Skipping class

I get a sense of guilt every time I drop off Nate.    Everyone at the school loves him, but there is no disguising how much work he is right now.    Just in these first few months at the new school, he's earned quite a reputation for misbehavior.

The teachers tell us how he'll escape from the class room and run to the front office or his sisters classroom.   They laugh about how they have found him sitting in the directors/principal's chair or talking to the receptionist in front.    They've also found him working with his sister (in her classroom), on a few occasions

His teachers have made efforts to make things 'more interesting' to keep his attention, and have even taken to walking him up and down the hall 4 or 5 times, just to wear him down.

Things are changing though.   We've adopted some disciplinary methods at home and have seen definite improvement over the last month (likely due to his own development rather then anything we are doing).

I'm sure, someday, we'll look back on these issues and laugh.   Hopefully.

I swear

It's embarrassing how much I swear.    Even the smallest frustration or excitement and I spit out F-words left and right.

What amazes me most is that Lily has never said a swear word near me -- not once.    All the times I've used the F-word (and various others) while driving or working (failing) at something, and she hasn't even tried to repeat them a single time.  

Nate's a different story.   If I so much as mutter something under my breath he'll repeat it 10 times.    So, one time Cindy questioned my parking, and I pointed out that it was due to the way the 'jerk off' next to me parked.    For the next five minutes we were barraged with the little guy saying 'Jerk Off', specifically pulling out the important part of my statement and repeating it with authority.   He said it with an amazing clarity given that he'd probably never heard that phrase before.   All this while his sister didn't raise a peep.   She sat quietly in the car seat next to him and didn't even bother trying out the new phrase..

An exclusive club

So few things we do have not been done before.   The paths we walk down are like that because many have walked them before.    Yesterday, I did something that I feel puts me into an exclusive club.   Probably not the first, but definitely one of few.

The dynamics of the situation were thus:   1)  I had finished dinner   2)  Cindy was still eating 3) Our little girl needed her bottom wiped  and 4)  she had a preference as to who did the job -- and it wasn't me.

So there I was negotiating with someone to wipe their bottom.   Yes, that was it.   I bargained to wipe someone else.  It was a serious negotiation filled with reasoned arguments and promises for the future.

I just wanted to note the absurdity of it all.