Tuesday was Jon's first day of school. We got up early. I got ready while Britt dressed the boys. It was our same routine as always, just a little earlier in the morning and a little more rushed than usual. I buckled the boys up in the car seat trying not to make eye contact, as I was still feeling a bit guilty about ditching Jon with a complete stranger and we set off for the school. It's less than a 10 minute drive from the house, so we were there all too soon. I climbed in the back seat and unbuckled Jon and we climbed out. I asked for his teacher, and was directed over to her. We introduced ourselves and talked for a few minutes. Jon bolted toward the car, and I grabbed him. When it was time for me to leave, I handed him off, rubbed his back and told him I'd be back in a couple hours. I tried not to make eye contact so I didn't start crying. He whined, and I hurried away to the car. I sat down and bawled about leaving my baby. Before pulling out, I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw his back, as his teacher turned him so he wouldn't see me leave.
After that Will and I continued on to the local school board office for exceptional students, so he could be tested to see if he would qualify for speech therapy. We got there and they took Will's picture and started the testing, and he immediately refused to participate. He was adamantly saying no and wanted no part of it. At one point he hid under the chair. Needless to say he failed almost every area of the test, and so he will be going through a second round of testing to qualify him for speech therapy through the school. I told him I was hoping he scored poorly enough to qualify, but I hadn't counted on him refusing to demonstrate anything.
After that, still a bit mopey about dropping off Jon at school, Will and I headed home to do school with the four oldest. We did history, and Will sat so nice and colored at the table. When then started science with Britt and Ruth and he got clingy. Insisting on sitting in my lap and cuddling. Will is cuddly, but not so clingy like Jon, especially when we are at home. I started feeling suspicious. He started whining and Kate piped up, "He sounds like Jon." I turned him around, and moved his bangs, and sure enough, it wasn't Will... it was Jon. That meant that I dropped the wrong twin off at school.
Now, we have been blessed with identical twins, with twins that are remarkably identical even for identical twins. I can tell them apart only by the veins in their forehead, and the location of their cowlick. Both tricks that are far easier to determine when they are together. I was really hoping I was wrong, I called Ruth over, and she started laughing and confirmed it was Jon. She went skipping off to tell Britt that he dressed the boys wrong and so the wrong one was at school. I told Gary, who had just gotten up what was going on, and he laughed and said, "That's something I would do, not you. And I can just hear you asking me, don't I know my own kids!?" He told me to go on down to the school and explain what happened, and to bring the other twin so they could see the mix up for themselves.
So I went to the school, it was 11:40 at this point, and early dismissal was noon. I told the receptionist. I dropped off the wrong twin this morning. She was quiet a minute and said let me ask what we need to do. She walked into the registrar's office quietly said something, and then the registrar burst out laughing. She came out and asked, "first day of school" I said yes, and she brought me Jon's car passes and said since it was so close to dismissal that we'd just let Will stay for the rest of the day. I told her I had never gotten them mixed up, but I had that morning. They got a good laugh out of it.
She called his teacher and said, "You have Will." She responded, "I don't have anyone named Will in my class." The registrar then said, "No, mom dropped off the wrong twin, you have Will, not Jon." I walked around to where I was suppose to pick him up, and when his class came out, I apologized to her again, and she just smiled and said, "Will had a great first day of school." I didn't tell her that she was going to wish I mixed them up all the time, after she had Jon for the day. She told Will it was nice to meet him, and then looked at the boys side by side and asked, "Wow, they really are identical, how do you tell them apart." I just said, "It's not easy." She replied "They are so identical, if they both end up here, we'll have to put them in different classes."
I called my parents first, and said, "I thought you'd like to hear about Jon's first day of school. Will enjoyed it." Mother cackled for a while before she could tell Daddy what had happened. They both seemed to feel better that even I can mix the twins up. Next, I called Memaw and Mister to tell them what had happened. They didn't believe me at first, but then Memaw couldn't catch her breath for laughing too.
So Will really enjoyed Jon's first day of school, and Momma learned her lesson, to double check that I'm dropping the right boy off for school. I guess there is a first time for everything, even mixing up identical twins.
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