be his chance to experience what the majority of the kids in his class get to do.  And now that he was a little older,  I wasn't worried about him getting lost or winding up somewhere other than his classroom. I couldn't stop smiling at my idea.  Brilliant if I do say so myself!  I  called Ian and he had explicit instructions for me that he only wanted to ride the F6 bus because his friend Eric rides this bus.  I looked up the F6 bus.  It arrived at 8:30am, and was about 2 miles from our house.  I could definitely do that one, make Ian happy and make me happy that Sam would be on time.

Thursday (the next day) was Ian's open house for school.  He was in FL, so I went on my own.  I stopped in at the office and explained that I wanted to put Ian on the bus in the mornings.  They explained to me the process that I have to go through filling out the "Exception to ride form", sending it in to Fairfax County Transportation department and to expect most likely the answer to be no.   Oh no!

I called Transportation and explained the situation.  I was told to send the form in as soon as possible.  Within an hour of emailing the scanned form,  I got a very nice reply back alerting me that my form has been received and it will be put in the queue.  The review process begins in October and I should wait until later in October to hear back on whether or not my request has gotten approved.  Seriously!?!?!   I quickly wrote a reply back and explained, I am already stressed thinking about this coming school year and is there any way I can start putting Ian on the bus the first day of school and then wait to hear if it later got approved?

The next day (Friday), I was driving around town and received a call on my cell phone.  It was them!  It was them!  The very nice gentleman on the phone was letting me know that my request got approved.  Ian could start riding the bus on the first day of school.  He later added that he had no idea how my form got through their process so quickly.  WOW!!   This was wonderful news and all my problems on getting Sam to school on time was solved.

Turns out the 8:30am bus I wanted Ian to get on, shows up at 8:47am.  And this was not a first week of school, working out the kinks kind of thing.  No sireee bob.  Our form says 8:30am, the bus driver's form on when to arrive says 8:47am.  And then she informs me that she is just sitting around the corner for 40 minutes until it is time to drive up.  What the?!!??!  I could've driven Ian to school and had him dropped off and been no better off.  This was sooo not cool.  Meanwhile, Ian is LOVING this bus and doesn't care that Sam will be late for school.  He keeps suggesting that I just leave him at this bus stop and take off.  Um, no way Ian.  I will always wait and make sure you get on the bus.   I had one week to figure this out.  Sam starts her preschool that following Monday (as in tomorrow!).

So, like a crazy mom, I started stalking yellow school buses everywhere. I keep my bus schedule form in the car and pull it out like Quick Draw McGraw referring to where a bus will be and what time it is supposed to arrive.  My best option was to get Ian on the F2 bus that comes at 8:25am.  Bonus, that this school bus stop is less than a mile from our house.  I got confirmation from my good friend who said yes, this bus does come at 8:25am.  I called back my guy at Transportation.  He sounds like he is has no clue he spoke to me just one week prior.   He tells me that I have to go through the school and request a change of buses.  When I keep probing further as to what will happen after that, I come to find out its back to submitting the "Exception to ride" form again.  Ha!  Since I already have this form, I told my guy I will white-out the parts that need revising and write in the new info.  I pleaded with him that I could send back the form to him directly and hope that it makes it through the system just as quickly as it did before.  I know I was pressing my luck. 

I didn't hear anything back for over 24 hours and followed up with another call on Friday.  I left a message for my contact and said I hoped that my little girl could be on time for her first day of school this coming Monday. The woman who took the message said the form will get reviewed in October and to wait until then for an answer.   Um, no. Work with me people!!!  It's not my fault your 8:30am bus doesn't come until 8:47am!!! 

Approx. 5:00pm on Friday afternoon, my phone rings.  It's not my guy at Transportation that I keep bugging, but the head honcho herself who is calling me directly to explain why it is they don't review these forms until October.  The bus schedules are constantly getting revised.  The routes may change.  Times will shift one way or another until they get it right.  And then there is a ray of light and she says, "We will approve Ian to take the F2 bus."  Yay!!!  Yippee!!  Just in the nick of time.  I promised her this is the last time she'll hear from me.  I told her I won't request a bus change again.  Let's hope that I can keep my word.  :)

I figure one week of being a basket case over this situation, trying to make it happen the way I need it to, will carry me Sam's entire year of Pre-K.  Countdown is on until next year when both kids are in the same school, for the same amount of time.  I may have a full head of gray hair by the time this happens, but it will be worth it.

The power of an extra minute or two

I can tell you the exact moment in my day when my blood pressure goes through the roof. It occurs precisely at 1:25pm each weekday. For it is at this time that I realize I am late picking up my son up from preschool.

Ian gets released at 1:30pm, Monday thru Friday. Before having Samantha, I had a stellar record of always being on time to retrieve him and in most cases, was a few minutes early and could spy on him, without him knowing. For some reason the addition of Sam in our lives has made me perpetually holding my breath, hoping that we make only green lights and there are no slow pokes in front of me. It is a race to the finish line to park the car at the closest spot possible, grab Sam from her car seat and race walk up to the front door. I scurry inside and hope that we aren't the last to claim our own. Sam's body is usually bouncing up and down and she is holding on for dear life, as we make our way through the lobby and to Ian's classroom. 80% of the time, the moms are still lined up waiting for the classroom door to open. A big sigh of relief comes that I've made it. It's the other 20% of the time that I have to hope Ian has at least one buddy left to hang out with waiting for their mommy to come too.

Sometimes I am welcomed with the following;
Ian: "Mommy, why were you the last one to come?" Is there anything more sad to hear?
Or, "Mommy, why are you so late?" Oy! Again, it makes my heart melt.

It's then that the mommy guilt fully sets in and I quickly offer the chance to get a cookie from the Synagogue's kitchen on the way out.

To my defense, I have to point the finger towards to Samantha who takes a nap from 11:00am to 1:00pm. Sometimes she doesn't wake up right at 1:00pm. I try so hard to not to have to wake her and see if waiting another 5 or 10 minutes will have her waking up on her own. Or, if she does wake-up by 1:00pm, I try to feed her a quick lunch before having to get in the car to go get Ian. And, about half the time, Sam will wake up with a dirty diaper and I have to change it. There goes a good five minutes taking care of that mess.

Each new day is a new opportunity for me to try to get it right. I say to myself, this will be the day we are in the car, strapped in ready to go by 1:15pm. If only this could happen on a regular basis. Usually, on a good day, we are pulling out of our driveway by 1:19pm. My heart really starts beating fast when I put the car in reverse to back-up and the clock is flashing 1:21pm. It is a 6 minute drive (if all the lights are green). I've been known to seize up the traffic lights at Old Keene Mill Rd and Lee Chapel and go straight instead of turning left. I can shave 2 minutes by making a LEGAL u-turn and not waiting for the lights to turn in my favor. And, on the days we are really pushing it, I'll park in front of the dumpster because that is the closest spot without blocking any other cars. Ian has long stopped asking me why the car is parked there.

It's crazy that I do this to myself and I don't see it changing any time soon; at least not this school year. When anyone asks if I am ready for number 3, I'll have to direct them to this post. I just don't think my blood pressure can take it having to juggle a third child into this.