Friday, March 31, 2006

Buck up, Mrs. Ris

"So why was it such a hard day?" my sweet husband asked with a caring lilt to his voice.

Well..... Mikee wanted our complete attention from the moment he arrived to class, and he stuck his tongue out at any other child who got some. This started the tattling, the worried frenzy of whining and complaining and moving around the room with anxious energy.... and then one kid scratched another kid's ear and you would have thought the ear had been Van Gogh-ed for all the crying and dramatics, and the scratCHER was gleeful, which set off another series of frenzied whining and complaining and moving about the room with anxious energy.....

The wonderful social worker who comes in for a social skills group on Friday mornings either "ignored" or missed my non-verbal cue about separating Mikee and the kid with the scratched ear during her lesson..... chaos ensued. Predictable chaos is lots worse than surprise chaos. I mean... it could have been avoided and is therefore waaaayyyy more annoying.

Geraldine whined all through writing workshop, or barked at me in her best "ghetto girl in charge" voice.... I don't know which is worse. The combination sucked the life out of me. Happily, she got 5 sentences down on paper. Amazing.

The new kid is so smart and interesting, but quiet, and I have to make a gallant concerted effort to check in with him one on one or he'll get lost to all the other "squeaky wheels" in our class. This one, new, small thing feels like a tipping point. Tipping, as in, I just might start screaming and never stop if I can't get a moment of peace and quiet where I don't feel ravaged by their needs. Oh, wait. That'll happen when I get home tonight. Until then, I buck up and give my best and more.

They all deserve it.

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