Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days - plural

Alex and Art stayed home together for the week after Christmas. The weather was yucky and they were cooped up most of the time. I think they both went a little crazy. At one point Alex told Art, "I just want to be free!" Midway through the week I decided it might be a good idea to leave work early and all of us go on an outing. (We bought a piece of furniture, which Art had to paint. Pictures to follow later.) Thursday, Alex came to work with me for the morning. They made it through the week, but it was a close thing.

Anyway, Alex was ready to go back to school and see his friends when the Christmas break was over on Monday. He got up at 5:20 AM. I should have known it was an inauspicious way to start a week. When I went to pick him up from After School Care, he burst into tears, saying that he wanted to stay longer. We were overly dramatic for the rest of the evening but we chalked that up to lack of sleep.

Tuesday - not too bad, really. When I went to volunteer in the classroom there was a bit of consternation with one of the boys in Alex's group. He and Alex do not get along. The teachers were telling me that they may make a change next week to separate them. When I left, though, all was well.

Here comes Wednesday like a freight train. At work that afternoon I got an email from Alex's teacher. It was to all of the kindergarten parents. Apparently, most of the kindergarteners made some "poor decisions" during music. That led to the entire class being led back to their room early by the much put-upon music teacher. The lucky few whose children made good decisions would know by the absence of an apology letter written by their little darlings to the music teacher, to be signed and returned by parents. All their other classmates would have those. Dare I hope? Could Alex be one of the few, the proud, the behavers? Of course not. But I had another hour at my desk to contemplate what I might find in his book bag.

When I reached the school, again Alex did not want to leave. I told him we had to get to his piano lesson. To which he responded, "Booooo!" As we walked out to the car I asked how his day was. He said, "Wellllll...there was a little problem this afternoon." He claims that he was not a ringleader and that while the real troublemakers were showing their stuff, his only crime was talking. The book bag told another story. He also ran and yelled in the hall and had trouble following directions. He told me that he wouldn't have made it to the third anthill if not for the music class incident, wherein "everyone" got an automatic ant. I pointed out that NOT "everyone" did, some had behaved well.

On to piano - which was an even worse nightmare. Mind you, Alex's lesson is once a week and only lasts 15 minutes. About halfway through, when Ms. Elaine asked him to stop messing around and play something, he burst into tears, jumped off the piano bench and would have run out the door if I hadn't caught him. Poor Ms. Elaine. Luckily it was pay day for her, so I'm sure that helped. She told me that getting back into the post-holiday routine was hard for all her students. I'm not sure the rest show it in such spectacular fashion.

Then came Thursday. A few months ago I started reading "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" to Alex at bedtime whenever he's had a bad day. We may wear it out. He likes the book for several reasons: 1) his name is in the title, 2) the hero is much maligned (like he is) and 3) they share a love of Australia, or at least the idea of it. When I got to the school, Alex hid from me. Like that's not a dead giveaway. As we walked to the car, he admitted that he'd reached the third anthill again. He kicked Patricia. Why? Because they were watching a really interesting movie on polar bears, and she wouldn't be quiet. We tried to talk about what we could do in this situation. He insists they aren't allowed to move away from the person who is bothering him. I'm pretty sure that would be preferable to kicking them. 3rd anthill = no TV. Again. This is a crushing blow for the child. As we turned onto our street he said, "Can we not tell Dad?" I asked how we were to explain the fact that Alex wouldn't be watching TV. When we parked in the driveway he refused to get out of the car. I sent Art out to deal with him. That went better than expected and he got him in the house rather easily.

Then, I checked the book bag. Turns out he "forgot" that he also punched Gretchen at recess. And, if this continues, he will have an appointment to see the principal. There was much consternation and dire warnings. Since tomorrow is his birthday, we kind of have the ultimate incentive. Another three anthill day tomorrow and no playing with birthday presents. Lots of talking. I am exhausted. I can only hope that tomorrow goes more smoothly, and that we don't have to ban him from his own party this weekend.

Also, I am concerned that our friends at the library will see all the parenting books I searched for and requested this evening. I'm sure they're already worried about my bizarre and eclectic reading list. Then again, they're quite close to Alex, so I'm fairly sure they understand why I might need help with raising a monkey boy. Now, there's an idea. Does anyone know of a good wild animal raising book? That might work better!