30 days of smiles: Day 5!

My sweet boy sleeps.

Thank the funny lords! This surely has been a beast of a week, if ever there were one. We've dealt with some potty backtracking; going from fully trained to marking many spots on his bedroom carpet. GAH! We exorcised some monsters from bathroom and said bedroom, complete with the burning of sage and harsh voices (to scare those monsters into never returning). We implemented a chart to commemorate each successful journey to the toilet with a prize to be had when the chart is covered with colorful stickers. And today? Oi. Today there was an awful, uncooperative day at preschool in which the little guy had to have more than one time out. The primary teacher is out of town on Thursday and gave me the choice of either not bringing Baz to school that day or to bring him and stay to watch/help out. Apparently there is fear that he will be too much work for the helper teacher and sub because he gets the other kids riled up. Teacher recommended we have some testing done to determine what is going on with Baz. She says he is very smart and that may not be a good thing... Hrrrmmm... She also recommended that we opt for co-operative preschool next season so that I can be more involved in the classroom and provide the one on one interaction that a typical school with 2 teachers to 10+ kids cannot provide.

This all sounds rather negative for a '30 days of smiles' post, no? Nah. I did have some tearful moments after talking with the teacher (Okay, okay... so I bursted into tears in the park and cried all over another mama). Now that those tears are out of the way I think I can focus on the positives coming out of our current challenges.

Co-operative preschool was my original choice. I was dazzled by our current school's nature program, but see that I can supplement his preschool experience with nature based home school curriculum and outdoor adventures. We'll stick it out a bit longer at nature preschool and see what comes of that (Yes, I will attend with him on Thursday and get clear on what is happening in the classroom to better determine his needs), but it looks as though we had better begin looking for alternatives.

The testing? Well, that's not such a bad idea. If nothing else, it will confirm Baz's incredible intelligence. Having moved 3 times since he was born & not making many kiddo connections, I happen to feel strongly that he just wigs out in social situations. It seems that if the teachers cannot focus on him or challenge him he gets bored and turns into the class clown, thereby seeking the attention of his peers & resulting in negative attention from his teachers. Needless to say, we have a lot on our plate. We are learning so much & I am finding my inner fire and creativity through all of this. That is something to be super thankful for! For those of you who may think "Maybe your kid is just a hellion", I'm guessing you've never parented a toddler. It's tough, challenging, heart-wrenching, intense, amazing, beautiful, crazy and sometimes fun... and it is SO worth every freaking moment.