Parenting Fail

This "school" year we have joined a local secular homeschooling group called EnrichRI.  They offer lots of field trips, some classes, and soon will be starting co-op classes.  Reece is too young for much of it, but I wanted to get a feel for what this might be like as a long-term choice, plus maybe meet some other like-minded families.

We've been on two field trips so far, both of which were a ton of fun.

Our first Enrich field trip - a horse-drawn hayride and pumpkin picking

Field trip #2: The fire station blew his mind.

 Reece was so excited about today's trip - a school bus ride to the recycling center and dump.  He absolutely lives for trucks, so this was a dream outing.  I switched my work schedule so that Colin could take him while I was home with Nell.

We messed up the directions and they pulled into the Walmart parking lot as the bus was pulling out.  From home, I wildly tried to contact someone on the bus, but no luck.  This was a brand new feeling - being completely at fault for disappointing your child.  It broke my heart.

Reece was ok about the whole thing.  We were confused - he happily sat at the table enjoying hot chocolate and a cookie.  We thought that maybe he wasn't able to really understand what he was missing, since he's never been to a place like that before.  Or that he just thought we'd do it again another day.  Either way, both Colin and I were a mess of guilt and sadness, and he was pretty darn fine.

At Nana's brilliant suggestion, when Reece woke up from his nap I surprised him with a trip on the city bus to the Children's Museum, one of our very regular and favorite destinations.  I don't know when I have seen such pure joy before!  We had such a fun afternoon and it helped mama heal from the morning's drama.  I also scheduled a trip to the recycling center for early January for Reece and a bunch of his toddler friends, so that should be fun!

This was his face for the entire 20 minute bus ride.

Parenting 101: Always double check the directions and leave extra early.  Children don't always bounce back as easily as they do when they're not quite 3!