Good Day

OK, so last night I started to write a post about my awful day- then I decided writing about it was kinda making me relive it- so I just went to bed frustrated and feeling like a terrible mom. Long story short, Owen and I have been butting heads a lot more than usual lately, and it culminated in a blow-up at preschool. He threw a nasty fit, shoes across the room, kicking and punching my belly... the works. The worst part was that it tested my disclipline skills (or lack there of) in front of all the heads of our Human Resource dept. It just sucked, it lingered with me all day as we butted heads at soccer practice and throughout the evening, and I went to bed thinking, "Am I ready to try and care for another child when I can't even handle the one I've got?"

I woke up this morning, took a deep breath, ready to tackle another day of the "Torturous Three's." (Whoever said the twos were terrible, clearly had never met a child like Owen. The threes are way worse.) Owen had a better morning, no major mishaps at school... so I left there with a little bit of self confidence regained. We met Wes at Kylee's school for our first ever Parent/Teacher Conference. It was actually really cool. I have been more than impressed with everything about Kylee's school, and her teacher. It's been a very positive experience, and the conference just reaffirmed that. He walked us through the grading process for the upcoming report cards, he talked about holiday fun events that are approaching, informed us about parent activities we may want to be involved in, and gave info about the stages of learning in Kindergarten. He more than reassured me that Kylee is doing wonderfully in school, as he knows we have worried about her starting Kindergarten young and falling behind with all the new testing standards. He honestly said that when she told him she was four, he said "no way" outloud and thought she was mixed up with her numbers. He said she was just one he didn't worry about... she is absolutely excelling in Kindergarten. I have heard so many parents say they would never start their kids at four, and I worry so much about her struggling because she was born in November and we chose to make her young in class, rather than old. Her teacher said, it comes down to just looking at the person, not the month they were born, not even whether they are boys or girls. He talked from a parent's perspective, too, because his son just turned 5 today- and he and is wife are both teachers and have many friends who told him the same thing. Especially about boys, who are supposed to mature much more slowly. Well, he looked at his son and knew he was socially and academically ready and would be absolutely bored if he were to wait it out another year. I didn't know his son was a four-year-old, fall baby, too, and I was so reassured by that! We talked about Kylee's shyness, and he has all these cool approaches to bringing the quiet ones out of their shells. He has this neat "stand up comedy" approach he told us about, where by the end of the year, he's had super shy kids getting in front of the whole class everyday and telling age appropriate jokes to roaring praises by their peers. It sounds frightening to me, I never could conquer my fear of being in front of an audience- but he told us that he and Kylee have already started talking about it, and she was really enthusiastic about the idea. I really don't worry too much about her, because I've seen her with her class, and they all absolutely adore her. I'm sure they'll just love her jokes, and I'd love to see her gain that confidence!

We left the classroom feeling a bit more like better parents. Kylee is doing well now, but she went through a bad temper stage, as well. I don't remember it lasting so long... but she threw some awesome public tantrems in her day. Hmmmm... I remember the worse ones being when I was pregnant with Owen and trying to get through shopping trips with my sanity. Maybe it has some correlation to Mommy being pregnant and not able to handle the stress of it! Who knows! We do know Owen is struggling with MAJOR temper issues right now, and we are doing are best working with his teachers on disclipline techniques to better handle it now. Maybe, just maybe, by the time he's in Kindergarten, our work will have paid off. Or, maybe not-he could just be that kid who needs a good whooping and spends a lot of time in the principal's office.

Anyhow, today was better, and for that, I am thankful.


Here's a photo I forgot to post, but seems fitting now. Kylee was her class's first star student two weeks ago- way to go, Ky!