Daughter Of The Year Goes To Kaylea!!!!

....and Mom of the Year (in the lousy category) goes to me. In case any of you out there have ever doubted the fablousness of my daughter, just sit back and read this.

As you are aware, from reading the Science Fair post, yesterday we began working on the experiment phase of Kaylea's project. Kaylea was very excited about making an entry in the Science Fair. The entry was not a requirement for the 3rd graders and she was excited because she was going to be one of only a few children in her grade that were participating.

As I mentioned before, the material for the Science Fair was sent home several months ago (I believe the beginning of October). I looked over the requirements and dates at that time and then filed (ha) the paper on the top of my computer desk where all of the things that need to be dealt with go. Pretty much since the day the paper came home, Kaylea has been pestering me to get started on the project. I just didn't see any need to start that early since the Science Fair wasn't until February (so I thought). I wanted her to wait so that the research would be fresh in her mind (and also because I have a BAD habit of procrastinating).

Today, I dug to the bottom of the paper pile on the desk because I needed to know the dimension requirements for the display boards. I thought it would be neat to take Kaylea to the store and let her pick out all of the "pretties" for her board. Well, imagine my shock and sickness when I discovered that her school Science Fair in TOMORROW! YES, it is tomorrow! The date in February that I had ingrained in my head is the date of the county-wide Science Fair. Boy o boy, did I screw up!!!!!!!! Now I only had to figure out a way tell my daughter without causing too much therapy in the future.

As I drove to school this afternoon, I rehearsed the impending conversation with her in my head. I have to admit I was very nervous about telling her. Not because she would know that I am not perfect (I have proven that many times over) but because I hate to think that I am causing her any type of sadness, disappointment or grief. The last thing on earth I want to do is let down my little girl, and in my opinion I had let her down in a big way!

When I picked her up I told her that I had something to tell her and she was probably going to be mad at me, AND THAT WAS O.K. Then, I told her I was really sorry for the mistake I had made. Finally, I told her that she was not going to be able to participate in the Science Fair because I had not written down the correct date.

You know, she just looked at me and said, "It's o.k. Mom. Parents make mistakes sometimes, too." Can you believe it? Wow, what a kid! I know she is great but let's face it she is NINE. Most of the time, her little universe has her in the middle with everyone else orbiting around her. But today, she was so mature. She wasn't disappointed, at least she didn't show it if she was. She was so understanding and accepting and even gave me a hug and told me not to worry about it.

I'm sure some of you probably think I made way too big a deal about this and maybe I did. I just know that it makes me sick to think of letting her down in any way.

Bub and I discussed the situation and pondered our options at this point. We both think it is important for Kaylea to finish her project. She needs to be able to have the satisfaction of completing the project that she has been looking forward to. Also, it won't hurt her to learn the steps involved in conducting an experiment and completing a Science Fair project. So, we put our heads together (Daddy, Kaylea and Me) and decided that when she is finished Kaylea can enter her project into the first ever Curiously Kaylea Cyber Science Fair. Yes, our little Blog will be having its own Science Fair. I will post lots of pictures of her project along with the results of our test when everything is complete. Of course, we are going to need some judges for our Cyber Science Fair. If you would like to be one of our judges, just leave a little comment when you see her finished project on the Blog. She will be anxiously awaiting your feedback.