Kids.....

The past three or four days have been interesting with the kids. Braden is on a streak of making bad choices. He had a rough day at school on Thursday and got in a knock-down drag out fight with the neighbor boy this afternoon. I came outside to see him and C rolling on the front lawn. It was not a pretty sight. I'm not sure what is up with him. He has been doing really well over the past few months. I asked his teacher if things had been building or if this was just out of the blue. She said it was completely out of the blue and she was baffled by it as well. Needless to say, he went to be early tonight. Let's hope he wakes up in a better frame of mind tomorrow.

He's on my heart though....I'm praying God will give me insight into what is going on in his little mind and heart. He is a great kid but when he starts making bad choices it can get ugly fast!

Last night Lexi and I had some long conversations. It was a beautiful evening and we just sat out on the grass in the front yard and talked. She was extremely tired from a fun field trip and so I think her emotions were on edge to begin with. I was surprised when she told me she didn't like me going to school. She thought I was too busy. I was taken back by her comment. From my perspective, I don't feel like I am that much busier. I do most of my work at night or on my day off. I tried to help give her some perspective and I think it helped some. One of her big beefs was that I didn't go on all the field trips this year. So, we counted up how many she had and how many I went on this year. It turns out she has had 4 field trips and I have been on 2 of them. Next, I asked her to tell me which parents had been on all 4 field trips. No one had. Hmmm....Ok, now who has been on the most field trips? She answered one of the girls in her class and the dad had gone on one and the mom had gone on 2. I reminded her that when daddy was alive we used to take turns going with her. It also turns out that this mom doesn't work outside the home so she is more available. So, when it was all said and done we decided that I had been on just as many if not more than other parents and there was only one me.

Next, she told me about some struggles with a friend of hers. To make a long story short, she shared that this friend had one day told her "I'm glad your daddy is gone"....and then laughed. Wow. I knew this would happen at some point. I know kids can be cruel and they usually hit you where they know it hurts the most. Nevertheless, nothing prepared me for how I felt when she told me that. It took about half an hour for her to finally tell me the story. She just cried and cried and cried.

After our talk, she was like a different child. She was happy, pleasant and very talkative. Today was a good day too. She was the ring leader in getting a mystery mother's day project done. I've been constantly cleaning up messes all day but they got something done they were working on and the world seems to be a better place for them.

Nathan has been his consistent, compliant, hard-working self. I had a blast yesterday watching him on the field trip. He was like a monkey climbing the big rocks at the state park. He also did well on the 3.2 (felt like 13.2) mile run. Lexi and I came in quite a bit behind him but she never gave up and pushed herself extremely hard. This has been a good year for Nathan. I have seen his confidence continue to build. He's still very quiet and shy...but I see even some improvement in that area.

So, I'm still mulling over Lexi's comments about me being too busy. I'm trying to look at it objectively. I don't want to miss a red flag from her. I know that I had already decided not to take any summer courses so that I could spend the whole summer focused on having fun with the kids. I am thinking that was a good decision. I am trying to decide if it was a legitimate complaint or if it is just part of childhood---only seeing things from her own perspective and wanting the world to always revolve around her. She is usually fairly reasonable in her demands so that's why I'm taking pause for thought.

For the gift and responsibility of my children....I'm so very grateful.