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Saturday, October 12, 2013

Parent teacher conferences

So, the best way to have a good parent teacher conference is to have a good parent teacher relationship with communication that happens not only at the end of the six weeks but as issues arise and sometimes just to say, "hey, I wanted to tell you he's having a great week."  

This years parent teacher conference was so awesome.  I have to say, I may bribe, plead, beg, coerce these two to follow big brudder all the way through high school and beyond.  There were no surprisess. There was no principal waiting for me as I walked in.  It was un enventful.  Wow!  I didn't hear, " Joseph has told several people (when he was upset and feeling out of control), 'I'm going to tell on you to my mom and she's going to call the government.'  These kinds of threats make me uncomfortable."  Last years gold medal winner comment.  So much to say about that.  A. It's too late now to punish him because you waiting god knows how long to tell me. B. Remember how I told you at the very beginning the gap between emotional age and intellectual age.  That "threat" demonstrates that perfectly.  Stomping saying I'm going to tell ( 3 y.o. Emotionally ) my moms going to call the government (higher intellectual reasoning).  C.  That's just kind of awesome.  D. You're going to let an (at the time)  8 year old hurt your feelings?  Sheesh.  

Anyway, that didn't happen.  You know what did happen a little vindication.  One of the teachers said, "I'll be honest, when I saw his name in the roster, I was scared.  Last year every time I went down the hallway, he was having a major issue.  This year, the teachers stop and ask 'how's Big Brudder doing?'  I tell them great. Because he is."  

So, we had to live through a bad year to get to this awesome point.  Some I'm sure is maturity, being familiar with the school.  More than that though, I believe in my heart of hearts it is this years match.  It works. He has two strong, in control teachers.  He feels that an doesn't feel the need to control everything.  While they are strong and in control, they are not rigid in their thinking.  If they see something is not working, they try to find a solution that works for everyone. Not just Big Brudder, not just them, not just the other students everyone .  I am beyond greatfull for this year.  We needed this year to happen.  I needed this year to happen.  Is he perfect?  No!  Will every day be perfect? Nuh- uh.  But more often than not, it's working, so it's a win!

The NT wee one it turns out is super smart too.  His greatest challenge is that he hates handwriting.  It's hard for him and he doesn't like doing it. So, he does the bare minimum.  Gotta work on that. :-). He has lots of friends and talks in class but stops with reminders.  (Did I ever tell you I almost always had an 'N' in conduct because I "talked excessively."  I guess he comes by it honestly.  

Right now, I'm basking in the glow of my smarty pants kids who are just awesome!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Seven and nine...

So another birthday for my boys has come and gone.  They are seven and nine.  How in the world has that happened at such warp speed?!?

The wee one was sick all week.  In a mother of the year moment, I fussed him up one side and down the other on Monday for being difficult getting ready for soccer.  Turns out he had strep with NO fever. He still had the best birthday eber.  

Big brudder had such a good day on Friday dispite the fact that it was a. Picture day b. Homecoming and c. Come And Take It.  I've never been so glad to not be a teacher as I was on Friday. You could feel the excitement vibrating in the walls of big brudders school.  

Both boys have such amazing teachers who just help them soar.  For the first time in a long time, it feels safe to drop big brudder off.  I'm not on edge about why the school might call.

We've had a guest in the house.  Mimi ( my mom) came for a visit.  The wee one has had five or so sick days to make up for and had been acting like a rabid Tasmanian devil with a caffeine addiction.  I think that's a pretty accurate description of both his body and the speed with which his mouth has been moving.  Big brudder agreed to something, some sort of deal the wee one struck with him, without hearing the finer points because oh my god he's spouting so much non essential information with bits of important thrown in the middle.  I hope there isn't a test later.  Wait, there's always a test later.

The boys officially have more money in their pockets than I do in the bank.  Talk about taking it in.  I was proud no one put up a big fight to put the cash in the bank.  They each had to budget and pick something at the happiest place on earth (target) and save the rest of their gift cards for when the book fair comes to town...oh and for the glorious day that Minecraft comes out for PS3.  I'm not buying that.  

Big brudder is making great strides in his social skills.  Maybe not great strides, but strides none the less.  He's trying to develop friendships and that's hard for him.  I would like to see him try to be friends with the kids who talk to him not the ones who ignore him.  He's like my old cat Sylvester that way.  The more you pushed him off and away, the more determined he became that you would love him.  

The wee one is still his brudders biggest champion and loves him more than anyone else in the planet.  He thinks he's awesome, and he's right.  I think the wee one is pretty awesome too even in rabid Tasmanian devil mode.

I can't wait for school pictures to come back. I wonder if the wee ones neck is stretched and eyebrows raised like last year?

On a personal note, I'm excited that my Perfect Parents Need Not Apply Facebook page is slowly growing.  It feels good to know that I might make a small difference to someone out there.  

I hope you all have a fantastic day.  I think we might head out to the last day of the Come And Take It.  Wish me luck, although our first cold front has come in and it's supposed to be a chilly 83 degrees today. 

Xoxoxo