Write your name on all supplies

Because I was feeling so melancholy and sad about the beginning of another school year I didn't take the time to write about the funniest part of my week.

It was the day before school, you know, the one where we were getting our names on all of the supplies.

Well I told you about that but what I didn't tell you was that we had to write names on ALL of Kara's supplies.  Literally.

You see, Kara happens to have the same teacher that Jenna had for 1st grade.  Great teacher, lovely lady.  But the thing I remember most about her happened on the first day of school, the open house day where you bring your kids in to meet their teachers and bring all of their school supplies.

I was helping Jenna get situated at her new desk when the bubbly teacher asked if we had remembered to put her name on all of her supplies.

"Yep", I proudly replied, thinking "this lady has no idea how good I am ... I used to be a teacher, I get this!"

The smiling teacher then asked, "Even the crayons?".

Jenna and I shook our heads proudly and held up the 2 required boxes of 24 crayola crayons, clearly indicating that they belonged to Jenna M.  "Yes ma'am!"

"Every crayon?" the doubtful teacher asked.

"Every crayon?" I said, suddenly confused.  "You mean like each and every individual crayon?  Haha!  No!"

"Oh, well you'll need to put her name on each crayon, you know, in case she drops one and can't find it", said the clearly insane teacher.

For a minute I thought she was kidding, but quickly realized she wasn't.  I quickly did the math and realized I now had 48 tiny little crayons to write Jenna's name on, all while trying to keep her 2 year old brother from destroying the classroom and her 4 year old sister from running out of the room.  I began to panic and then heard her sweetly remind me not to forget about the pencils.  All 24 of them.  Sigh.

So there I sat, cross-legged on the floor, for about 15 minutes writing "Jenna" in tiny little letters 72 times in a row, all while pinning a toddler underneath my leg.

I never forgot that day, but eventually got to the point where I could look back on it and laugh.  That was until I got the notice that Kara had the same teacher, and her school supply list and welcome letter specifically mentioned the "each individual crayon" thing.

So guess what I spent my morning doing?

Yep, 72 times.

I'm really glad I gave my kids short names, but names unique enough that there's not a need to write a last name for fear of another kid in the class potentially dropping the same color crayon on the floor at the same time.  Imagine the chaos that would ensue!

This 1st grade teacher is a good one, she really is.  Which is why I'm conflicted about whether or not I hope that Jack gets her.  Because his name isn't all that uncommon, and I don't think I could handle the consequences.