Monday, January 14, 2013

First Week Back at School, and Our Weekend

It has been one week now since the end of winter break.

All in all, we are satisfied with Kai’s transition back to school. His scores on the daily point sheets could have been higher on a couple of days, and he expressed some anger at various teachers and classmates when we talked about school at dinnertime.

But, he stayed safe. A week with no torn clothing or attempts to bite teachers; I guess I would put that one in the win column.

He had some extra motivation to stay safe. Early in the week, we got a belated holiday gift from an aunt: another prized “credit card” for the Lego store. We told him that if he stayed safe, Mom would take him shopping on Friday afternoon and he could pick out something with his new card.

From the looks of his point sheet that day, he barely made it. He was marked off more than once for not showing respect, among several other things. But he must have calmed down enough each time after being given a warning that he recovered enough to be marked as staying safe.

He picked out a set from the new Chima collection, which looks to be Lego’s latest big thing. (Those folks at Lego are marketing geniuses, much to the dismay of parents everywhere). And when he got home, he worked on it right away and had it mostly completed by the time I got home from work.


When he was showing me his new set, he told me that he was going to get another new one tomorrow. I was puzzled. How do you know that?

He explained that he had spoken on the phone with his grandmother who would be visiting over the weekend. She was at the Lego store as they spoke. Hmm, what was she doing there?

And the next day, when his grandparents arrived, they brought over new Legos which he loved and started on right away.

For lunch, we all went to Fuddrucker’s, Kai’s favorite hamburger restaurant. He loves the condiments bar where he can take all the pickles and onions that he can eat.

These days, he is usually pretty good at waiting for his food to arrive. Well, for a few minutes anyway. But on this day, he seemed restless. The restaurant gives each group a buzzer to alert you when your order is ready. Kai sat at the table for only a minute before he wanted to go up to the counter to check on the progress. He was a bit impatient, but still managed to wait nicely.


And when our order was up, we went and got a plateful of pickles and he was a happy kid.

The rest of our weekend was spent building Legos, doing extra math work, and playing a periodic table quiz – in other words, an ordinary weekend.

Now we begin a new week. Can Kai stay safe two weeks in a row? Can he finally attain a safe month? Ah, but now I’m getting ahead of myself. One day at a time, I tell him.

Let’s see how today goes.

8 comments:

  1. I'm glad it was a good week back! I wish there was something that motivated Janey as much as Legos motivate Kai. It gets expensive, but it would be great to have something she'd work for like that. My older son got toilet trained only with the help of Thomas the Tank Engine and friends wooden train engines. For a while, we were half broke but very happy!

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    1. Hi Suzanne,

      In my son's case, there is usually something that motivates him, though it often changes from time to time. So, that is nice, though you are so right that it can get expensive.

      I wonder if you can look for things to motivate your daughter that are not necessarily material items, but perhaps other things like a special afternoon with Mom or Dad, or getting to do a preferred activity.

      Thanks for visiting, and commenting. I'll try to visit your blog soon.

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  2. That's a pretty good week for getting back into the swing of things! I hope this week is even better!

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    1. Betsy, it was a great week for Kai getting new Lego sets. :) But, yes, it was not a bad transition week. He had another safe day yesterday... let's see how long this streak lasts.

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  3. Ah...Grandparents. Children just love the extra attention..and the special treats :)

    Kai reminds me of my son in how he stands...straight up with arms in front of him...one hand clasping the other, or just with his arms at his side. Very proper, and endearing to see. My son does it when he is very alert, when he is intently observing something or when in a formal setting.

    It is good to be a child and to be so excited in anticipation of a treat. I still love hamburgers...but when I was a child...I absolutely drooled in anticipation of getting some.

    A nice weekend following a nice week. You will see how they become the norm as Kai matures. And...if he loves food as much as I had (and still do)..he will fondly remember his excursions to Fuddrucker's (when I was Kai's age...I would regularly eat 5 cheeseburgers (McDonald's size) in one sitting (my father only required I finish what I ordered). I still remember those times well.

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    1. I know just what you are saying about how he will have fond remembrances of these excursions to Fuddrucker's. When I was a child, it was very special to go to McDonald's. Just as I look back on those times with fondness, so too will Kai on these days. Ha ha, you must have really enjoyed the cheeseburgers!

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  4. Great to hear that Kai stayed safe two weeks in a row...inch by inch...!
    I will keep my fingers crossed for many more weeks of good behavior!
    Geovana

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    1. Geovana,

      Sometimes I start looking too far ahead... inch by inch is exactly right.

      Kai is actually still working on his second safe week - he has three more days to go but hopefully he can do it.

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