Yesterday's pick-up from day care marked the worst yet.
Everything seemed fine, there was no screaming when I opened the door and Alex came running to me all smiles. But then I saw his teacher's face, and the Incident Report slip in her hand. There was also an Ouch Report, but that was just because he is clumsy like his mother. The incident...
Apparently, Alex thought it was complete acceptable to wrap his blanket around one of his classmate's head and face. And when she yelled for him to stop, he held the blanket in place and told her to shut up. Let's just pause so I can add "Suffocating Classmate" to his baby book list of mile stones. I'm pretty sure it's a subset of "Steps to Becoming a Serial Killer."
While he was sitting in his well deserved time out, he kept saying that he just wanted to talk to her and tell her he was sorry. Yeah...when the crime would most likely evoke the usage of capital punishment in Texas, "sorry" doesn't quite cut it. And, all of this was in addition to his teacher having to tell him a zillion times that it is not ok to hit people. Especially when you hit them for no reason...Seriously, this kid will just run by someone and whack them on the way past.
As I did my best to not break down while simultaneously assuring my smiling child that it was NOT FUNNY, I asked his teacher if she had any suggestions for a plan of attack. Clearly time outs are not producing the desired effect and saying no just seems silly at this point. She said nothing came to mind right away, but that she would "go through her old teaching text books" to see if she could find anything. Yep. That's right. My child's behavior is forcing his teacher to do research to figure out how to deal with him. I'm surprised people don't have to constantly wear sunglasses around me to shield their eyes from the glowing pride I walk around with on a daily basis.
We got home and sat down to have a serious talk about this over a red pepper. And I came up with this deal: If he hits someone, he doesn't get to have his brown elephant blanket for an entire day. You would have thought I told him I was gonna cut off a finger for every time he hit someone by the look of shock on his face. He is super attached to the brown elephant blanket lately. But, he agreed it was fair and he understood the deal. When Travis got home, I asked Alex if he wanted to tell Daddy what happened or if I should. He very quickly told me I should. So I did. And then I told Travis the Blanket Deal. Travis immediately asked what we would do when he had a good day. Ok Captain Positive Reinforcement. I was thinking being allowed to have continued use of the brown elephant blanket was award enough, but since you put in it his head...kit kat? Perfect.
The rest of the night was pretty trying, but Alex finally calmed down and was very well behaved during story time and went to bed without protest. Within 2 minutes of me closing his door, I hear, "Mom! MOM! Mooooooom!" Instantly my feelings of sweet relief from a smooth bedtime vanished. So I went into his room and asked what he needed.
Mom? I love you. That's what I needed to tell you.
I managed to squeak out a "love you too buddy" before I got all choked up. I had to laugh as my heart was busting out of my chest...Man that kid knows when he has pushed me to my limit...and knows exactly how to reel me back in.
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