The verdict is in.

I will be pulling Ian out of his school either tomorrow or Wednesday. The principal was unwilling to make the switch for various reasons, until she realized that her teacher had broken the law and given me private information about another child. Right after I told her that, she was willing to have him change classes, provided that I don't talk to any parents about any of this. Hmmm.....Don't think so, lady.

The waiting game

I finally went to the principal today to request a classroom change for Ian. Yesterday was the last straw, when she was waaayyy too angry for something as small as ripping a piece of paper that didn't belong to him. (he found it outside on the playground after school, and she thought that this was enough to drag him over to me and inform me that since he didn't try to find out who the paper belonged to, since there was no name, now a child has hurt feelings. And she was genuinely angry!)

I am aware of my child's faults. I know that he probably shouldn't have ripped something that wasn't his. But he is 6. Did she really expect him to ask all the kids on the playground if these paper glasses belonged to anyone? Seems a little odd, and blown out of proportion to me, especially on the anger part.

We'll hear the decision on Monday. The principal asked for enough time to talk to the teacher, and observe the class a little on Monday. I'll wait, but only that long. I think that it has gone on long enough.

an interesting by the way, I talked to another mom from his class after my meeting. She informed me that another student was pulled from the school because they would not let him change classes, and then she told me that she is pulling her son out next week because of the teacher as well. Think it's just a coincidence??

Parent Teacher Conference

I had the conference with Ian's teacher Friday morning, and I am still confused. To recap quickly, if you didn't read the post below, I had to meet with the teacher to discuss Ian's 'anger issues'. I drop the kids off at my mother's house at the ungodly hour of 7:15 (remember, we carpool, so I don't take the kids to school, which means I don't have to get ready first thing in the morning. I know, poor me!) I arrive at the school, and while we are waiting for the PE teacher, his classroom teacher and myself start on her portion of the meeting. The run down? I heard about what a wonderful kid he is, and how smart he is, and that his biggest problem is trying to be funny at the wrong times. Anger? Oh no, he controls himself very well, and in fact is able to walk away from the other kid when they have issues. The kicker on the anger part? I find out that not only is Ian not the angry child, he's actually being bullied to the point where other teachers have been told to keep an eye out for it! And yet, I was told we needed the meeting for his anger. I mentioned this, and she said, well, yes, he was very angry last week when I told him that there would be a phone call home. Uh, yeah, because he knew he was in trouble?!?!? I told her that he was working towards a pair of Heely's, and it all depended on his school behavior. He knew that a phone call home was a HUGE nono, and that he had pretty much lost the Heely's. Yeah, he was mad and went and pouted at his desk. I would have, too! But he didn't yell or scream or hit or kick. He crossed his arms, said grrr, and walked over to his seat and sat and pouted. Ummm, I thought that would be kinda normal for a 6 year old.
Now, I do understand that he has some issues that need to be worked on, and we are working on them. He's gotten better at his schoolwork to the point where he's completing it all at school, instead of bringing it home on top of homework. He's also, since school started, had all 'green' days, with the exception of a few yellow for talking, and then the 'orange' day when she sent the note home last week. He's trying, and I know that it will take more than a couple of weeks for everything to become routine. I also don't want to throw too many improvements at him at once. He's got 2 or 3 things he's working on now, and when he accomplishes one of his goals, then I will give him a new one.
Enter PE teacher. She was great. She said that Ian's biggest problems were talking when he shouldn't be, and not listening too well. So she explained to me that she talked with Ian, and he knew that those were the reasons he got into trouble. The made a deal that Ian would work on one of those issues, like listening better, at a time. She knows that his changes won't happen over night, but as long as Ian is working on it, she is happy with that. Bad habits can take awhile to break, and that's basically what he has to do.
But, still, I am unsure what prompted this meeting, especially first thing Friday morning (I know, I'm a weenie!) when he doesn't have the issues she originally called the meeting for!

Kids should come with an instruction manual!

*****Caution: Mommy rant ahead!*****

Picked up Ian from school today, and after that, all hell broke loose. Although, I guess I should backtrack so that I don't seem like a total moron or shrew.

Ian has always been a good student. Kindergarten, he did awesome. He was able to test into the first grade math program halfway through the semester, he was (fairly) well behaved, he was polite, he did his homework happily, and just in general, he was a happy kid. Same for this year, up until mid to the end of October.

All of a sudden he went from having green days with smiley faces sent home on his homework list to yellow or orange days with frowny faces, and notes that he wouldn't listen, or he (accidentally, according to him) bonked a kid with his water bottle. He stopped getting all his work done in class and was having to bring it home to finish along with his homework. And, man o' man, was it a fight to get him to do any of it!! I had to stand right next to him in order to get him to do any of his work, instead of sitting him at the island and cleaning the kitchen while he worked and, once in awhile, asked for help. Homework time and chore time became a time for yelling (from both of us) and crying (mainly him) and a whole lot of chasing him back to what he should be doing. He started being meaner to his sister, although not so much anymore, because she dishes out whatever she receives! I was at a loss.

Part (most) of me thought that it was because I had become so stressed out that he wasn't getting enough positives in his day and was reacting accordingly, so over winter break, I made an extra effort to make sure that we did fun things together; reading, drawing, play doh, cooking, even just talking. He was a happier kid, and I was a happier mommy.

Then, it was back to school on the 3rd of January. Short week, only 3 days, but he did awesome, finishing all his school work at school, green smiley faces all week, and minimal arguing about homework! First day this week was yellow, but he admitted that he didn't listen as well as he should have and then he said sorry. An unsolicited apology! And the next two days? Green smiley faces, finished work, and only arguing between him and his sister. I can deal with that a little, I know that it'll happen at times.

Then on Thursday, he actually had to be sent out of the classroom to do his work, and so that he would quit bothering the other kids. Today, he hit orange, with a phone call home from the PE teacher, and a request for a conference from his classroom teacher. He refused to listen, tripped another student, threw a hissy fit when he got into trouble, had to sit out from PE twice, and in general was an angry, uncooperative child all day. What the hell?? We were having good times at home still, we made cookies together last night, with him doing all the fun stuff, he did his homework by himself with NO arguing, we were laughing all week. I don't know what went wrong.

So now I get to look forward to a conference with two of his teachers, and all I can say is, I know he's having problems, but I don't know why. Someone forgot to give me the instruction manual for his model! (At least I still have a sense of humor. That might not be the case next week!)

Has anyone else had problems like this? Did you get them resolved? HOW????

But I don't wanna!!

I'm bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Hubby is still at work, putting in a 12 hour day, and the kids and I have finished dinner. If I were a good housewife, I would have already started the dinner dishes, or I would be doing laundry or vacuuming or something. Ha. I don't wanna! (Picture a 3 year old with her fingers in her ears, and there's your visual of my attitude.) I should be picking up the living room, or bathing the kids, or even reading to them, but, again, I don't wanna! They were evil children today, arguing over EVERYTHING! I kid you not, my 3 year old daughter even got into a fight with her pink stuffed moose. Yes, folks, nowadays, stuffed animals can instigate an argument and then call names. So, I feel the need for a break. What I really want is a big ass bowl of cookie dough ice cream, the kind that is sitting in my freezer mocking me, but I won't give in. Damn, when did I get willpower?? Hope none of you have regressed to the pre-school age!

Resolutions, anyone?

I had no intention of making any new year's resolutions this year. I know that the likelihood of looking like Jessica Biel in a bikini is not going to happen just because I resolve at the first of the year. Man, but I do wish it would, though!

But, sitting there at my sister in laws house New Year's eve (absolutely horrid, we have since cut her out of our lives, but that is another story!) I accidentally made 3 resolutions, and I think that I will make an effort to stick with these ones:

1. Enjoy being a wife to my husband

2. Enjoy being a mother to my two wonderful kids

and...
3. Enjoy being myself. Really, I'm not such a bad person, so maybe I should try being happy with who I am.

However, if the weight-remover fairies do come by, I am ok with them taking 16 pounds or so!