Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Dog, The Boy, & Overachieving

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007, 10:59 pm



Temone had surgery a couple of weeks ago. This past week he developed a severe infection and we had to take him to the vet Sunday. His sinuses are infected along with his mouth, and he's had trouble breathing for all of the congestion. He is literally snorting for air at ties. He feels so bad, I can just see it. poor baby is having to sleep with his mouth open to breathe, but he only has seven teeth so he's drooling on his blankets. I remember when he was a puppy he had the flu once, and that was NOTHING compared to this. I mean it could have something to do with the fact he's pushing 13 years old now, but still. I feel so bad for my baby. I want to call in tomorrow so I can cuddle him all day. Maybe I'll take him to mom's before work so SHE can cuddle with him?

I'm so frustrated with Jon (my nephew)'s school situation. He has a teacher that is pushing for him to go on medication / get an official ADD diagnosis. I know I'm not a doctor, but, the boy does NOT have ADD. The boy has a major lack of structure in his life, that's what he has. The boy does not go to sleep before midnight each night, and is on the school bus at 6am every morning. His dad just died a month ago. His mom works two jobs. His CAT died today. He has a LOT of things going on but ADD is NOT one of them. When he has structure in his life, he does well. THAT, has been proven before. I just hope we can make enough progress with his reading that Sis will consider what I tell her instead of pushing for a diagnosis from his doctor. IMO his teacher needs to be looking for ways to help him succeed in the now instead of hoping for meds so he might be able to succeed later, kwim?

Jackson is so excited about achievement tests this week. he is feeling pretty confident in how he is doing. We've been praying every morning, I believe the Lord's answering prayer. I'm trying to help Jackson understand that it's not as important in how high he scores, but that it's more important that we know he done his very best, regardless of the score. I never thought I would ever say this but I have a high achieving child. He's very brainy, and it's SUCH a blessing for me in so many ways. BUT, with that comes the curse of perfectionism. So my parenting challenge of late has been spinning the usual "Woo-Hoo! You got an A!" to "I'm glad you tried your best sweetie" "It's okay if you ONLY made a 94, you done your best!" "You don't have to win every time, you know...". I love it that he's successful, but at the same time I don't want to overlook an opportunity to build up his character, too. Does that make sense?

Uhg, I just talked to dad and they're working late tomorrow. I'm going to have to see if I can cut out a few minutes early so I can pick up Jon at Sis's work on my way to go get the kids. Oy! I wanted mom and dad to pick the kids up (save me 30 miles), and Sis drop Jon off at their house and me pick all of them up there on my way home (which is literally on the way, kwim?) ... that blows taking Temone over there before work ... they won't be home anyways!

I bought a phonics book I want to work with Jon in ... it will help me pinpoint where he has trouble with certain words. I'm starting to wonder if I'm supposed to be a teacher when I grow up?

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