Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Countdown to summer...

As I mentioned a week or so ago, there was standardized testing going on in Bebe's classroom. All year they had been talked about, prepared for... there was a lot of anticipation about testing. And now? It's over. But SCHOOL isn't over. There's 4 weeks left.

I don't know what they're doing in class, but it seems to be lacking in momentum, and Bebe is getting bored. And when Bebe is getting bored, she wants OUT. Last week and then again yesterday, we had phone calls from school about "stomachaches" and "headaches." Yes, I use quotes, because they were NOT real.

Yesterday, her complaining caused school to finally call and say "COME GET HER." And wouldn't you believe it? She was "magically" better when I picked her up! She saw how angry/upset I was about having to leave my job and come get her, and instantly said, "I'll go back!"

We got home, and I had her go in her room, stripped her bed of all her toys and left only her pillow, and she laid there for 45 minutes. I went in and we talked, then I allowed her to have a book. She read an entire Magic Tree House book in the next 30 minutes, then asked for a snack. We talked more over her snack, and I decided that we needed to move past it--she understood that she needed to stop doing this, how her leaving school affected our entire family (with us losing vacation time for the summer, etc.), and what good would it do to harp on it for the rest of the night?

So we sat down with some paper and scissors and made a countdown to summer chain for her to be able to see the days slip away. Pretty soon summer will be here, and it will be filled with fun Y camps that she adores. I know *I* am looking forward to summer, too. No more homework so that our nights can be occupied with playing and crafts and other fun stuff. I know, I sound just like a kid, but homework means that our nights are pretty much come home-homework-make dinner-eat dinner-bath (or brief play time or homework if it didn't get done before dinner)-bed.

Thankfully, this week Bebe's homework is something I can live with--to log the # of minutes she spends playing OUTSIDE! Yippee!!

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