Sign and a Portent

Today Cameron's teacher told me that he said something so funny in class...

She was calling the roll and she got to a little girl who was absent. She called out her name again and commented on how she remembered she was going to be late to school. Cam said seriously, "She's probably busy putting on pretty things. That takes a long time, you know."

...That really made me laugh. He is really so funny. He makes us smile so much. And his teacher is great. I hand-picked her at the end of the year last year. She seemed to be the best option for helping keep him in line. She is very organized and seems to know what she's doing. Her name is Mrs. Lamb and she is pregnant.

I didn't know she was pregnant until a few days before school started this year and I saw her in the teacher's workroom. I casually said hello and had a short conversation with her and then out of the corner of my eye I caught it. I knew right away it was a baby bump because she is an extremely tall lady and always very thin but it was definitely not your regular tummy weight gain. You really can tell a bump from flab on those kinds of ladies. She couldn't have been more than a few months along, though because it was still really small. I didn't mention anything just in case but I did get the scooby from another teacher that she was five months pregnant! Five months?! You could barely tell!

I made the classic mistake of freaking out at this news thinking, I don't want Cam to have a fabulous teacher who is just going to leave halfway through the year! What if she has a horrible sub?! What if he is a terror the whole time she is gone and doesn't learn anything?! What if he starts to hate school?? What if she gets horribly grumpy and exhausted and hormonal and ends up not being as fabulous as I have always known her to be?!?!

I started to doubt my choice, perusing the photos of the other 1st grade teachers not knowing who my second pick would be. I talked to a few other teachers to get their advice on the situation. Finally, I just decided to go straight to her and tell her my concerns and see what she had to say.

And then, it hit me...like a tidal wave crashing down, completely covering me with strong emotions of joy and sadness and grief and disappointment and then peace and significance as she told me when she was due - it was the exact same day as my due date would have been - Jan 11, 2011.

It was a sign. There is no other way to describe how I felt but that I knew it was a sign and a portent. He needed to stay in her class. For whatever the reason (and maybe just to calm my fears), I didn't doubt or worry for another second after I heard that. To be honest, I did cry later when I was alone, feeling sorry for myself that she was going to have a baby in January and I wasn't... but I knew it was going to be ok. And so far it's been great.