Back to School

School resumes in about 3 1/2 weeks.  The girls are starting kindergarten this year so we are new to "big kid" school.  We do have several years of preschool experience, including the last year in the public school system, and therefore, I feel up to the challenge of readying everyone for their first day. 

To celebrate starting "big kid" school, we decided to indulge in some nicer backpacks this year.  Since the nicer ones are only marginally higher than what we would find at Target and since this gear will be subjected to rigorous, daily use, we thought the expense would be justified.  I showed the Pottery Barn Kids (PBK) catalog to the girls a couple of weeks ago, and they made their selections. 

Ok, I'm going to come clean here.  Part of my rationale and motivation is that a PBK purchase would mean I would not have to look at "Barbie" or some other character on their backs for an entire year.  I was very excited over the prospect of a tasteful ensemble and made plans to purchase. 

But then we had George's birthday and his party.  I got distracted.  Admittedly, it takes very little to break my concentration. 

So a couple of days ago (and a full month before school resumes), I logged on to the PBK website to make purchases.  Gracie's lavender dot backpack is completely sold out.  I called them, and they confirmed that there will be no more lavender dot backpacks -- ever.  Lauren's pink dot backpack is on back order, to be deliverable on a date after school resumes.  If you are even remotely familiar with Lauren, you know that will never do, unless you have a high tolerance for hearing "Where's my backpack?" 10,000 times each day.

Skip suggested calling the store, and -- miracle! -- they had two lavender dot backpacks available!  They held one of them for me, and we picked up everything today.  Luckily, Lauren forgot about her pink dot selection (in contrast, Gracie forgets nothing) and was easily sold on the pink owl backpack instead.  I know I'm losing you here with this degree of detail, but my final piece of information is that Gracie's accessories -- a lunchbox and pencil case -- were also sold out.  She agreed to have contrasting accessories with the lavender owl print.  (She was not budging from that lavender dot backpack, that's for sure.)

My point with all of that is who in the world buys their school gear so early?  At a month in advance, I though I was being really early, only to find most items gone.  Is this a whole new league, predicated on an early-bird-gets-the-worm philosophy?  Who are these aggressively prepared moms?  Do I have to compete them them?  Or, should I befriend one, slip her a $20 and ask her to pick up our backpacks at the beginning of June next year when she makes her purchases? 

Final thoughts:

1)  We are ready for preschool in a couple of years because I purchased a backpack for George.  Ok, not really... we needed a small diaper bag. 

2)  My children have now partaken of the PB Kool-Aid, declaring, "We LOVE this room!!!!" when they were playing in one of the mock bedrooms. 

"Do we have to leave???" they asked when it was time to go.  (I feel the same way in the Ralph Lauren Home displays.  Why can't we just live there?)

I guess we could camp out until next year and be sure to have first dibs on backpacks.