I have said for a long time that Justin gets special treatment at home because he is the youngest despite me not wanting to treat him any differently. He has it figured out that he is cute and he thinks that gives him a free pass to get away with anything.
He always wants me to "uppie me" when we are going upstairs to bed at night. Or in the morning when I am trying to rush them out the door for daycare so I can get to work. Or in the store and the list goes on and on. I try not to give in, but when we are rushing against the clock in the morning, I almost always give in. Bruce thinks that we should just carry him since he is the baby and enjoy the moment. I agree with the fact that I like when he sits on my lap at night as I know he won't want anything to do with me in a few years. However, when his brothers were this age they all had to walk and be more independent. I was always busy carrying the infant seat (or an infant!), diaper bag or other items.
He has recently taken his brattiness to a new level. He will drop his trash on the floor and resists picking it up. Same with clothes, shoes or toys. The other night he asked for a cup of apple juice. I poured him some and put it on the bar. He told me that he wanted it on the other side of the bar. I told him to move the cup. He crawls into the chair and says he is going to spill it since it is in the wrong spot. I told him that if he spills it, he was going to 'stand in the corner until next week.' I am watching him with an eagle eye, he looks at me with a defiant look, grabs the cup and proceeds to tip the cup over so apple juice spills everywhere.
I had to walk out of the room otherwise I may have grabbed him and did something I regret. I told Bruce to go into the other room and deal with him. I hope this is just a phase for him.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Nathan's parent teacher conference
I know I have not wrote about Nathan’s parent teacher conference, but I am finally at a place where I can write something down without wanting to cry. I met with Nathan’s teacher four weeks ago.
Some of the things we discussed were things that I was expecting. He doesn’t want to sit still. He doesn’t want to take his time doing school work. Unfortunately he had been caught cheating off another students test....not once, but twice. We discussed possible things to help improve his reading performance and his attitude in school.
I was told that Nathan is currently reading 32 words a minute and the class average is 62 words. In my head I am thinking that he needs to improve a 100% just to catch up with the rest of his class. Then she tells me that they want the class to be reading over a 100 words a minute by the end of the school year. I instantly think that he needs to improve almost 250% by the end of the year to be on track with rest of his classmates and that seems like a near impossible task.
Then the bombshell dropped. I could tell from the teachers’ expression that she did not like what she had to tell me. She hands me a letter that stated (and I paraphrase here) that the governor of Ohio signed in a new law that states that unless you pass your third grade proficiency test, you will be held back that year. And Nathan is currently not on track to pass the reading portion of the test. I could tell from her facial expressions and some of the things she said that she does not like this new law, but there is not much she can do about it. I went in shock mode. My mind is running a million miles a minute but I am struggling to form a coherent thought.
I asked what we could do to turn things around so he would not have to be held back as a third grader. If she gave me an answer, I do not remember what she may have told me. I do recall her saying let’s see how his appointment goes with the doctor on the 24th of October (the one where the doctor was going to determine if he needed to be on meds for his ADHD).
I waited a few days and a weekend to think about everything we had discussed. That following Monday I composed a lengthy e-mail to his teacher and asked all sorts of questions (some of which I eluded to in my post about Darren’s parent teacher conference). I was the quintessential mother bear protecting her cub and I was not going to let Nathan be held back without a fight. I was told that there were a hundred and one steps to take before he could be put in a LD class, and we had to follow all the steps. Suddenly in my mind, the medicine went from critical for my sanity and relationship with Nathan to a miracle drug.
I did get a note from Nathan’s teacher last Friday that stated she saw an improvement in his attitude, behavior, work ethic and work quality. Hopefully this medicine will give him the boost he needs to get on track with his class so that he can pass the third grade proficiency test.
Some of the things we discussed were things that I was expecting. He doesn’t want to sit still. He doesn’t want to take his time doing school work. Unfortunately he had been caught cheating off another students test....not once, but twice. We discussed possible things to help improve his reading performance and his attitude in school.
I was told that Nathan is currently reading 32 words a minute and the class average is 62 words. In my head I am thinking that he needs to improve a 100% just to catch up with the rest of his class. Then she tells me that they want the class to be reading over a 100 words a minute by the end of the school year. I instantly think that he needs to improve almost 250% by the end of the year to be on track with rest of his classmates and that seems like a near impossible task.
Then the bombshell dropped. I could tell from the teachers’ expression that she did not like what she had to tell me. She hands me a letter that stated (and I paraphrase here) that the governor of Ohio signed in a new law that states that unless you pass your third grade proficiency test, you will be held back that year. And Nathan is currently not on track to pass the reading portion of the test. I could tell from her facial expressions and some of the things she said that she does not like this new law, but there is not much she can do about it. I went in shock mode. My mind is running a million miles a minute but I am struggling to form a coherent thought.
I asked what we could do to turn things around so he would not have to be held back as a third grader. If she gave me an answer, I do not remember what she may have told me. I do recall her saying let’s see how his appointment goes with the doctor on the 24th of October (the one where the doctor was going to determine if he needed to be on meds for his ADHD).
I waited a few days and a weekend to think about everything we had discussed. That following Monday I composed a lengthy e-mail to his teacher and asked all sorts of questions (some of which I eluded to in my post about Darren’s parent teacher conference). I was the quintessential mother bear protecting her cub and I was not going to let Nathan be held back without a fight. I was told that there were a hundred and one steps to take before he could be put in a LD class, and we had to follow all the steps. Suddenly in my mind, the medicine went from critical for my sanity and relationship with Nathan to a miracle drug.
I did get a note from Nathan’s teacher last Friday that stated she saw an improvement in his attitude, behavior, work ethic and work quality. Hopefully this medicine will give him the boost he needs to get on track with his class so that he can pass the third grade proficiency test.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Why did I wait so long?
Nathan has been on his ADHD meds now for almost a week and I am amazed at the transformation it has made in him. He took his pill Sunday morning and then about an hour later I suggested starting his homework. For once he did not resist, argue or complain about doing it.
We started with his spelling words. I asked if he wanted to write them on a piece of paper as I said them or if he wanted to do it on the white board/easel we have. He chose the white board. We did the entire list twice and the ones he spelled incorrectly, at least another time or two. All without any fidgeting or complaining. The good news is that he got an 87% on his test and he got a compliment from his teacher about how much better his hand writing was.
I had forgotten all about doing an "All About Me" book that he needs to fill out until I unearthed the envelope earlier that week. I told him that we had to do two pages and we had to make a rough draft first. He did not complain about having to write the same thing twice and he did slow down and try to write neatly. When we were done with the two pages, I started putting them back in the envelope. He said that he wanted to do more of the papers! He never volunteers to do more work than he has to.
Then I asked him if he wanted to read or practice his popcorn words flash cards. He decided to do the flashcards. Again, no whining, complaining, fidgeting or procrastination. It was super easy to get his homework done...in fact it was almost too easy.
Later that day, when I was looking at the Sunday paper, I pulled out the Toys 'R Us catalog for the boys to look at. Nathan grabbed his Christmas list and probably copied half the book onto his Christmas list. I was amazed that he was writing his list by himself. Normally he would have asked me to write it for him or he would have just circled the item in the catalog.
Bruce thinks that I just want Nathan's cooperation to be from the medicine as he doesn’t see how it could affect him already. I explained it to him as it was explained to me. The medicine he is taking is like an aspirin. It starts to work right away and will only last a certain amount of time before it wears off. It is not like a Lipitor where it takes time to get your cholesterol level lowered. I e-mailed his teacher and asked if she would let me know after a week or two if she is noticing a difference in his schoolwork and actions at school.
We started with his spelling words. I asked if he wanted to write them on a piece of paper as I said them or if he wanted to do it on the white board/easel we have. He chose the white board. We did the entire list twice and the ones he spelled incorrectly, at least another time or two. All without any fidgeting or complaining. The good news is that he got an 87% on his test and he got a compliment from his teacher about how much better his hand writing was.
I had forgotten all about doing an "All About Me" book that he needs to fill out until I unearthed the envelope earlier that week. I told him that we had to do two pages and we had to make a rough draft first. He did not complain about having to write the same thing twice and he did slow down and try to write neatly. When we were done with the two pages, I started putting them back in the envelope. He said that he wanted to do more of the papers! He never volunteers to do more work than he has to.
Then I asked him if he wanted to read or practice his popcorn words flash cards. He decided to do the flashcards. Again, no whining, complaining, fidgeting or procrastination. It was super easy to get his homework done...in fact it was almost too easy.
Later that day, when I was looking at the Sunday paper, I pulled out the Toys 'R Us catalog for the boys to look at. Nathan grabbed his Christmas list and probably copied half the book onto his Christmas list. I was amazed that he was writing his list by himself. Normally he would have asked me to write it for him or he would have just circled the item in the catalog.
Bruce thinks that I just want Nathan's cooperation to be from the medicine as he doesn’t see how it could affect him already. I explained it to him as it was explained to me. The medicine he is taking is like an aspirin. It starts to work right away and will only last a certain amount of time before it wears off. It is not like a Lipitor where it takes time to get your cholesterol level lowered. I e-mailed his teacher and asked if she would let me know after a week or two if she is noticing a difference in his schoolwork and actions at school.
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