Remainder of Last Week

Check me out! I've found some time again!! I want to add that the first Sunday the boys were here, a young man who had just returned from serving a mission shared a scripture from Romans 12:21, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Hmmm. Seems like the big guy was maybe trying to tell me something about how to deal with the boys...

Anyhow.

In the midst of all the doctor and dentist appointments and errand running, I was meeting with both the elementary school and junior high to devise a curriculum plan for both boys, along with the ELL plan. As in several meetings for both. I am thrilled, beyond thrilled actually, that both schools and the district have thus far been great to work with and are getting things moving very quickly. Hallelujah!!

Wednesday is our craaaaaazy day. We have 'early out' every Wednesday. When I moved to this state I thought that it was the most bizarre thing to have one day every single week where elementary students get out of school early. Maybe that is how it is done now everywhere. Whatever the reason, I love it. Our old schools had early out on Friday. It made it easy to go for a quick weekend vacation. When we moved up here, I thought Wednesday early out was so random, but I have grown to love it. It's a great skiing day. Who skiis in the middle of the week in the middle of the day except the locals?? It's great. I kind of think that I would grow to love any day school got out early though!! So, Wednesday is early out. I pick the elementary kids up from school and we go straight to dance for Four. During her class we wait at the nearby park. As soon as her class is over, in goes Three and two of her friends. During this class we theoretically should be going back to the park, but have been running back home (which is no quick jaunt. It's 15-20 minutes each way) to retrieve forgotten items such as dance attire, reading materials, homework assignments, food, wallet... You get the idea. As soon as Three is finished, we haul down to our old town (50 minutes away) for One to take her dance class. During this time we have our 'town time' where we do our bulk shopping, getting together with or dropping in on old friends and neighbors, and other random things that have to be done 'in town' as we small towners call going to the 'big' city. As soon as One is done, we haul back to our quaint little residence for Huz, BoyOne and One to go to our church for their weekly and semi-weekly activities. They (are supposed to) get home at 8:30 (which is usually 9 or 9:30-too late on a school night. there's my two cents.) and it is off to bed. Somewhere in there we squeeze in homework and dinner. Whew! That wore me out just thinking about it again!!

Thursday BoyTwo started school. During one of my meetings at the elementary, a woman overheard us talking and mentioned that her neighbor spoke Russian and offered his name and phone number for our assistance. This guy is an ER doctor and due to his erratic schedule, he is available sometimes during school hours. He offered to come to the school and translate for BoyTwo during the first two hours of his first two days of school. It was VERY helpful and VERY kind of him to do this. Especially because the second day of school he came straight to the school from his shift at the hospital. (which reminds me of how each of my kids have pronounced hospital: hostible. haha) I am at the school, but not in the classroom unless necessary. We decided that it was essential for BoyTwo to recognize that his teacher was the one in charge of this show, and I introduced her to him by saying while I was gone, he was to listen to her, she was in charge. He did alright. He swears a lot. A lot. Fortunately it was all in Russian. He tried to kick a little girl, but missed, pushed a boy off the monkey bars, luckily he was not hurt, and ran around the classroom wreaking havoc. I hope that this doesn't push this teacher into retirement. Poor lady. Honestly, though, it was about what we expected. It was a little awkward for the doctor and the teacher and the teacher's aide when BoyTwo would act out because they weren't sure if they should all try to handle him, or just keep translating what was going on or what. They figured it out and made it work. At the very beginning of the day, I introduced everyone. At the end of the day (we only did 1/2 day) we sat down and went over the school rules. BoyTwo kept swearing and saying that he was not going to obey the rules. The doctor wasn't translating all of this at first until I told him that I understood what the little turd was saying. I pulled BoyTwo's chair toward mine so that we were facing each other and took his grouchy little face in my hand and made him apologize to the doctor, the teacher, the counselor and me for his foul language and rudeness. Then I told him the next time he swore I would wash his mouth out with soap because I was sure it was just filthy from all those dirty, dirty words. The doctor continued with the rules. BoyTwo started to sass, but this time I didn't wait for translation. He was required to apologize immediately and agree to the rules and regulations of the school with the other option being that he remain in that chair until he was ready to agree to being safe and respectful. I also reminded him that I would be happy to 'shampoo' his mouth if he needed me to. We can't have a dirty mouth, you know. While we waited at the school in case of an emergency, I sorted and folded and passed out school t-shirts. BoyOne was less than thrilled to be hanging out at the school with nothing to do. I tried to tell him that he could play on the computer or my phone but, because he is fourteen and Ukrainian, he knows everything and wouldn't even listen to me tell him this. His loss. Next, he asked for me to buy him a soda from the vending machine. I am anti-soda. I rarely drink soda. I don't like it. It's full of sugar, it's bad for your teeth, it makes my eyes water. I don't buy it except for maybe twice a year. Plus, you have to pay for it. So, when he asked me for soda, I told him no. I didn't have any money (true) and there was a drinking fountain in the hall. He. was. ticked. He went off on a Russian rant about how I always say no. No, no, no, no. America sucks. I suck. Swear words. America sucks again. And I had not such a shining mommy moment where I told him to stop talking right now. Then I added that Ukraine sucks. Whatever, we all have room to grow.

So, I'm pretty sure that everyone will agree that there is absolutely no inkling of respect in these kids and I'm sure their pasts have everything to do with it. I wouldn't respect any adult or person either if I'd had to deal with what they had. I am a firm believer that you cannot force someone into respecting another person. That being said, I do believe that you can teach them to treat all people respectfully. Two different things in my book. And both are going to take a loooong time to learn. And lots of effort. And I'm probably going to feel really annoyed that they don't just get it. So, bear with me as I complain about the lack of respect. Especially when it's over a can of stupid sprite!! Yes, we anticipated disrespect, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't bug when it happens.

Friday, BoyOne started school. He hyperventilated going over there, but insisted that he was fine and wanted to start. My one eyebrow was WAY up there, but I was going to let him go if he said he was ready. The school he attends is amazing. I completely forgot to tell you that Monday night, one of my friends from the PTO invited our family over for dinner and playtime. She also invited over several boys who were all BoyOne's age that he would be attending school with. We are surrounded by great people with great kids up here and we feel very blessed. These boys were great. They took BoyOne right in and made him feel so comfortable and confident. My friend's son made sure that he was the one to show BoyOne around the school and to his classes. The boys on his soccer team have rallied around him as have the kids from the neighborhood. When I picked him up after his first day and asked him how it had gone, he gave me a big smile and two thumbs up and then,

"girls!!"

with an even bigger smile and more enthusiastic thumbs.

???!!????

yikes.

Friday was lovely. Really busy again. BoyOne had a soccer game two hours south of where we live, so I sent Huz and the boys to that. The girls and I took One to dance and met several of our friends at the park while we waited for her class to end. When it was over, we ran a few more 'in town' errands and then grabbed a gourmet McDonalds dinner (gag) and ran to the airport to see one of my friends who was just arriving with her two new children from Ukraine. I can hardly believe that I had come home just a week ago, but there I was. Still standing. Even if it was just barely:)