First a funny from Friday. At lunch I'm kind of popular. Everybody wants to sit by me and have me open their milk. It makes me feel special. The kids also ask me lots and lots of questions because I guess when you are the tallest one at the table, you know the most. So, this little buddy of mine asked me,
"So, how'd he (referring to BoyTwo) come out of you NOT English anyway?"
hahahaha.
Now for today. Heavy Sigh.
Friday, I, Billy Madison... I mean Stephanie, graduated from first grade. I was told that I no longer have to attend every. single. blasted. day! (there was much hugging and jumping for joy) Not that the kid is perfect, because let's be honest, he's not. However, he has made some notable strides (notice I didn't say huge) and the threat of a lawsuit from a certain parent has subsided. So, yeah. My days are free. Ish.
But then I totally jinxed life saying that BoyTwo hadn't been to the principal's office in four days and now, it looks like I'm being ungraduated. Here's the text I sent to Huz after picking the kids up from school today.
me: "BoyTwo had a bad day today"
Huz: "How was it bad"
me: "Wouldn't do his work, knocking down chairs, throwing pencils, yelling, all this same stuff w/ his aides and then he got in a fight and was sent to the principals office."
me again: "So, pretty bad"
Huz: "Yeah, I should say"
When BoyTwo climbed into the car he told me, "Mom! Today good job schoola!"
really? REALLY?
And then, because whatever I am thinking usually comes out my mouth unfiltered,
"really? REALLY? Mr. Principal good job, BoyTwo?"
him: "Maybe little bit (holding his fingers about a centimeter apart) no good. It's okay mom!"
It is not okay.
And then I came up with a game plan. He is totally cool with hanging out in the principal's office practicing his penmanship for hours on end. He doesn't love it, but it is totally doable for him. Evidently, it's time to change things up.
So, I dropped off the girlies, gave them a five gallon of ice cream to indulge on and told them to play on the computer and the wii and to most of all have fun and stay alive (their little jaws were on the floor. 'really mom?' 'is this a trick?' 'can we have a lot of ice cream?' 'do we have to set the timer for the screen time?' yes, I'm a freak.) and I drove little Mr. It's Okay Mom back to schoola.
I knocked all the chairs off the desks, threw all the pencils on the ground, and then he got to pick them all up. (don't panic, this wasn't done in a rage, just matter of fact. AND I made sure he was out of the way so he didn't get smooshed by a chair) Then, I had him clorox wipe all the desks and cabinets. Followed by the doors, pencil sharpener and the coat closet area because he was actually having fun wiping the desks off so I had to make sure he was getting tired of it. We wrapped up the evening by penning five apology letters. One to his teacher, two aides, class, and family. When we left at 6:45 p.m., we were the last ones there, along with the maintenance crew.
We'll see if this works. I hope it does because I really REALLY have better things to do than clean the school!! Or go to school, for that matter. Yes, I signed up for this, but I also have a pile of laundry the size of Texas that needs to be tackled.
As we got into the car to drive home, the song playing on the radio was Chumbawamba's "I Get Knocked Down."
"I get knocked down but I get up again. You're never gonna keep me down..."
The big question is who the song is referring to. Me or him?:)
Interesting aside, when I was twelve I went on a ski trip with a friend of mine, her dad and about ten older boys, her brother being one of them. One evening, they allowed us to play games with them. We played poker, which up until that night (because I was/am very naive) I thought literally meant a game in which you poke people. Anyhow, the boys patiently explained the rules. We began to play. Then, someone announced,
"Ante up."
Only it sounded like Annie up. And I stopped the game and demanded to know why we had to Annie up. Why couldn't we Jim up or Bob up? And that was one of many times I have had the chance to ponder the concept of THINKING before I speak.
You crack me up!
ReplyDeleteYou have a lot more patience than me. My hat is off....
It is similar in my house. I tell my kids they have all the privileges in the world (with some "Oh! no you do not"s thrown in now and then). When bad things happen, though; I tell them they lose something. Right now, my son can't get on the computer or go out (shopping, friends, Grandma's). We keep having to do that, so maybe it's not all that good a method. Something different I do, too, is to explain. Sometimes I hit upon something good. One time, I told him the only time he has to be good or to do it right is now - never tomorrow, or later, only now, and there are no do-overs. He came home for a while telling me he had made the right decision at some point in his day. Too fun. Thanks for your uplifting and encouraging stories. God bless us everyone.
ReplyDeleteI loved this post. I read it to my parents and they, since we are living with them, totally understood your pain. *hugs, my friend*
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I've mentioned this to you before, but your boytwo adventures mirror in sooooo many ways the 1st couple years we had our Katya home. (Yep, sorry, it lasted that long. But, maybe it won't for you!!) The good news is, she is a completely delightful (almost - ha) normal little 11 year old girl now (almost 5 years later)! Seriously, the school thing was dreadful! It seemed for awhile I had PTSD, the way I'd get all jumpy and nervous if the school called (what now?!) or I got an email from the teacher (which let's face it, was an almost daily occurrance.)
ReplyDeleteAll kids and all families are different, and you will have to arrive at your solution by your own means, but I'll just throw out there, that 2 years after we had her (when she was 9) I caved and we put her on ADHD meds, and it was an AMAZING lifesaver. I am not joking - it was like someone threw out a life vest for us! I almost felt guilty not trying it sooner. Yet, on the other hand, I do feel better about it knowing we tried EVERYTHING else first, and had all these other behavior modification tricks to go with it.
The other thing that has really transformed her is competitive gymnastics. The girl spends 15-18 hours a week working hard at the gym and it's awesome to have both a positive outlet for her energy and for her have something that she is really good at (she's an amazing natural athlete) to throw her energy into.
OK...I really just meant to empathize with you, but got of on a tangent. Hang in there. It WILL get better!