Peeper Goes to College orMusical Misadventures

Peeper is taking a Kindermusik class this fall, through the continuing education department of the Shrike'sWorkTown Community College.

The class is at 6 pm on Tuesday evenings, so the plan is for Peeper and me to pick Shrike up at work, go to class, and drop her back at work afterward.

It's only a thirty minute class, so she'll just have to stretch her dinner break by a little bit, and she has permission from her supervisor (who has young kids himself) to do so.

Tonight was the first class, and we weren't off to a very auspicious start when I left the house about fifteen minutes later than we'd said I would.

We had built in some extra time though, and we arrived at the theater on campus (where our registration form told us to go) just a teeeeny bit after six.

When we got to the building, there was another family there - mom and three kids - who told us that they were the only ones there and that "that guy" (who'd just walked out) said there's another classroom building with a theater in it, maybe that's where we are supposed to be.

She then thought to call the number on the paper and managed to talk to a human, and found out that the class wasn't being held on campus at all, rather in a community room at a nearby assisted living facility.

Ack!

So, back to the cars, and down the road we go.

We're following them, and I notice that they have a Rice University licence plate frame.

WTF?!

I went to Rice!

If it were say, UT or A&M, I'd be a bit surprised to see it so far from Texas, but would think that, "Eh, they're probably just fans."

But Rice? Nobody is "just a fan" of Rice. Obviously someone is a grad.

But, I digress.

So, after she took a wrong U-turn, and we took a right U-turn, we managed to find the right place, at about 6:15, and there were only a few people there.

There's one family, who saw us wandering around and pointed us in the right direction (I think they were coming back from the potty, or maybe just arriving?) - with three kids, ages 1, 2 and 3, and Mama pregnant with twins. (Yeah. Holy crap.)

Then there's the woman who turned out to be the teacher, and her husband and three kids, just kind of playing around.

We told the teacher there was another family right behind us, and got signed in.

She told us that we'd not misunderstood the information, the location had been changed and the college was supposed to call everyone - but hadn't.

Then the teacher asked, "So, did the catalog say we were starting at 6:15 or 6:30?"

Um, 6:00.

She said she'd requested 6:15, because people had trouble getting there for 6 last time, but she'll check and see what it's supposed to be.

But, for tonight, we didn't start until about 6:20, so that's cool!

Meanwhile I chatted with Rice mama and it turns out that she graduated two years ahead of me

No, we didn't know each other, nor could we come up with anybody we might know in common (different majors, different residential colleges, two years apart) but technically, we went to college together. How cool is that?

Oh, yeah. The class.

Peeper really seemed to enjoy it.

She couldn't exactly follow the lesson plan, but she seemed to be having fun, and "danced" and shook her shaker-egg (that's a musical instrument, not a euphemism) and was quite happy.

And nobody blinked when she got goody midway through - and it wasn't for not noticing because, of course, it was right when the kids were taking turns riding in laundry baskets (it made sense at the time) and the teacher started to call on Peeper, and I said, "Peeper will wait her turn, she's busy" and everybody just kind of laughed and she went on to the next kid.

And, of course, it wasn't during the "cuddle and rock slow song" at the end of class. No, that's when she wanted to walk!

After class, we didn't stick around to chat because Shrike was already running late to get back to work.

I asked her to drive as far as work, so I could sit in the back and nurse Peeper, to hold her for the thirty minute drive home (she'd just had a little snacklet during class).

So, we drove through McDonalds, and dropped Mommy back and work, and I hopped in the front seat and we came home.

Peeper cried for a while, but settled down and slept the rest of the home.

When we got home, I picked up Peeper, the diaper bag, the remains of my chicken sandwich and the bag of stuff from class, and went to let us in.

I was having trouble locating my house key on the ring, and then, well, let me just tell you how it went, in my head:

Where the hell is the house key? Oh, there it is, but why does it have a rubber thingy on it? Did Shrike put that on there for me? B ecause hers has one.
Oh. Wait. These are her keys. So, she must have mine? Okay, that's fine. Or. . .
(pat pat pocket) Shit.

Yep, I had both sets of keys.

Shrike used her keys to drive us back to her work, and then hopped out and I hopped behind the wheel and see ya! and left the keys there.

I started to just get right back in the car, but Peeper smelled suspicious, so I came in for a quick diaper change (she was just kidding with the smell) and goody-stop and a call to Shrike to let her know.

Then, we drove back down there and returned her keys, so she could get home from work.

It took a little more than an hour, round trip.

But Peeper really enjoyed the music class.