Mutterings Of A Mindless Mommy

I’m a weather fanatic…my son is a weather fanatic…my daughter’s favorite channel is The Weather Channel.  So last night when the monsoon thunderstorm started to roll in, I knew the kids would miss their bedtime.  We recently thoroughly redecorated the playroom (paint, carpet, curtains, furniture, etc) and the storm was on the playroom side of the house so we decided to hang out and watch the storm.  I sprawled out on the new Ikea love seat and the kids plunked down on the floor with blankets, a pillow and a large stuffed dog.

Alexander was very tired and had actually fallen asleep for a few minutes before the storm started.  I didn’t bother asking him to put his glasses on.  Ava was still wide awake.  We all hung out in the playroom for nearly 45 minutes as we watched the sky light up with lightning, felt the house shake from the thunder and watched the rain begin to fall from the sky.  The kids were finally sleepy enough to go to bed and for the next two hours the rain continued to come and the thunder kept on rolling.  It was a great summer monsoon storm.

In other Mindless Mommy news, yesterday was Alexander’s second day of second grade.  On Wordless Wednesday I posted a picture of him dressed in his cool new clothes, bright white shoes and sweet smile as we were heading out the door to go to school for his first day of second grade.  Yesterday he was equally enthusiastic.  When I picked him up he asked “can you clean my glasses, they have sand on them?”  I said sure but asked how they managed to get sand on them (in first grade he decided he didn’t want to wear his glasses so hid them in the sand on the playground).  He said that a child pushed him from behind and it knocked his glasses off and knocked him forward into the sand and then quickly followed up “but I caught myself before my face hit the sand!”  I asked him if the child was playing and he said “no, bully” in a very matter of fact tone.  I asked if he knew the child and he did not.  I asked him if he mentioned it to anyone and he didn’t.

Alexander is prone to these types of incidents.  In kindergarten one of his classmates swatted Alexander’s glasses off of his face and started punching him - Alexander said he was “trying to block the punches.”  In first grade another child repeatedly threw sand in Alexander’s face during recess until I mentioned it to the teacher.  Alexander isn’t really phased by these events, or doesn’t seem to be.  He is at a new school this year - we didn’t move him because of the sand-throwing but because of his seizures as we wanted him at the school close to us as opposed to 20 minutes away.

I spoke with my mom last night to find out how I should handle it with the school.  Since she’s an educator (currently a teacher but also worked as a vice principal) she’s my go-to-girl on all things school-related.  She asked if I was concerned and I told her that I wasn’t overly concerned as this was only the second day of school and everyone is getting used to.  Of course I’d prefer that Alexander not have to deal with it but I don’t want to over-react and take his queues. She suggested I send an email to the teacher just as an FYI in case this happens again.  Perfect, I sent off a quick email last night just briefly explaining what happened.

This morning on the way in to school the Principal was out front giving students high-fives.  In classic Alexander function, once he realized that possible interaction might happen, he quickly hunched his shoulders and fixated on the ground.  The Principal gave him a quick rub on the back and asked him to be sure to tell one of the playground helpers if something were to happen again.  I knew then that his teacher had forwarded the email on the Principal (understandably so).  This made me feel better.  In kindergarten, Alexander attended this school for three weeks before I pulled him out.  I was mortified that he was given detention for certain behavioral outbursts - in kindergarten!  Granted I didn’t understand why Alexander was the way he is (hindsight is 20/20) but I felt that the detention was far too punitive and not effective.  Alexander was oblivious to the concept by the way.  I was so nervous about having Alexander attend the school again this year but now I know a lot more plus have the protection of the federal government with regards to IDEA legislation.

So I walked Alexander on to the playground and briefly poked my head in to the teacher’s classroom to let her know that Alexander had another seizure last night.  I just wanted to give her a heads-up in case he acted a bit off this morning.  His post-ictal stage seemed to be relatively short and he woke up at his normal time.  In the past, after seizures he’d sleep forever and miss school.  Since he felt up to it, I let him go.  She commented on the incident and asked me to encourage Alexander to speak up when it happens so that it can be addressed.  She thanked me for mentioning it and reminded me that the school has a zero tolerance policy on bullying - whether it is the first day of school or last.  This was comforting.

One last “muttering” - Alexander’s seizure last night led to injury on my part. He has these seizures where he kicks.  Well somehow he was turned upside down in my bed (he has been nightmare free for over a week so it was unusual to have him in my bed) and then the seizure happened which led to a very swift kick to my left shoulder blade.  I was crashed when it happened so startled awake by pain.  I guess that was his way of saying “hey mom, seizure, pay attention!”  It hurts like hell now though hehe.