after much drama (my son IS a drama king, remember!) we have survived the first week back at school. you all know that andrew does not like to do his "morning things", which consists of brushing his teeth, going to the bathroom and getting dressed. he knows that he must do these 3 things before heading downstairs in the morning. while you may think this is ridiculous, it is the only way to get him to do such things. hey, they say that preschoolers thrive on routine, right! well, andrew still likes to balk at this routine EVERY freakin morning. he very adamantly will say things like, "i'm not ready" or "not yet." this was all somewhat ok for the past 3 months, when we had nowhere to be in the morning and i couldn't really fight him on it, because i had a baby on my boob most of the time. all last week, i was fretting about what monday morning would bring. would he get ready or put up a fight? would he eat breakfast or go to school hungry? would we get to school by 10am? (btw - school starts at 9:30!) well, monday was great...getting to school at least! andrew did his morning things, jacob's hunger had impeccable timing and we were out the door on time...until i had to turn around twice because i had forgotten something. after the second time, andrew said "mom, are we going to school today or what!" kids...gotta love em! we got to school and andrew seemed ready to go. we found his new cubby and approached the classroom...and then it started..."mommy, don't leave me"..."mommy, i want you"..."mommy, i don't want to stay here." oy...the guilt! after about 20 minutes, and the onset of jacob's cries of hunger, i was able to scoot out of the classroom, with the promise of returning. when i picked him up after school, he looked so tired, seemed excited to see me (that's always nice!) and then said he wanted to stay for lunch bunch. i explained that he wasn't staying today, but maybe he could stay on wednesday. he asked if he could pick one of the school movies to bring home and i said sure. he was having a hard time choosing (that's putting it nicely) and i told him he had until the count of three to decide and then we were leaving. 1 - 2 - 3...still no movie..."ok andrew. we're leaving now." i began to walk away and that's when all hell broke loose. andrew proceeded to throw his biggest temper tantrum...truly an academy award winning performance! it had everything a tantrum should have...screaming, kicking, hitting, laying on the floor. i'd like to take this time to remind you that andrew goes to school at a synagogue! yes, not really the best place to throw a fit. however, i figured if nothing else, i had god on my side!!! i scooped andrew up and carried him to the car (kicking and screaming), all while pushing jacob in the stroller too. he continued to throw his fit for about half of our ride home and then i'm not sure what happened, but he decided it was time to stop. whew! i must say, i was quite proud at how i handled the situation. while i really wanted to scream a lot of four letter words, i remained calm and let the tantrum run its course.
ok...that was quite a recap of one day...so i'll skip the details and just tell you that wednesday and friday were better! oh, except he wouldn't eat breakfast on friday, and then screamed "i'm hungry" almost the whole way to school.
let's hope for the best next week!
