Sunday, November 7, 2010

A Tough Week, But A Better Weekend

We had a tough week.

Tristan was incredibly resistant to doing his homework. It took hours to do because he claimed that he didn't know how to do the math. I had to reteach him each step with every problem. With three children, I just don't really have the time to dedicate to teaching him like that. I'm trying a new approach; I give him beans to use to count the numbers. It seems to be helping out, so I'm optimistic.

Tristan was so high energy this past week, frantically running all over the place, randomly (and rhythmically) ejecting loud bursts of noise (usually roars.) I was so exhausted from dealing with him. I felt terrible because I just had no patience and ended up yelling at him a lot.

This weekend, I tried to make up for it. I let him lay in my bed with me on Friday night and I rubbed his back until he fell asleep. On Saturday, I let him come alone with me to Pennsylvania to purchase a storage unit for our dining room. He seemed really excited to leave his sisters behind. I let him get a donut from Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and he chose what we ate for lunch, as well.

His behavior seemed to improve and I'm going to make an effort to spend at least a few hours of positive alone time with him each week. I know it sounds like such an easy thing, but being as busy as I am, I don't even really get time to myself, much less with anyone else. I think it will be worth it, though, because it did seem to make a difference this weekend.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

New School

Tristan started at his new school last week. His school is absolutely wonderful. The teachers seem to genuinely care and seemed eager to understand Tristan's particular special needs.

I was worried I'd have to prepare for a battle, guns ablazin', ready to fight to get him what he needs. To my shock (and pleasure) none of that will be necessary (yet.)

Today, Tristan came screaming to me about this terrible insect on the fence. He described it as "yellow, with fang-things like this," (he put his fingers in front of his mouth like a tarantula,) "and it's like a bee, but no wings!" I ran over, thinking it must be a really big termite or something. He'd found a cicada shell. I pulled it off the fence and showed him how it was hollow inside; no bug! He was amazed and didn't seem to understand where the inside had gone. It's just so funny to me because I grew up with cicadas and never really considered it before. This is all so new to him that it's almost like I'm seeing it for the first time, too.

On Halloween day, we spent most of the day working in the yard. Tristan grabbed the broom and sat in the middle of a leaf pile. I asked him what he was doing and he explained that he was in a boat, paddling down the water. Sometimes his imagination just cracks me up. He spent the next half hour "paddling" frantically. He even got his little sister into the "boat" along with him. They ended up playing really nicely together in our front yard for most of the day.

I can't wait to see what little things he'll discover each day.