Trauma at Preschool

So today was the Mother's Day Tea Party at Maddie's preschool. All of us mom's were given lovely hats that our kids made, then sat down to eat a snack with the kiddos. The teacher explained that the kids had made pictures of their moms that were hanging on the wall. The pictures were numbered, no names revealed. We were suppose to go up and guess which one was our kiddo's picture. Beneath the picture they answered questions about their mom. Now, being a seasoned preschool mom, I knew the drill. I did however, also recognize that it would be different with Maddie than it was with Rylee. You see, Rylee has always been very logical, and detail oriented. So when she was in preschool, such silly questions about mom were less silly. She nailed her questionare. While the other moms questionares listed ages from 2-100, Rylee responded "29" yup. While the other kids listed moms shoe sizes between 1-100, Rylee responded "8" yup. I knew Maddie's would be different.

All the moms ran up to see the pictures. I waited for the crowd to die down, and hung out with my Maddie. I hear all the mom react to one picture. There are gasps, loud laughs, whispering, and lots of "hope that's not mine!" I go up to check and they are all looking at picture number 4.
Picture number 4 says:
My mom is "4" years old
My mom is prettiest when she....."Goes to the bar"
My mom always says "Wake up sleep head, let's make brownies"
My mom likes to make "Strawberry cookies"
My mom is funny when "she makes strange faces."

Yup, the mother of #4 is about to be put in place for her bar-hopping behavior. We are, afterall, at a Christian school. I sat back down and the mom next to me says "my son wouldn't even know the phrase "going to a bar"...geez." I agreed with her, neither would my kids.

So the teacher then reads out #1, #2, and #3. Each time, she reads it and you shout out if you think it is your kid's picture. She read number 4. You could hear a pin drop. She finally shouts "Madison!" What the.... The entire room erupts into laughter. One lady says "and we thought you were busy at work when you weren't here." I turn beat red. Maddie turns, her head into my chest. She kept her head buried in my chest as everyone laughed at the picture she worked for 2 weeks on. The teacher then went around taking pictures of everyone with their mom. Maddie sat, tears in her eyes, head in my chest. Then it was time to sing the goodbye song. I told Maddie to go sing, then we could go home.

When I got home tonight, Rylee looked at the picture and asked Maddie what it meant to go to a bar. Maddie was puzzled. Rylee asked her "when does mom look prettiest?" Maddie said "like I told Miss Nancy, when she goes to the Ball, you know, like Cinderella." My heart dropped. I had been totally embarassed and worried about what people thought, when I should have been proud as hell. My kiddo thinks I'm a princess. And while apparently not the most articulate, she spent 2 weeks working on a picture, for me.

So, today I've learned two things:
My kiddo does not know about bar hopping, nor does she think I am an alcoholic...phew:)
On mothers day, remember...a picture from a kiddo is their heart poured out. It's like saving money for months to buy something for someone...I'd never want to see a gift I bought for someone thrown away a week later.