Picture this...

I am getting ready to walk out the door to take the boys to school when Spirit starts crying and flopping around on the floor like a 3 year old. I am trying to find out what is wrong and all he will say is "I'm not going to school today" when I question further he says "I don't have a pencil sharpener."

Now, here's me.... ???????????-- totally puzzled look on my face and jaw on the floor.... what in the world? I continue to ask more and more and more questions but can not figure out why we are having a melt down over a lost pencil sharpener.

I get him in the van and as we are driving to school, tears still running down his face, he says that all the kids take the good pencils and he never gets a sharp one. I asked if they have a sharpener in the classroom. He says yes, but the teacher never lets them sharpen their pencils. I say, "Fine. we will go talk to your teacher." I go marching in, and part of me really thought he was exaggerating his story because surely she lets them sharpen their pencils, but he never stopped me as I was marching down the hall. I expected him to say "noooooo, mom don't talk to my teacher." He never said a word, just trudged along behind me. So as I approach her classroom, she was just unlocking her door and she must have seen the anger in my face, or the steam coming out of my ears, and she said "ught oh, What'd I do?"

I explained our situation and she told me she lets them sharpen the pencils, but Spirit has a tendancy to want to sharpen his pencil 10 times a day and she won't let him do that. I got down on his level and tried finding out if there was something deeper going on, but he wouldn't tell me anything.

His teacher ended up asking him to help her take down chairs and get the classroom ready. I left him there as he took down chairs. No more tears though!