Days of the Week

For the first time this year, I have started to miss teaching. During mid August and then now in September, I have been thinking about my days as a middle school teacher. I think the thing I miss most is the relative calm and order that comes with the school day. I say relative because in comparison to my days with a one and a two year old close to 100 twelve years olds does seem easier! Try as I might to keep the boys on a schedule and make things predictable, there always seems to be some speed bump that sets us back! Be it teething or potty training or vacations, I can’t seem to get it all together. On the other hand, I could always count on teaching six class periods and having one planning period. I would walk into my freshly vacuumed classroom where the trash cans had been emptied the night before, turn on the lights, and write, “Wednesday, September 3, 2008” on the board. Under that I would list the agenda (Journal, Adjective Game, Compare and contrast paragraph, READ!) for the hour. As the first bell would ring, students would trickle in, and when it was first hour and they were still asleep, they would start to write in their journals, wait for roll, and then the lesson would start. At the end of the hour, I would have the kids straighten their desks and rows using the masking tape I had placed to mark the spots on the floor. They would exit and in five minutes the whole process would start with a fresh batch of students. Granted, it wasn’t all idyllic, and the kids did get progressively louder and noisier during the day, but there was an order to things. Plus, the week itself had a routine- Monday, give new spelling words, kids write five times each in cursive, Wednesday- Library Day, Friday- Quiet reading day, etc.
Those kinds of days just don’t fly with two little boys. Oh, I try. The first thing I do in the morning, and have done for the past seven years is change my Martha Stewart Living Days of the Week hand towel. I can breathe a bit easier knowing that the right day of the week is hanging for display. Periodically I have to wash and iron these because some guest has unwittingly dried their hands on one, or because a small child has decided to blow their nose in it. When this happens I give all seven days a thorough cleaning. And yes, I have to starch them because they are linen.
All this background may explain why when I saw size 3-4 Gymboree toddler Days of the Week racecar underwear I had to buy them on the spot. And then the unthinkable happened. While at the mall, I let David hold the whole lot of them. He was waving them around like a mad man and generally driving Drew crazy in their double stroller. In fact, Drew was slouched down as though he was thoroughly embarrassed by the underwear being displayed so unabashedly. In Express, I told David to quit and to count and make sure he had all seven. David then started to argue that he was two and there were only two days in the week. At one point the sales clerk raised one tweezed eyebrow at me as if to say, “My life partner and I would never let our future love child act that way.” I was distracted and thinking in my head, “Yeah, two days in the week, days that Dad is at work (challenging) and days that Dad is at home (fun.)” and tried to ignore the flapping undergarments while I made my hasty purchase.
Upon sorting through everything once the boys were napping, I realized with horror that Thursday was missing. I spent more time than I should have calling stores and asking whether they had seen little boys’ underwear on the floor.
When Keith got home he said I seemed upset. Had something happened? Was I mad? Finally, I had to admit that one of the days was M.I.A. and that it was bugging the heck out of me. Towards the end of the day, I just had to buck up and decide that we could make it with only six days. Perhaps on Thursdays David could wear monster truck boxers, or his striped briefs from Italy. I would just have to deal with it. And then, at 11:00 pm, I went to hang the last shirt up, and… stuck to it was Thursday.
I think I’m going to be okay.