A day in the life of....

Well, today was a mostly typically day in the Mathews family. Boys go to school, grown ups work - nothing really out of the ordinary. ***********PS - Happy Birthday, Papaw!!!********

It's not a big secret that Brandon is having some behavioral problems in Kindergarten. For those of you who looked at his first day of school photo, you probably aren't surprised that we have a bit of an attitude. We've been having a bit of a rough time. We've had notes sent back and forth from teacher to Mom and even a phone call or two from Ms. Todd (aka teacher). Last Thursday, I had the wonderful call from the principal's office with Brandon visiting there early in the morning. There's really no reason to get into the details, but it wasn't pleasant.

We've been doing what we can to encourage, reprimand, coerce, promise, and threaten to keep Brandon on green (translated into a day without discipline from the teacher). We made him a promise this week that he has to stay on green 4 out of 5 days. The fifth day can be no worse than a yellow. If he succeeds, he gets to see the movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua". He went ahead and got the yellow out of the way today. :)

When I asked what he did, he told me he didn't know and to look at his behavior chart. I didn't do this immediately as we had afternoon plans "surprising" Papaw with a birthday cake. Just before Jason arrived home, he asked, "So, did Brandon stay on green?" I told him no and checked the chart. The reason for the yellow, and I quote, "Put glue in a friend's hair". For some reason, this became quite funny to the both of us. This was not the typical reasons of talking, hitting, or not minding the teacher. No, this was very unusual indeed! I asked Brandon about it. He immediately got defensive and really wouldn't tell me much. In the end, I gathered that his friend, Jonathan, who is not really his friend anymore, called Brandon a "baby". He was offended by this remark and proceeded to squeeze Elmer's glue on the boy's head. The picture in my mind is humorous, but not appropriate. Brandon must stay on green the rest of the week now to see his movie.

Later this evening, Nathan exhibited a lack of control with his anger as well. (This is very unusual!) It was time to go to bed and I asked Nathan to turn off the show he was watching. He refused. ("One more minute, Mom...) I turned it off for him. He then threw the remote control on the floor. Was it serious? No, not really, it didn't break anything. But, he knows better and Jason reprimanded him for throwing it. Nathan was quite upset. He was planning to move out. I'm not sure where he planned to go, but he made up his mind. Brandon was quite upset by his remarks. He looked at me, tears filling in his eyes, and said, "Nathan, you have to stay. I don't know enough about dinosaurs! Who is going to teach me all the things you know?!?" It was touching. The love that little brother has for big brother is just so sweet.

So, no photos for the post this evening. I have a few that I need to update soon. I just wanted to share our day.