Do you know where I can get a red 3 prong plastic folder (not a binder)?

Excuse me for a moment while I dab my crying eyes, wipe my tear-streaked face and blow my nose. *sniffle*

What’s up with all the blubbering, you ask? Well there’s no denying it anymore. Caleb really is a kindergartener. I know I’ve whimpered on and on about this all summer. But I just can’t believe it’s already time for kindergarten. Where did the last five years go? It feels like just yesterday I was rocking him to sleep. Oh wait. That was yesterday.

So anyway, today was Open House. This is the day where we pack up the kid’s school supplies and head off to school to meet the new teacher.

I went to the store over my lunch break to buy said school supplies. I know most moms don’t wait until the very last second to buy school supplies, but I’m not most moms. I’ve always been a huge procrastinator so why stop now? It’s more fun going at the last minute so you can battle with the other latecomers over the last bottle of Elmer’s glue. You’re not a true procrastinator unless you give some poor mom a black eye over a box of Crayola washable markers.

When did school supply lists become so specific? They need one red 3 prong folder, one yellow 3 prong folder, one blue 3 prong folder. They need Fiskar rounded tip scissors. And an 8 pack box of washable Crayola markers. Do Fiskar and Crayola have the school on their payroll?

Plus Skyler and Spencer need one red 3 prong plastic folder (not a binder). WTF? Do you think Target has a red 3 prong plastic folder (not a binder)? Hell no. At least I couldn’t find one. When I was a kid you got to take whatever folder you wanted. I went to school with my Rainbow Bright and Care Bears folders. The boys had their He-Man and Transformers folders. And nobody cared.

But I ended up getting everything except those two red 3 prong plastic folders (not a binder). I packed all their supplies in to their backpacks and we headed out the door to the car. I followed the kids. First Skyler with her pink backpack. Then Spencer with his red, black and white backpack. And finally Caleb with his dinosaur backpack. Caleb strutted along the sidewalk with a big, cheesy smile on his face. He’s so excited about going to school he practically tramped his siblings to get to the van.

Lee took Skyler & Spencer to their 2nd grade classrooms and I took Caleb to his kindergarten classroom. There we met his new teacher. She’s new to the district so I didn’t know her and was anxious to meet her. On Monday Caleb had his annual plastic surgeon visit. He was very shy then. In fact he hid under the chair and refused to answer the nurses when they asked him if he was excited about school. But he wasn’t at all shy today. His teacher asked him his name and he proudly proclaim, “Caleb.” He led me through the room, looking at the books and the games. We found his seat and he sat down to look through his folder. He sat quietly listening while his teacher explained how their day would be structured this year. And he gave her a big smile when she took his picture.

But his favorite part of the night was his new balloon which was weighted down by a four pack of crayons. You go to school and you get a gift. That clinched it for him. School rocks.