Today was Lex’s show and tell day at school. It comes around about once a month and he’s usually very excited about it. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before. They get to count kids, check the weather, lead the line, etc. in addition to doing show and tell. He loves it. Normally he decides weeks in advance what he wants to bring in. Not this time.
After being unable to decide for awhile now, the day finally came and he had to figure it out. Or throw a giant tantrum. Guess which option he chose?! Alan was home and between the two of us we spent about 45 minutes dealing with the boy. He was tired (overtired from swimming yesterday, maybe?) and just plain obstinate. I gave him choices, he cried and yelled, spent some time in his room behind a locked door, he broke the baby gate at the top of the stairs (no one was hurt!) and it was just a miserable morning for all. I have to say that Alan and I did an excellent job keeping our own tempers in check and being very calm with him. It helps when there are two parents around and only one tantruming child. I finally got him settled down enough to decide that he did want to go to school (instead of staying home and taking a nap), but did not want to do show and tell. Fine. I told him he could discuss it with his teacher and I’m sure she would be fine with it. I AM sure she would be fine with it. I also gave him some food in the car because any energy he’d obtained from the the meager breakfast he ate had surely been used up in the tantrums. He even wanted to bring his blanket in the car to help him settle himself. I let him.
When we got to school (Alan stayed home with Eve, which was nice for everyone), Lex was much calmer. I reminded him about the item I had put in his bag earlier, during the tantrums, and told him it was there in case he decided he wanted to do show and tell. He said he did not. Fine. I also told his teacher about our morning and gave her a heads up that he may not want to show anything. I left him happily playing with the other kids.
At pick-up I brought his blanket along again, just in case. Imagine my surprise, and joy, when his teacher said he had an AWESOME day! She said he eagerly did show and tell. I had packed a few of the melted crayon cakes we made the other day and she said he explained to the class how we had made them and all the steps and how much fun they were to use. He passed them around with paper and let all the kids color with them. She said he participated in all of the activities, even a finger painting activity which he usually doesn’t like, and was super well behaved. Whewh!!! I was really hoping I made the right decision about sending him to school and it seems I did. Sometimes it does work out. Now he is taking a much needed nap!
PS. They sent home a Kindergarten registration form today. Eeek!
