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sigh – Bad start to the week

Posted on September 10, 2007 3:31 pm by TheAngelForever

What else can I say? Right now I am sitting here with tears running down my face. I feel like a failure to my 4 year old. Where did we go wrong? Is it simply what they always say that teachers have kids that challenge their colleagues? All I know if my head was pounding before and now it’s worse.

You know it isn’t a good sign when the teacher pulls you over at dismissal to tell you that she needs to talk to you later. I asked if I could wait to talk to her after school since it may be easier than with everyone at school this evening.

I walked in and NHL’s OT was there. We chatted and I get the vague hint of her saying "I told you so" about sending him to this school. All I wanted was to help NHL and get him out of where he was. He needs structure and to be challenged. He needs people not to take his BS excuses. He is very capable to do things, but says he can’t.

Drop off this morning was beyond a nightmare for JL. NHL was pulling every trick in the book once he left the house. He went without an issue and then the HELL began. He put his foot in the door demanding a toy before they left. JL got him the toy. When they got to school NHL would not go in the building. JL had to drag him out of the car and into the school where he grew roots. His teacher finally gave JL the nod to go.

His teacher said it did not stop once dad left. She looked so frazzled this afternoon it wasn’t funny. She looked the way I felt. Then at nap time they got him to settle on the floor. He was so out of it he had an accident. When they tried to get him to change at the nurse he flipped out and raised his voice to the teacher. *sigh*

I just want to curl up and cry, but I have tons of laundry to do, a baby who is miserable thanks to 4 shots and NHL who is beyond tired thanks to crying all day.

I seriously do not know what to do. I think this is the right school for him, I just think we need a LOT of tough love and rules for him to follow. Hopefully that will work and he will adapt to this major change in his life. Tomorrow I will take him to school to see if we can get him over this hump.

C’est Moi

Categories:
bad news nhl sahm school

4 Year Portrait H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

Posted on September 10, 2007 7:32 am by TheAngelForever

Yesterday was portrait day. NHL was 4 in August so it was time to get this done. We were going to do family ones as well, but opted not to at the last moment. Normally we go to Sears, but this time we figured we would try JC Penney. Thanks to nice coupons and trying to save money we thought this was a good idea. When the sky opened up on our way out of the door I should have known to head back into the house and under the covers. Unfortunately we didn’t acknowledge the sign and continued with our plans.

We now know why it always looks like the studio where we went is busy. If there is more than one customer waiting it is packed. It was a mess even before we tried to take photos. It just got worse from there. We went into the room after waiting a while. The girl set up the area and NHL got all antsy. We could see he was getting tired and he was very clingy with JL. Then as things were almost ready he was asking to leave for lunch. He didn’t want to do the photos. I was ready to scream at that point since he was hysterical and about to cry. I tried to stay calm and gave JSL a bottle I pumped before leaving.

NHL did not want to get up on the platform for the photos. He made a deal to hold JL’s hand. This was not cool since we could not have JL’s arm floating into the photo. No matter what we did he wouldn’t let go. There’s no doubt a lot of this was from the PreK leaving daddy, being hungry, cranky from the gross weather, but give me a break. After what seemed like forever the girl was able to get 6-8 shots. So we went to wait and see them on the computer.

And wait, and wait and wait and wait.

There were two people who must have thought that selecting photos is rocket science. It was ridiculous since their photos were not even taken yesterday. JL was rolling his eyes, NHL was curled up in his arms almost asleep, and JSL was fussing. I wanted to just take off since I darn well knew the photos were not going to be worth the wait.

Finally the people were done and it was our turn. Impressed I was not. There were two shots that were OK, but nothing special. We quickly agreed to leave and think about it. They save the negtives (yes they actually still use film there) for 90 days so we can think about it. JL and I have decided we are going to pass at this point and see if we can get NHL into another location – possibly a different JC Penney or Sears. Perhaps the extra money is worth it if they can get a decent shot.

Thanks to this fun and the weather I had a miserable migraine that would not go away yesterday afternoon and is still kind of lingering this morning. That should make taking JSL for his 4 month visit and immunization even more fun.

*sigh*

C’est Moi

Categories:
losing my mind nhl

Rough days ahead

Posted on September 8, 2007 8:34 am by TheAngelForever

The road to PreK for NHL has been a bumpy one, especially Friday. The little guy is so excited to get ready and go, but when it is time to leave daddy, things go downhill quickly.

Friday I received a call from JL after drop off. NHL was going to go half way to his room alone. This did not happen. He was clingy and eventually went into complete meltdown and crying. The poor little guy did not want to leave JL. This is something that had not happened in months at nursery school. They finally got him into the room and Noah’s teacher helped so JL could leave. Later another mother said she got there just as JL left and NHL was calm and playing before she left.

Unfortunately, more is going on. Yesterday at pick up I wanted to talk with his teacher quickly to make sure she was fine with his therapists coming in when they were. She told me she couldn’t talk, but would call over the weekend, likely Sunday. She also mentioned he had a tough day, especially in the afternoon. Well, I may have fund a reason for that. I’m not making excuses for my kid, but this could honestly be the heart of the problem. All three days NHL has barely eaten his lunch. Friday seemed to be the worst. His juice was gone (who knows if he drank it), but there was only 1-3 bites of sandwich missing and everything else was still there.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be too nice in the afternoon if I had not eaten since 6:45 in the morning. I would have a nasty headache and be snarly to say the least. So we shall see what his teacher has to say and get suggestions from her to assist with drop off.

Here are some additional photos that JL took on day 2 since he forgot the camera the first day.

Hopefully things get better next week. Now off to enjoy the weekend as a family.

C’est Moi

Categories:
nhl school

The sweet sound of baby laughs

Posted on September 6, 2007 4:30 pm by TheAngelForever

Ah, nothing can warm your heart more than the tiny, belly laughs of a baby. Every so often you can still hear some of the same laughs coming from four year old NHL. It brings back memories of making him laugh and likewise him making us laugh. With NHL there were words of the day that would just make him break out into hysterical laughter. We have been waiting to hear some of these from JSL. Last night while I was changing his onesie thanks to baby spot up I asked him "Is that funny?" Well, apparently that was just hilarious. JSL was giggling like crazy. JL and NHL even heard it at the dining room table. Unfortunately by the time JL came in to get a video of it, JSL was too tired from laughing so much. So we will have to capture it again soon.

Here’s a video of NHL laughing when he was 6 months old February 21, 2004. For some reason he thought the work "sugar" was the most hilarious word. We had just been talking about the now gone Krispy Kreme opening. We happened to say the word and the rest is history.

[media:http://www.theangelforever.com/media/2006/09/06/the-sweet-sound-of-baby-laughs/2004-02-21-Sugar.flv]

C’est Moi

Categories:
jsl laughs nhl video

PreK day one reactions & pizza burn

Posted on September 6, 2007 8:45 am by TheAngelForever

As previously mentioned (And So it Begins) NHL’s first day of PreK was yesterday. I went early to make sure I got a parking spot to pick him up. Thank goodness since they let them out 5 minutes early. I could only imagine how scared he would have been if Mommy wasn’t there.

So Ms. L tells me that NHL had a good day and we head off to the car down the street. The first thing out of NHL’s mouth "I didn’t get to use the computers!" I kid you not, that is what the child said to me. Not "Hi Mommy" – nope it was a complaint about that and then not being able to play with the puzzles.

After a reminder from me he gave me a hug and told me that he had a good day. In the car he told me about his "best friend" and asked if he could have something to drink when he got home because they threw away his apple juice.

What?

So NHL tells me his version of what happens and it doesn’t quite make sense. So JL asked about it this morning. Then he told me that at the new school they only go to the playground once a day not twice like at his nursery school. These adjustments are going to take time.

This morning he was just as excited to get up and go to school. JL called a few minutes ago to tell me that he wasn’t quite as eager to go once he got there. They went in together one more time and eventually NHL said goodbye and was good. JL asked the questions he had and also told them about last evenings events. (Tomorrow JL will only walk him to the outside door and NHL will go to his classroom alone)

JL is trying to get NHL more involved in making dinner so he’ll be more interested in eating things (boy can 4 year old be a PITA). Last night we made pizza. So NHL helped JL to make one of them. When it came out of the oven JL told him that it was hot. Well, 4 year olds are fast and before JL knew what happened, NHL was point and touching the pizza slice he wanted. He burned himself pretty badly. He finally calmed down enough and a little while later we had him soaking it in water to hydrate the skin. A small blister was forming, but this morning it’s hardly there. *sigh* Never a dull moment I tell ya.

So we shall see how things go today. They know to keep an eye on him at lunch to make sure he can open the juice and to speed him up while eating. With any luck he will still be happy this afternoon when I pick him up.

C’est Moi