What a day...

Have you ever read Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day? Yesterday could have classified right up there for my DS 4.

Everything was going fine at school when our Assistant Principal came over the intercom and called a "Code Red--full lockdown" at 1:15pm. We all knew this was no drill. When we go into full lockdown we have to lock the doors, sit quietly on the floor, and wait. Teachers email in and tell the office who is in their room so they can find extra students and notify them of missing students. Yesterday we waited and waited and waited. We could hear the police helicopter hovering above our school. One teacher used her cell phone to text message her family and found out there had been a bank robbery in our area and the suspect was running around our school.

After an hour, they came on the intercom and announced they were looking for two students and to "check our email". It turned out they were also looking for three teachers. Finally, they went to a code white---this means we still stay locked in and no movement on campus--but we could show a movie and/or teach.

Knowing that my DS 4 is a nervous child (somewhat like his Mother) I went to him as soon as they lifted the lockdown a few minutes later. We were supposed to leave campus for an appointment, but I had to cancel it due to being stuck in the school. I signed DS 4 out and we left early hoping it would help him decompress.

On the way home, the neighborhood was still swarming with police as they have not located this suspect yet. We went another way home and found ourselves involved in a traffic accident! A girl pulled out in front of a police car and several other vehicles. She collided with the police car, and slid into my bumper. Thank goodness everyone was fine, but you can imagine my DS 4 since he's never been involved in anything like that.

Since there were so many police in the area, in minutes there were 8 police cars, a fire truck, a rescue squad and a community service vehicle stopped for us. I stayed in my car with DS 4 and he read a book as soon as he could settle down a bit.

Knowing he needed to decompress even more now...I bought him McDonalds...and took him home. I went to workout and upon my return, DS 4 went into his room to find his goldfish dead. We tried to tell him that they were "old"--especially for fair goldfish. He and DH decided that "maybe" the goldfish would revive with a little more oxygen in the water, so they decided to try letting him stay in there overnight. (Sometimes you just have to go with their little minds, you know?)

DS 4 and I sat down to read and he said, "I just need this day to start over!" I explained that some days are like that.

DH helped DS 4 bury the fish this morning, but not before DS 4 carried it gingerly around my house on top of a towel for us all to say our "goodbyes".

So, here we are, on the last day of school before the winter break and I am hoping and praying that it's just another "ordinary day"...at least for DS 4.