Con Artist

First, I must tell you that boy child has been home from school two days now with strep throat.  He has been miserable, but finally on the mend.  This morning, while getting ready for school, girl child professes that her belly hurts.  This comes on the heels of my announcement that for lunch, the cafeteria would be serving chili, cheese sticks, crackers, salad and fruit.  I'm not going to lie; normally, I would allow her to take her lunch on days where the lunch is less than stellar, but we have no food.  I haven't been grocery shopping so we are out of all the necessities including but not limited to bread, milk, peanut butter, lunch meat...you get the point.  We do, however, still have toilet paper, so all is good!  Since her ailment came after the chili conversation, I knew she was fibbing. 

On to school we went.  I did my two hours of Title 1 reading and just as I am about to get in my car and go home to relieve my mother of infirmary duty, I get a text from the school secretary notifying me that girl child had puked in the bathroom and is in the nurse's office.  Mom of the year award, right.here.  So, slough off to the nurse's office to fetch my poor child that I had deemed a liar just a few hours earlier, eat crow and apologize for not believing her. 

 

I mean, how could I have misjudged that sweet little face this morning so horribly?  Off to home we go.  I make her chicken noodle soup to treat her ailing tummy and tell her just to lay on the couch and get some rest.  All the while, I'm hoping and praying that I come out of this deal unscathed1  About an hour later, I realize she is keeping the soup down, hasn't complained one time about her stomach hurting and has her normal color.  As soon as I began questioning her, I know she has duped me, and her teacher, annndddd the nurse.  She tries to first tell me that she "thought" she threw up but that it might have just been a little mucus (gross, I know).  Ah huh, I see. 

My six year old is a con artist.  She had to REALLY want to stay home.  It took her three hours to convince someone she was sick enough to miss school. If that's not perseverance, I don't know what is! 

On to the punishment.  She is grounded from all electronic devices for a week.  She had to fold the towels and put them away and switch the loads of laundry.  Additionally, she had to clean her room and clean the sink in the bathroom.  I also made her write her teacher a letter admitting that she lied, that she knew she was wrong and it wouldn't happen again.  Probably the worst punishment of all though is she is not allowed to eat her candy that her Aunt gave her yesterday!

Forget terrible two's, we are at the six and full of tricks.  Who knows what the teen years will bring!





Can Someone Please Tell Monday that Today is Tuesday??

Today has been challenging to say the least.  The events that occurred this morning made me question some decisions that the husband and I prayed so hard about and were so confident in.  First of all, Brother Bear woke up in tears saying he didn't want to go to his new school and wanted to go back to the old school and see his old friends.  We tried to calmly explain to him why he couldn't go back and the tears escalated into a full blow meltdown of epic proportion.  He shouted at the husband and even balled up his fists.  I have never seen him act this way before.  He is normally very reserved and quiet.  After punishing him for the disrespect, we consoled him for his sadness.  We tried to make him understand the decision to switch schools was made because we want what is best for him and his sister.  We want him to have the best education possible and have more opportunities.  He started to settle down some and the car ride to the new school was better.  He started to act normal again.  Then, came time for me to walk him to the lunch room where the kids meet before going to their classrooms.  We walked in the door and there were hundreds of chattering children all sitting with their friends.  My mind flashed to one of those movie scenes where you see kids standing in a sea of faces with their lunch tray and no one will allow them to sit by them.  A look of sheer panic went across Brother Bear's face and my heart broke for a second time for him.  I helped him find his class and hugged him and told him I loved him and walked out fighting back the flood that burned my eyes like fire.  After getting Sister Lu back in the car I slid into the driver's seat and turned the key.  Nothing but a click.  On the verge of an emotional breakdown a gentlemen and his wife saved the day with their set of jumper cables.  The battery was so dead they had to leave their vehicle hooked up to mine for several minutes before my car would even turn over.  Sister Lu was late to her second day of preschool.  After the school drop off debacle, I drove straight to AutoZone for a new battery.  Wouldn't you know it, the only one they had in stock was the most expensive Duralast Gold with the 8 year warranty.  Perfect.  I'll take it.  Par for the course.  Thankfully, the company I work for is very family oriented and I have the type of management one can only dream about so being more than an hour late to work wasn't a big deal.  However, once I got there I went to the ladies room and proceeded to have a meltdown of my own.  Hot tears streamed down my cheeks and I just kept telling myself, "you have got to get it together, you have got to pull it together, NOW!"  And so I did.  I pulled it together long enough to get a cup of coffee and load it down with creamer to where it tasted more like cappuccino, plug my ears with Christian radio on Pandora and say a prayer at my desk.  Within a couple of hours Brother Bear's teacher emailed me to let me know he was doing just fine.  Things are looking up; thank God.