Where's the bus?

Since we have moved, Ella has not been on the bus for coming home. My friend brings her home because her daughter is a walker, or I will pick up the girls and bring them home. Technically Ella isn't supposed to ride the bus. She is a walker now, but since the bus garage told us wrong when we moved, she is allowed to ride the bus this year. We take advantage of it most mornings except for when we need an extra 20 minutes to get ready. But for coming home, Ella gets a ride. For the next week, our friend that we carpool with is in Florida. (lucky bastards!) So today, I told Ella that it would be easier on me if she just rode the bus home. I drilled her in the morning, reminding her to ride the bus. I stopped in her class when I was picking Claire up from school, and told her teacher that she was to ride the bus home.

Bus drop off time comes and the bus does not go by our house. I wait and wait....10 minutes late. Hmmm, Mom alarm starts sounding. Confirm with my Mom that this was not good (I was on the phone with her while this was happening) and called the school. "Are the buses running late?" No Mrs Vachon, they are not. "WELL NO BUS WENT PAST OUR HOUSE, WHERE IS MY BABY?" They put me on hold. (this is a nightmare for a Mom who has no clue where her kid is.)
Turned out that Ella was on her OLD bus for our old house!!! What? How did that happen? and are your positive that she is still on that bus? Where is the bus taking her? The bus was bringing her back to the school and I was to pick her up there.

So this is how it happened. Ella forgot which bus was hers. She asked her teacher which bus she needed to get on. The teacher went back to the room, got the list and told her to get on the wrong bus because she had not updated the bus list since we moved. Also this day, none of the kids from her class that ride the same bus, were riding the bus today. And the old bus driver didn't recognize Ella because it wasn't the old bus driver! It was a new one that started today! What are the chances? And the reason the our bus did not go past our house was because no kid from our stop was there to drop off, so our bus driver just didn't go into our sub for the drop off because there was no one to drop off!!!

It was a crazy afternoon. Ella was scared but didn't cry. She said she was just worried she wasn't going to get home. We hugged A LOT and that seemed to calm her. She told me at dinner, in her most awesome first grader sassy voice "you know Mom, it would have just been easier if you had picked me up." Yes dear, I realize this now. Thank you."