Adventures in Bus Driving

And the Great Santa Claus Debate

Because the school is short on bus drivers J has been filling in a few times a week since school started. Actually he ended up driving several mornings in a row, which meant he and C had to leave our house by about 6:15 each morning. I would love to be a fly on the wall of that bus, especially since C is one of the kids on the bus. The first morning they ended up with two other kindergartners on the bus so the 3 of them karate chopped each other through the entire route. J finally had to stop the bus and get on to C, C said "my dad's a teacher, we better listen to him". As C looses his seat partners in the evenings he'll stand up and yell to the back of the bus "who's gonna sit with me now?" On Monday J had to drive both routes, so when he got on the bus in the evening he realized C wasn't on the bus. He had to radio around to figure out which bus he was on and tell that driver to send him to J's bus when they got to the high school. I really don't know how C found the bus. I keep imagining this big rush of HS kids trying to get on the bus while he was trying to get off and find his dad. J said it was fine, but I'm sure there's more to the story than that. I have a feeling that over the next 13 years there will be a lot of things that I'll never hear the full story, only the condensed version of "he's fine".

Tuesday morning J called me on my way to work to tell me he thought C had learned the truth about Santa in the front seat of the bus that morning. He said C and the two other Kindergartners were debating it. Of course it made me sad, I thought we might have one more Christmas, so I told J to try and divert their attention elsewhere. C came up to J and asked if Santa was real, and like any good parent being faced with that question, he lied. I know there is a lot of debate about lying to your kids about Santa because then they'll doubt you on other more important things like the existence of God, but we did it anyway. I think we'll be able to repair the damage. Later that evening C wanted hot chocolate and he and I were snuggling in our bed watching the History Channel. I didn't know if I wanted to put it in one of my regular mugs because I was afraid he might spill it. I have a tall Christmas mug with a matching plate that we use for Santa so I got it out. I asked C if he wanted to use the big Christmas mug. He said (with his little nose turned up) "Nah, Santa's had his mouth all over that." I told him I'd washed it since then, but it still seemed to gross him out. Unless another debate starts at school we may be safe for another year.