Nightgowns at Pre-K

If you have a walking/talking-aged child in any type of daycare or school, you know by now that when the teacher pulls you aside and discreetly starts to tell you something in the corner of the classroom, it more than likely will be something embarrassing or bad regarding your child.

Yesterday, I showed up at school thinking it would be like any other day and as soon as I walk in, Kaleb’s teacher says, “Oh…can I talk to you for a second over by Kaleb’s cubby?”

Now, before I go any further, let me tell you something about Kaleb’s new pre-K teacher, whom I by the way, LOVE. She’s like a Pre-kindergarten TeacherAngel. Seriously. She’s one of those people who came out of the womb giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and has gracefully gone through life with an abundance amount of patience. She’s the teacher that every mother prays her child gets. She’s the teacher whose name is spread like wildfire throughout the parents because she’s just that awesome. And kind. On the second day of Kaleb being in her class, she actually told me she was thoroughly enjoying her time with him. Y’all. She enjoys her life around 4 year olds. And not once have I heard

the words wine or booze in her vocabulary. I mean…

So that being said, when she asked to see me, I’m thinking OHMYGAWD, mother of all things lovely, what has my child said now???

I step on over to the cubby area and she says, “so……ummm…did….you send your nightgown with Kaleb to school today?”

Logically, and clearly, I shouldn’t have panicked or been embarrassed by this because duh, I haven’t owned a nightgown since 1992. A nightgown that was trimmed in pink ruffle material with some sort of Disney princess on the front, and obviously that nightgown is long gone. But of course, they crazy mom inside of me panicked and very quickly had a million embarrassing scenarios go through my head. “What if a piece of laundry got stuck to his blankie in the dryer and I just folded it up in there? What if it’s underwear? What if it’s my leggings? OH NO, what if it’s my SPANX?!?” Not one part of me said, “slow your roll Samantha, she clearly said nightgown, not SPANX.”

“Nightgown?” I say? She says, “yes there was a nightgown in Kaleb’s cubby and I just thought you maybe sent it as a…comfort thing for him to sleep with at naptime.” Sure enough, she pulls out a navy and lace looking nightgown, nicely folded, and holds it in the palm of her hand, looking at me.

“I’ve never seen this before. That’s definitely not mine or Kaleb’s.”

We were both stumped. She says, “well…maybe someone else brought it for nap and stuck it in the wrong cubby.” She turned to Kaleb’s best bud in the class and says to him, “did you or your mommy bring this today?” Kaleb’s friend says, “no that’s not mine!”

As the time passes and the blood rushing embarrassment has worn off, I start realizing how hysterical this actually is! Either some kid grabbed his mom’s nightgown without her knowing or a mom legit sent her nightgown for her kid to nap with and clearly she needs to cut the damn cord. I was so in awe of the entire situation, that I just stood there. Part of me really wanted to stay there until every single child was picked up so I could see this all play out.

The teacher kept the nightgown folded and set it aside. She said with an accepting smile on her face, “I’ll just keep asking around.”

Kaleb and I get in the car, I’m still literally laughing out loud because there’s seriously a nightgown at pre-k and I feel the need to share this news to someone I know will appreciate it as much as I do.

I called another mom. I actually called the mom of Kaleb’s friend whom the teacher was also questioning. I knew she would get a kick out of it and then I knew we could secretly discuss who we thought sent their nighty to school with their child. I also wanted to interrogate her a bit too because her mom sometimes picks up her son from school and I thought, “this might be the grandma’s nightgown.”

I was so excited about sharing my news that I was already laughing when she answered.

Before I could even start my story she said, “oh DANG! I forgot to tell you, I put a dress in Kaleb’s cubby today. It doesn’t fit me right and I thought you might want to give it a try.”

……laughter ends and then starts up again. Are you friggin kidding me?! The nightgown that I was so relieved wasn’t mine is now my responsibility to claim??? Damnit.

I of course told her the story and her first response was, “do people even wear nightgowns anymore??” She was obviously more level headed and on a clearer thought path than me. But to be fair, she wasn’t the one getting interrogated by the TeacherAngel.

We shared a good laugh and I tried to very nonchalantly grab the non-nightgown dress this morning without anyone noticing. Of course, in a classroom of 15 alert-as-hell, 4 year olds, and a teacher that doesn’t miss a beat in a gracefully perfect way, everyone saw me grab the dress. “Oh! So this is yours!” she says. “Yeah….it’s mine. My mom friend left it here for me and just to be clear, it’s actually not a nightgown, it’s a legitimate dress.” “Ok, great! You just never know…

some kids find comfort in their mothers things.” ::smiles angelically as I speedwalk out::

and that’s my story of when there was a nightgown at Pre-k.