What Day Is It Today?

Pajama day. Crazy hat day. Red Shirt Day (start at the 0:25 mark). In the life of a preschooler, these oh-so-important days happen, well, all too often.

Confession: I actually did remember Red Shirt day. But the criticism and judgement I'd been subjected to resulting from some other oversight along the way still stings, even if I can't remember exactly what it was I'd forgotten then.

See, I still forget things.

There is so much to remember on just a plain old regular day. My badge to get in to the office. Enough insulin and needles to get through the work day. If Hannah has an aftercare field trip and I need to pick up Max first. To move the laundry from the washer to the dryer. So layering in one of these extras can feel completely overwhelming to me.

In elementary school, Hannah has had a few pajama days along the way, as a reward for good classroom behavior. The whole class gathered enough "cubes of kindness" or what have you, and they earned it. Hannah carefully selected her pajamas, and other than making sure they were clean on the appropriate day, not a lot of extra work for me. But preschoolers don't know the difference between Monday and Saturday, and therefore it's all on the parents. So the other night I stopped at CVS with both kids after dinner, a special extra errand, to purchase hair product for Max. Yes, the five year old had silly hair day and he was adamant that he wanted a mohawk (thanks to Hannah for giving him that idea). When we got home we did a test run, and Max appeared to love his spiky hair...until it was the morning before preschool, extra early to accommodate my schedule, when he flat out refused to let me do his hair.

And the worst part of it was that a week earlier, I told Marc I wasn't going to stress about the week of "crazy" days they'd planned. We were only home for two of the days, and I was planning to ignore it completely. But that old guilt came rushing back, and when he was talking about what he wanted to do, I couldn't *not* do it. Even though I suspected that the outcome would be exactly as it was.

I understand special outfits for a school performance. I get how special "show and tell" can be. But for the five and under set? My kids didn't seem to get much out of these special days, and yet I've been scarred enough to become a frequent user of calendar reminder alerts.

What about you? Do your kids love these special days? Or am I doing it all wrong?