November 4, 2010

Bullies on the Bus

I got a call at work this afternoon from the nurse at Dawson’s school.  It seems my little boy was feeling sick and wanted to come home.  The nurse explained he didn’t have a fever but had said his stomach and head hurt.  The flu had been going around and she was concerned he may have been coming down with it.

When I arrived to pick him up, Dawson looked sad and worried.  I asked if he was feeling okay and he simply shook his head.  We walked from the nurse’s office to his classroom so that he could get his coat and backpack.  His teacher stopped to talk to me in the hallway.

Mrs. T made mention that Dawson was feeling some anxiety about riding the bus home from school.  I knew exactly what she was talking about.  A few weeks ago, Dawson told me some of the older kids (fourth and fifth graders) on the bus were poking him in the back of the head and calling him names.  Being a Love & Logic parent, I told Dawson how sad I was to hear this and asked him what he thought he could do about it.

After talking it over, he decided he would tell the bus driver if things got out of hand, and he would try to sit in the front of the bus whenever possible.  Dawson is the last one on the bus in the morning, so all the seats at the front are usually taken and he makes his way to the back where the naughty kids wreck havoc.

I discussed the situation with his teacher and she explained that Dawson becomes nervous just before the end of the day.  She thinks he may be worrying about the bus ride and it’s making him feel sick.  It broke my heart to hear these words.  The thought of my son enduring such torment is frustrating and infuriating.  I honestly had no idea it was causing him such anxiety.

Dawson is a polite child and he’s painfully shy.  He doesn’t cause trouble.  He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t talk back.  He will sit quietly and ignore anyone who intends to bring him harm.  This child has more patience than any adult I know.  I try to teach him to stand up for himself, to use descriptive words to tell the bullies that he doesn’t like what they are doing.  I’ve told him to politely ask them to stop.  Dawson tells me he did tell them to quit bothering him but it sounds like the bad behavior is persisting.

After school I called the school bus garage and left a message for the bus driver.  When she returned the call she told me that Dawson is one of the best kids on the bus.  He never yells or causes a distraction.  He always says hello and goodbye to her when getting on and off the bus.  She also told me she has been keeping an eye on the situation to the best of her ability, but that driving children safely to their destination is her first priority so she can’t always see everything that goes on.  I told her I understood; I know the drill.  My mother has been a school bus driver for 23 years.

The plan is to save a seat in the front of the bus for Dawson so that he doesn’t have to deal with the rotten kids in the back.  I’m so mad at those kids.  Shame on them for picking on someone littler than they are.  I am so upset that they cause my son so much anxiety.  It brings back memories of the same crap happening to me when I was in elementary school. I never fought back, I was too scared.  I often cried all the way home.

I sure hope this arrangement doesn’t single Dawson out and cause more teasing, but I don’t know what else to do.

November 1, 2010

Tricks, Treats & Star Wars Cuties

Yesterday I took the boys Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood.  I’ve never had more fun.  Dawson is an old pro at the “getting free candy” thing.  This was Owen’s first time and it was so cute to watch his face whenever candy was placed in his pumpkin pail.

The first house we went to was the next-door neighbor’s.  Dawson rang the doorbell.  He was a Star Wars Shadow Trooper this year.  When our neighbor came to the door she was carrying two large bags of candy.  Little Owen, dressed as Yoda, stood in the middle of the driveway holding his pumpkin pail and didn’t really understand what was happening.  When Dawson put some of the candy into the pail, Owen just stared inside with his mouth wide open.  It was like he couldn’t believe someone gave him candy and Mom didn’t swoop in to take it away.  I don’t usually let the boys have candy so this must have been Heaven to both Dawson and Owen.

I let Owen walk up to a few other houses and then put him in the wagon while Dawson continued around the neighborhood.  Every house we went to gave tons of candy to Dawson and then sent more over for Owen’s bucket.  I think we have enough candy to rot the teeth of an entire village.  We only went around the block and across the subdivision this year.  Then we came home so that Dawson could hand out candy to kids.  He had such a good time answering the door.  Owen was a quite startled with every ring of the doorbell, but I think he liked seeing the costumes just as much as the rest of us.

Check out my cute little goblins:

Halloween 2010

How was your Halloween?

October 26, 2010

Storms, Power Outages & Really Cute Kids

We’re having miserable weather here in Wisconsin. Wind storms. Rain. Cold, rainy & windy. It sucks. The barometric pressure is so low that I’ve had a fat migraine all damn day. And I’m PMSing like mad. I came home from work today and crashed on the couch, whimpering from the agony of cramps. Too much information, I know.

So after lounging around with the boys for awhile, I fed them dinner, read stories and put them to bed by 9 p.m. so that I could watch The Good Wife on CBS. I got through the first half hour and the damn power went out with a huge gust of wind. It came back on for two seconds and out it went for 40 minutes. Grrrr. So now I’m waiting not-so-patiently for the episode to be available online. Ugh.

During the power outage, Dawson woke up and padded down the hall to the living room where Doug and I were lighting candles so we could actually see. Truthfully, I was ready to call it a night and head to bed myself, but the Doodlebug wanted to know why the house was so dark and quiet. I’m thinking his night light went out and he panicked. We found his Rocket light that uses battery power and all was right with the world.

Thankfully, Owen was peacefully sleeping in his crib. That baby is so damn cute. Just like his big brother. I look at my boys and wonder if they are really my kids. They are so smart. Owen looks up to Dawson and wants to do everything his big bro does. Dawson was coloring this afternoon and Owen stuck a crayon in his fist and began scribbling on the newspaper. It’s amazing what he picks up by observing others.

Owen & Dawson, Fall 2010

The power is back on and the house is still quiet. I love the few moments I have before bed each night. I like reflecting on the day (even if work sucked today) and wiping the slate clean for tomorrow.

How was your day?

October 2, 2010

The Queen of Chaos

I’ve been trying to read a book for months.  This book to be exact (the authors are from my hometown.  You remember Mimi Bobeck, right?).  But with two boys who keep me insanely busy, I barely make it through a chapter before someone’s diaper needs changing or someone else needs to be fed.

When I’m Queen of My Own Life, I will rule that I be given two straight hours each day to read.  Considering I have a stack of books on my end table that I’d love to read, and magazines piling up in every corner of every room, I’ll probably need a full work day each week to catch up.  My husband will just have to deal with the diaper changing, the picking up of the toys, the constant yelling and craziness.

I just got the new issue of New York Magazine and haven’t had the chance to read about The Social Network, which is on the cover.  I’m not sure I want to watch this movie.  Anyone see it yet?  I love me some Facebook (hello, I’m on it every damn day), but do I really care about Mark Zuckerberg or whatever his name is?

It’s weird that Hollywood is making movies about social media.  I can’t wait for them to make a movie about Twitter.

Okay.  These kids of mine are whining.  The only think I’m queen of is chaos.  So much for blogging.