Proud Mommy

Today was one of those wonderful days when you realize that maybe all the hard work is paying off.  Maybe - just maybe - you are raising a really good boy.  :-)

Colin has been having a great year at school - his therapy has REALLY been paying off and for really the first time ever, Colin has managed to make some friends at school without the help of a teacher.  This has also come with new challenges for my sweet boy, including becoming fast friends with a bit of a troublemaker.  We shall call him "Joe" for writing purposes.  Joe has a much older brother and right off the bat this year, Colin started coming home with some new phrases, sayings and behaviors that were obviously learned from someone in class.  All relatively harmless stuff, just things that were a little too old for a pre-K group and would rather Colin not pick up on.  Colin has also shared with me some of the disruptive things that Joe has been doing in class and how he sometimes got Colin involved.  So, we talk a lot about Joe and I always just remind Colin to pay attention to himself and his actions and not worry about what others are doing and just follow the rules of the class.  (Colin can be a bit of a police officer when it comes to school)  Well, last night Colin broke down in tears and shared with me that he and Joe had to sit in the time-out chair during circle time.  He was absolutely beside himself because he had never had a time out at school before and he was just inconsolable about it.  I finally managed to get out of him that Joe had been bugging Colin to play some kind of "slapping" game and Colin kept telling him no, but to no avail.  The poor little peanut - as he was telling me the story he kept saying, "I didn't want to do it, Mom!  I said no over and over again!  He wasn't listening to me!".  The teacher caught the two of them talking and they both got sent to a time-out chair because there is a strict "no talking" rule during circle time.  Colin was horrified!

So as I held Colin on the couch and we talked about the episode, I suggested he sit somewhere different tomorrow - away from Joe.  He welled up again and said that Joe would be upset if he didn't sit by him and he didn't want to lose his friend.  He was so worried about doing the right thing and also not hurting Joe's feelings.  It was then that Colin looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I know.  Can you ask Miss Sandra to move me away from Joe?  You can tell her that I want to be good and I don't want to sit by anyone that will get me in time out ever again.  And you can tell her that if SHE moves me, Joe won't be mad at me and think I am a bad friend.  Is that okay?  Can you please tell Miss Sandra that?!"  I must say, this was a very proud moment for me.  The fact that my socially challenged 5 year old came up with this plan - on top of being so insistent on not getting in trouble and still being a good friend - it just made my heart swell with joy.

When we got to school this morning, the first words out of Colin's mouth when we entered the building were, "Mommy, PLEASE don't forget to talk to Miss Sandra!".  When we walked up to his classroom to check in, he said, "TELL HER NOW, MOM!  Don't forget!!".  It was adorable.  Miss Sandra said, "Clearly you have something to tell me!"  :-)  I gave her the scoop and told her what Colin said.  She was VERY impressed.  She told me that Colin is not one to get in trouble and she LOVED that he came up with the plan to sit away from Joe.  In fact, she said she "couldn't believe he came up with that on his own" and that it was a great idea and she had no problem being the bad guy. When I picked my sweet boy up today, he was in one of the best moods EVER.  In fact, when he turned to say goodbye to his friends, about 5 kids (including Joe) jumped up and HUGGED him!  All at once!  It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen!  Now, Colin is not one for hugging and touching like that, so I saw the sort of pained smile he gave and he said, "Miss Sandra, can you help me out of here?"  HA!!  He said it very sweetly and his teacher cleared away the huggers and Colin ran out to greet me.  I got a subtle thumbs up from his teacher and Colin immediately launched into the story of how perfectly everything worked out and that Miss Sandra asked him to sit over by her and Joe was not mad at all.  He was absolutely jubilant over how things went.  And this mama is absolutely jubilant over the fact that she has one of the best boys in the whole wide world.  It's just been one of those good days, I tell you.  :-)