Phew...

I picked up the kids from school Friday and both boys immediately hand me notes from the teacher. I read Lefty's first and his says that he is getting an award on Tuesday (it doesn't say what the award is for) and Spirit's says he has been argumentative, refusing to do assignments and back talking.

This is where I say parenting stinks. How can be so excited for one and so irritated at the other. *sigh*

So, I say nothing about either note and shove them in my purse. When Mr. Man gets home from work I show him both notes. He had the same reaction I did.

Lefty is slightly concerned about his note and keeps asking what it was about. We finally tell him he is getting an award on Tuesday and we talk to him about how proud we are of him.

Just before bed on Friday we have a little talk with Spirit about the note and he says "I have no idea what she is talking about." Mr. Man and I, in unison, say "I do! You've been like that at home all week!" He hangs his head. Mr. Man says he isn't quite prepared to hand out a punishment (which we will later discover may have been the best idea!) and lets Spirit know that he better have a perfect attitude all day Saturday. Mr. Man had to work and I was having a baking day with some friends so Spirit was informed there better not be ANY issues Saturday. There wasn't. He was an angel. If I said I needed his help, there was no eye-rolling, no stomping, no attitude. If he asked for something and I said "no." he let it go at no. It was a very pleasant day.

Sunday was a busy day and we were gone all.day.long. But, again, the attitude was excellent with Spirit. But, we had to address the letter. So Sunday night we sat him down. Mr. Man asked him to just tell us exactly what was going on, being completely honest with us no matter what the answer. Spirit said off the bat "well, I was bad. I didn't think I was as bad as she said though. I was having a bad week and I think she was stressed out." **I need to insert here that the teacher, Ms. L, is a student teacher. This year there is the regular teacher, Mr. S, and TWO student teachers. Last week Mr. S was substituting in another class and the other student teacher was out sick so that left Ms. L alone so chances are she was a tad bit stressed.** So as we talked more with Spirit about why his week was bad and what we do going forward it was all a very good conversation. Letting it rest over the weekend was a good idea, he got to spend time reflecting on it and we got time to calm down a bit. We talked to him for probably 30-45 minutes and he really opened up about stuff that has been bothering him and we had no idea. We were able to help him work through some of it (or at least I think we were).

I made Spirit write Ms. L an apology letter and I wrote her a letter as well. I didn't tell Spirit what to write, but I read his letter before he left for school. He only wrote 3 lines, but it said "I am sorry for being bad last week. I will try hard to be good today. I'm sorry for being rude." I thought that was all pretty good and I was satisfied with it. I am anxious to see how today goes.

Other than all that we had a great weekend and my baking day was successful!