All in a Thursday

Three weeks ago, Tate came home and forgot his “Reading Counts” book. He also forgot it the next day, and the day after that.  On the third day, I told him that he was going to have to pick out a book from his room to read and that he no longer had the luxury of choosing one from his class.  The only problem was, he had read all of the books (we have at home) that are eligible for “Reading Counts”.  All except for two….this one and this one!  He (told) me he was NOT reading “Hank the Cowdog”.  -My Aunt Lisa would be so sad to hear about someone choosing anything over her beloved “Hank the Cowdog”.  LOL  So….it was “Back to the Day Lincoln was Shot”.  I knew this was going to be a hard book, I could not even stay focused long enough to understand what was going on!  Sensing that he was gaffing me off about the book, I told him that if he failed the test, he was going to be grounded until the next test.  :(  He came home a week ago to tell me that he got a 50!  -The note on the test (score only), that had to be signed, said that he would need to RE-TAKE the test in one week.  Are you kidding me?!!!  11 chapters of nothing but vocabulary, due in seven days!  So…we started again.  There would be very little, if any free time for him. This time I made him take notes, read 1.5-2 chapters to himself, and then re-read what he read to me.  It was torture, for both of us. He would be in the middle of reading and say something so random  like, “Mom, I just read John and was thinking they were fixin’ to say 'John Cena', but then I kept reading and it said JohnATHAN”.  It was all I could do to keep from laughing, but like I said, the boy was having the HARDEST time staying focused!

  Today was the BIG day.  After the boys had left for school, I noticed that his notes were on the bar.  I don’t think he even read over them this morning.  I knew how important this was to him AND to ME (ha!), after all, I was forced into reading this nightmare of a book too! I quickly got myself ready for the day and drove up to the school, hoping he hadn’t taken the test yet.  (This was a huge deal for me to do since his teacher scares me as much as Ms. Crownover scared me in the Third grade.) I walked in the door only to see him sitting at the computer exiting out of the test. I approached her desk with the notes (my proof he read the book) and asked her what he scored, she quickly shook her head and told me that he had failed again. :(  My heart sank.  My first question was, “Does he have to take this test again in a week or can (we! LOL) pick a different book?”  She told me that we could pick a different book, and that the only reason that she allowed Tate to read this –blasted- book was because she didn’t want to tell him that he (couldn’t) do it.  She felt that he was challenging himself and she wanted to support him! Grrrr…I want to NOT like her!  I guess Tate was right, “The more you get to know her, the better she is.”  When I was finished talking to her, I walked over to tell Tate goodbye, and he had the saddest look on his face.  He was disappointed in himself and was sad that he had let me down.  I didn’t want to get too mushy in front of all of his friends, but I quietly told him everything was fine, that he did his best and that we never had to read that book again! It completely broke my heart. As I walked out of his classroom, I literally began to cry. I hated that he had really tried so hard and had failed again.  It was 2 hours before his lunch time, and this was something only a meatball sandwich and a Dr. Pepper could fix! 

*While eating lunch with a cafeteria full of third graders, one of the assistants blew a whistle, and all of the children stopped.  It was if I have never seen someone stop at the sound of a whistle, it was magical to me!!!  I told Tate that I was going to get a whistle and instead of hollering at him and Bode to stop arguing, or just to get their attention, I could blow a whistle!!!  The only thing that makes me think twice about this is him one day telling his wife, or his children, that I use to blow a whistle at him and Bode!*

On to my SECOND dreaded thing of the day, my contacts.  I have only been wearing contacts since right before Christmas.  I have an astigmatism that requires that I wear toric lenses.  My eye doctor has told me that they have to be positioned correctly on the eye (and they do this themselves) or my vision would be blurry. My LEFT eye is always bothering me, sometimes it can take up to 20 minutes for it to focus!!!  I have already been back into to see him 2 other times, so going BACK in there for a third time I am feeling like the “patient who won’t go away”.  As soon as he gets to me, I quickly apologize for even being there, but that I think I might have “chronic dry-eye” LOL  He checks out my eye and notices that I am not blinking correctly…what?!!!  Who does not BLINK correctly?!!  But after further examination, I blink “right” more often than not because there is no line on my contacts suggesting that is the REAL problem.  I tell him that when they work, and I re-wet them with drops, they work beautifully and that I don’t even know they are there.  He kind of looks at me funny and says, “Well, contacts are not perfect, but most people put up with the slight irritation they might cause because they don’t want to wear glasses.” He goes on, “I certainly do, even right now, I can feel (and he touches his LEFT eye!!!!!) this one is off a bit”…I very quickly said, “IT’S ALWAYS THE LEFT EYE!!!!”.  He told me that the left was “sinister”.  Problem solved!!!  THE LEFT EYE IS THE DEVIL!!!  -My mom does not like me saying this!!!-  And I don’t mean that my left eye is LITERALLY the devil….I just mean it gives me the craziest of fits!  It’s sinister. LOL

When the boys got home from school, Tate played fetch with Abby and I caught this picture!  It’s my new favorite!!!  Both of their expressions are PRICELESS!

-If you look closely you can see her drool! LOL-

And this next picture warms my heart. Bode comes home every day and finishes his homework first so that he can go outside and play.  Double digit math, and EVERY SINGLE ONE, CORRECT.  :)

Love these boys.  LOVE THEM.