The girls were excited about the special days (Hat Day, Pajama Day, etc.) that made up the last two weeks of the school year.  Anything out of the ordinary is exciting after 160 “regular” school days.  But, with only two weeks left of the school year, in the beginning of June, it seems like there’s enough for kids to be excited about without having to create special days.  In fact, the special days seem like quite a distraction if not an agent of agitation. 

It also seems that specially planned days or events like these never fail to disappoint.  The last two weeks of the school year didn’t live up to the hype (at least around our house) last year, but since the girls had a year to forget how the end of last year went, they were excited when they brought home the calendar with the special days listed on it for this year.  The special days lived up to their name this year, in that they were out of the ordinary.  But, once again, the girls found the days less than special, in reality.  Either way, they’ll probably be just as excited at the end of the next school year when they pull flyers out of their backpacks and show me all the special days they are looking forward to. 

Not every one of the special days went bad, but it seemed that most did.  The first of the themed days was pajama Monday.  Both girls picked out the pajamas they wanted to wear on the previous Friday, after school.  Friday was a cool, overcast day.  By Monday morning, it was obvious that it was going to be a hot day.  Both Audio and Dee Dee had selected one-piece, “footie” pajamas.  I tried to convince them that they should try to find some pajamas that would be more comfortable, but neither would hear it.  So, instead of starting off the week with a power struggle, I told them that this would be one of those times when I have given them advice and they are free to make whatever decision they want, on the condition that they remember how their decision worked out for them. 

Before we got to school, Audio was complaining that she was, “Steaming like Hell.”  I reminded her that she had a backup set of clothing in her backpack that she could change into when she got to school, which I learned after school that she did as soon as she got to her classroom.  Unfortunately, her backup clothing (oversized sweatpants and a long sleeve turtleneck) was just as inappropriate for the weather as her pajamas.  Dee Dee was a little luckier.  She also elected to change out of her hot pajamas when she got to school, but her backup “winter clothes” had been swapped out for shorts and a t-shirt because she’d dumped a packet of pancake syrup on her pants the previous week.  “There was something on the bottom.”  What was on the packet of syrup was, syrup.  Anyway, Audio was grumpy after school and swore the whole way home. 

One annual special day that all the students get to take part in is Petting Zoo Day, where a group of farm animals are brought on to the school yard for the kids to learn about and pet.  Petting Zoo Day coincided with Audio’s class doing Name Day.  For Name Day, kids are allowed to tell the class what they’d like to be called for the day, if there’s a special name that they want to be called.  I’m not sure why, but Audio wanted to be called Taylor Swift for the day.  I didn’t try to talk her out of it, but I was curious as to why she would want to be called Taylor Swift.  She didn’t seem to have any good reason, but it’s her Name Day and I figured that if it made her happy for whatever reason, it was fine, and I didn’t pester her about it.  Dee Dee’s class had Stuffed Animal Day, which made a little sense, since it was Petting Zoo Day.  Dee Dee brought a stuffed kangaroo.  To be honest, I don’t think I’d ever seen the kangaroo before that morning.  I suggested to Dee Dee that she keep an eye on it or put it someplace safe when she can’t keep it with her. 

As I walked the girls home that afternoon, Dee Dee told me that she didn’t have a very good day.  She said that when her class got to visit the petting zoo, after seeing all the animals, she was most interested in the rabbits.  Two years ago, Dee Dee had to sit out because she got in trouble for feeding grass to the rabbits, twice.  This year, she just wanted to pet the rabbits, she said.  But, while she was focusing on the rabbits, she heard the sound of running water splashing, and then felt her foot getting warm and wet.  A goat was relieving itself on her foot.  She said that it was towards the end of her classroom’s allotted time with the animals, so she didn’t have to wait around long to go inside and clean off her foot.  She said that she was allowed to sit barefoot for the rest of the day but wasn’t happy about having to put her shoe back on when it was time to leave. 

When we got home, I threw Dee Dee’s shoes in the washing machine and then asked Audio if the other kids had used the name Taylor Swift to address her,  as she’d wanted.  Instead of answering me, Audio threw her backpack at my feet and left the room.  I followed her and asked what was wrong.  It turns out that the petting zoo people had brought a llama with them.  Unfortunately, the llama was quite flatulent and more unfortunately, the name of the llama was Taylor Swift.  So, for the rest of the day Audio’s classmates referred to her as Taylor Swift but added the sound of wet llama farts after the name.  Dee Dee confirmed that Taylor Swift, the llama, was in fact, quite gassy, and demonstrated how her classmates spent the afternoon making fart sounds to the tune of Shake It Off. 

Joking, I asked the girls, “Other than that, the petting zoo was fun?”  They both said that the worst thing was that the dog, Blue, that had been a big hit during Petting Zoo Day last year was not there because the dog died of bone cancer a month ago.  Dee Dee noted that the dog was the same age as she is now.  Trying to change the subject, I asked about Dee Dee’s kangaroo which led to more bad news.  Apparently, Dee Dee brought the kangaroo outside to the petting zoo because I’d told her to “keep an eye on it.”  And, after the goat peed on her foot, she set the kangaroo on the ground.  By the time she realized that she no longer had it, she found it sticking out of Taylor Swift’s mouth.  Dee Dee pulled the kangaroo from her backpack, and sure enough, the head was shredded up pretty badly.  I asked her if she wanted to keep it and she said she did, so I threw what was left of it into the washing machine with her shoes.   

Hat Day, Color Day, and Board Game Day went off without a hitch.  The girls wore their Tee Ball and Softball uniforms for Sports Day.  We didn’t know how to help the kids observe Dress Like A Teacher Day, which was fine because apparently, no one else’s parents did, either.  My wife and I got to join each of the girls on their picnic days.  I’ve visited Audio’s classroom twice, but neither of us had volunteered for any activities with Dee Dee’s class, so we looked forward to seeing how her stories compared to real life. 

For Dee Dee’s picnic, we walked from her school to another school, located just a little ways into the town to the East of us.  That school has a playground and a field like Dee Dee’s school, but there is also a covered pavilion with picnic tables, for rainy days.  That day went fine, the weather was cool, and a little windy.  So, my wife and I walked home, changed our clothes, and then walked back.  Dee Dee was more interested the playground than her classmates.  And, to be fair, my wife and I were, too.  We also got to have a decent discussion with Dee Dee’s teacher.  He let us in on the secret that he planned to retire at the end of the year.  We later learned that we were the last to know.   

During the walk back to the school at the end of the day we got a good taste of just how obnoxious Dee Dee’s classmates are.  A few kids had spray bottles of sunscreen that they enjoyed spraying on themselves, even though my wife and I were walking directly behind them.  After getting blasted a few times, we asked the kids to stop spraying the sunscreen because they were hitting us.  One kid got sassy, but stopped.  Another kid got sassy and didn’t stop.  As volunteers, we figured that the extent of our expected effort was to alert Dee Dee’s teacher to the issue and have him confiscate the bottles from the kids.  It was either that, or ignore the brats and step to the side a bit.  But  . . .  And I was surprised to see that in this age of the internet, sticks and branches are still a big hit with nine-year-olds.  It was nice to spend the day with Dee Dee and I was happy to see all the kids that I’d heard about in action.  But I was also happy when the day was over. 

Audio’s picnic was moved indoors due to rain that fell that morning, soaking the ground at the park next to the girls’ school.  That covered pavilion with picnic tables was starting to make a lot of sense!  But I preferred to be inside, on a chair instead of sitting on the ground.  My wife and I sat with Audio at a table and other families all sat with their kids at tables.  I’m not sure if there would have been more mingling or social interaction between the families if we’d been outside, but I doubt that there could have been less.  We had sandwiches and chips, and Audio had a tiny can of Sprite that she was excited to show off.  Audio’s teacher came around and visited with all the families and told us that we could take Audio home after lunch, if we wanted to.  When we asked Audio if she’d prefer to come home or stay at school, she chose school.  I’m pretty sure that she understood the question. 

The last day of school is an outdoor, Track and Field Day.  Stations are set up where kids do obstacle courses or play games or play with things.  Kids move around from station to station with their classes.  Parents are allowed to attend, so my wife and I went and cheered on the kids as they ended the school year.  Audio’s class started at The Scream Run and Dee Dee’s class started at the parachute station.  We wandered around watching the girls and sometimes split up so both girls had one of us watching. 
 
After all of the classes had made their way through all of the activity stations, my wife and I said goodbye to Dee Dee and Dee Dee’s teacher, and looked for Audio.  We didn’t find her, so we walked home.  At the end of the day, there were many more parents than usual at parent pickup.  After last year, where a teacher who both the girls liked told them that she was leaving, causing both girls to spend their first moments of summer break crying, I was prepared for the worst.  But, Dee Dee came outside first, with her big, ever-present smile on her face followed by Audio, with more of a look of mild embarrassment.  We explained to the girls that we were not going to go to the playground.  And, we walked home.