Take your Child to Work Day

Camryn was THRILLED when I proposed the idea of her joining me for 'Take your Child to Work Day' 2010. Until this year, I had never considered it, but taking into account her recent love of anything school-related, and her intrigue with my job and the kids I work with, I figured now was my chance. So this morning, she got all ready, filled her backpack with markers and activity books, packed a lunch in her monkey lunchbox and was SO excited to be a "big kid" for a day.

We started off with a stop for doughnuts for the class...a surefire winner! When we arrived at school, the office staff helped prepare her a special visitor's badge to wear, and then we headed to the classroom to set up her desk. We made sure she had her needed supplies on hand, and she wrote her own name tag too. :)

During the day, she did many things: participated in Music class, watched "How To" demonstrations by the kids (a big hit!), had laptop time (check out her serious concentration here), enjoyed recess, and colored, colored, colored. She also got to have lunch in the staff room, play with some of her friends (who are daughters of my coworkers and were there for the same reason), hold several class pets, (including a frog) and even attend first grade for a whole hour (thank you, Felicia!), while the 5th graders had their DARE class.





By the end of the day, she was ecstatic but EXHAUSTED. She was having so much fun with her friends though, that I didn't think anything of letting her have some more playground time after school. Turns out, we should have quit while we were ahead...

Literally two minutes before the end of my work day, as I was walking down the porch to retrieve her from the play structure, she collapsed into a heap at the bottom of the climbing rope (pictured above), screaming. bloody. murder. It was several minutes before I could even get out of her where it hurt, let alone what happened.

Long story short, she fell from the climbing rope, and the swelling that quickly ensued urged me to take her to the doctor. I carried her from my classroom to the office, then to my car, and upstairs in the doctor's office, since she wouldn't put any weight on her right foot, and it was getting bigger by the minute.

After an exam, Dr. D. sent her to get X-rays to make sure it wasn't broken. Luckily, it was determined that she had a "pretty impressive sprain," rather than a fracture (Whew!) Unfortunately, this now means several days off of her feet, lots of ice, and NO SOCCER. Which also means that now Brian is coaching a team of elementary schoolers that his daughter doesn't even play on. (But that's another blog for another day.) I think next time I take my child to work, we'll just leave after the buses and go out for ice cream!