will WE play in Peoria?

Kaitlyn didn’t have school today. No she isn’t on vacation. She isn’t sick. Her teacher is sick. When the teacher is sick they don’t get a substitute (something about you have to hire a substitute for at least a week at a time). They hope that you’ll just keep your kid at home. If you can’t, then they shuffle the kids around to other classrooms where they just sit in the back and color or whatever to pass the time.

We found out yesterday when we arrived at school that her teacher was sick. I had a French lesson. And they’d gotten the teacher from the classroom where the English teacher would be to fill in for the morning. But she stayed home after lunch. And there was a sign on the door saying the teacher won’t be back till Monday.

I made a hair appointment for this morning knowing it was my last chance to get it done before we leave on vacation. My bangs have been tickling my nose they’re so long and the gray is starting to make me look like Granddad (Kaitlyn told me she thinks that even when Granddad was a little boy he had white hair.) So this morning I packed some paper and pencils in her bag and put her in the car and took her to the hair salon.

I have no idea what possessed her. She sat quietly drawing and talking to herself the entire time. She only stopped long enough to have her bangs trimmed. She did get upset when we were getting ready to leave because she wasn’t going to get her hair painted the way I did. I assured her that when she’s a grown-up, she’ll be able to have her hair painted all she wants.

I also have no idea what possessed me to stop going to this hairdresser. Ok, she’s downtown and you have to call and make an appointment. But she speaks English. Really well. I got the color I want. I got the cut I want. She even thinks my hair looks better all one length and not in a zillion layers. She may be the only hairdresser on earth to have that opinion.. all the more reason to be her client.

After my hair was done, both Kaitlyn and I were ready for lunch. I was hoping to walk to a tex-mex restaurant not too far away. But right next door to the salon is a Chinese restaurant. Kaitlyn loves Chinese food and was adamant we go in. She’d been so well behaved while I had my hair “painted” and cut, I couldn’t refuse. I wish I had. It really wasn’t that good. Kaitlyn ordered skewers of shrimp and white rice. I ordered scallops in spicy sauce and Cantonese rice. Mine was not good. Kaitlyn tried it and said “it tastes fishy.” Which is an accurate description. I tried one of her shrimp and it was ok. Suffice it to say I will be making an effort to go to that hair salon, and will be making an equal effort not to go to that Chinese restaurant.

Despite the pouring rain and cold wind, Kaitlyn did not want to go home after we ate. So we walked to a shoe store to get her some badly-needed new shoes. I couldn’t quite sell her on any new sneakers, but she did pick a lovely gold pair of mary janes and some new crocks with a mermaid pin. The store’s credit card machine was broken and the woman told me just run to the atm and come right back. She said Kaitlyn could stay and play while I did. Maybe I’m crazy, but I left Kaitlyn there going through a box of toys while I rushed out for cash. It went far faster without her tagging along.

At least after that she decided she was ready to go home. I had no more interest in wandering around soaking wet and freezing cold. Despite the bad weather, we had a great Mommy-Kaitlyn day.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.