"That Kid"

I haven't posted a blog entry in days. Hmmm. What have we been up to?

Well, on Wednesday Benjamin went to school. He is always so excited to go. When we arrived I told him about car line (which is when parents can drive up to the school and pick up your child curbside). It's very well organized and great for parents with younger kids, such as myself! So, I hadn't yet taken advantage of car line but Benjamin seemed cool with the idea and Samuel fell asleep en route to the preschool. So, out came Benjamin to the car with his teacher, Miss Tracie. I had the window rolled down and Miss Tracie said she wanted to speak to me for a minute. Well, she went on and on saying what a good kid Benjamin is but what she was really getting at was that he hit some of the little kids. (Keep in mind that Benjamin is the youngest in his class... but he was hitting the "little kids.") I was a bit appalled to say the least. You never want your child to be that kid. That kid that hits or picks on kids. That kid that makes the other kids cry.

Miss Tracie said he pulled another child's necklace and the child cried. She said he is really good at apologizing and for that reason he still got his sticker for the day. I reassured Miss Tracie that we are working on these issues and now we are REALLY focused on working on these issues.

So, yesterday when he went over to Ms. Rie's house he was told NOT to hit, kick or push Hunter. And if he could make it through the day he would get a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. He was thrilled. He loves Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. So, I told Ms. Rie the strategy and she was on board. But shortly after Hunter woke up for the day Benjamin kicked him. ugh. Ms. Rie told him he lost his Peanut Butter Cup and she said that was the first time she made him cry. I reassured her that "she" did not make him cry. It was his behavior that made him cry and asked her please not to give in and not to give it to him.

Today he returned to Ms. Rie's house with the same instructions. And, hopefully, he will have better success today. I did noticed he seemed to be very well behaved last night and really didn't pick on Samuel. We have had several talks about how hitting makes him feel (Hunter has hit him too). If any one else has any other suggestions, I'm welcome to any input.

On Wednesday while Benjamin was at school I was determined to get our lawn mowed. It really just needed one last good mowing for the year. So, I pulled out the lawn mower and could NOT get it started. So, I figured I would just use the trimmer and at least tackle the really high spots. I couldn't get the trimmer started. ugh. So, I called our neighbors Paci and Rebecca. Rebecca answered and said Paci was home but on a business call. He would be able to come help me in about an hour. So, when Paci showed up he was able to get both the mower and the trimmer started pretty quickly. I was able to get the yard mowed and trimmed in about 20 minutes while Samuel sat in his stroller and watched me pretty intently. I think the loud noise kinda fascinated him. Then we were off to pick up Benjamin from school.

After nap time that day we enjoyed some time outside. Benjamin played in his sandbox for awhile while I picked up the yard a bit. Our yard really needed some TLC. Then we kicked a ball around the yard which Benjamin loved. After that we went for a walk around the block in the wagon before dinner. The boys both really enjoy riding in the wagon. Samuel fell back into Benjamin's lap on several occassions and they would both totally crack up over it. It was really cute.

I have heard from Don via e-mails frequently this week. He seems to be doing well. We are all looking forward to his upcoming R&R which is less than a month away!

We have some pretty busy days ahead of us this weekend so I'm not sure if I'll make another blog post for a few days.