Oh boy. This could turn out to be a very long year.
First, the kids dismissal doors are on direct opposite sides of the building. Caleb is let out at one parking lot and Lorelei an entirely different parking lot. Caleb will be picking up Lorelei after school (once the kids are comfortable with the routine) and walking home with her. So, I went to pick up Caleb first so that Lorelei would get used to waiting for him to arrive.
I waited and waited for Caleb and he never showed up. So, one of the teachers pointed out Mrs. L and I went to ask where Caleb was. Apparently right at the end of the day he busted open his lip on his desk. *sigh* So he had been escorted down to the office for clean up. As she was bringing me in to find him, he came walking towards us with one of the aides. I proceeded down the hall to where Lorelei should be waiting and Caleb's teacher was kind enough to take him back to class to grab his stuff and then offered to walk him to where I needed to get Lorelei.
Imagine my surprise when I get to where Lorelei SHOULD be, but she isn't there. The substitute informs me that Lorelei saw me and took off. She didn't realize that wasn't okay for a 6 year old to do. Lovely.
I spend the next five minutes frantically searching in a sea of kids, grown ups, teachers and traffic for Lorelei. To no avail. I'm about to head into the office, but it's super crowded so I figure I'll go back outside and grab Caleb's teacher from last year Mrs. M to help us search. I get back outside and starting scanning the area again when I hear Lorelei (crying, huge crocodile tears) running up behind me.
She got lost. (Obviously!)
She had gone to the office to tell someone, but it was so busy in there and so hectic it's likely they hadn't even gotten started trying to figure out where in the heck she belonged.
*sigh*
It's always good to have two heart attacks on the first day of school.
Her teacher has been informed (and probably not in my nicest tone of voice) that Lorelei is to remain at her dismissal door until either her brother or I physically retrieve her from the spot. Let's hope I don't have to do that again.