Day 3: the saga and deep breathing continue...

If you have been reading my posts the last couple of days, you know that my afternoons with Hunter have been a mess. The first day of walking home from school was an hour long man hunt for my lost son who was taking his sweet time. That afternoon was scary! The second day of school pick up was filled with a lot of deep breathing and dealing with his not-so-stellar attitude.

Then there was day three:
Once again, Hunter decided he wanted me to pick him up from school so that Minecraft time was not lost. I showed up on time, sat in line, and wondered what the afternoon would bring. About five minutes after school let out, I received a call on my cell. I looked at my screen. It was him. I believe I even smiled. All I could think was, "He remembered our conversation from this morning. He listened and turned on his phone right after school. I got through to him. Hallelujah!!" I quickly picked up the phone and heard the endearing words I will never forget. (You might need a tissue.) "Where are you woman?!?!?!"

 I swallowed hard, took a deep breath and tried hard not to come through that phone. My reply (my seven year old was in the car after all) was a calm, "Excuse me." He went on to berate me about being at the wrong door. Hmmm there were a lot of other kids coming out of that door, and a lot of other parents picking them up??? I promptly told him I would be there shortly and hung up the phone and began some more deep breathing. Then, my phone made the familiar texting beep, and I looked down to see the beautiful written words from my son, "Where are you?????!!!"  At that point, I though about leaving his ass in the parking lot and speeding off like a raving lunatic. Instead, I continued deep breathing. I pulled around to where he stood.

He got in the car and I let him know that he was to NEVER speak to me that way again. He rolled his eyes and said OK as if I was the one being unreasonable. At the time, I was thinking, "I need a new game plan. What can I do? I know...I'll kill him with kindness!"

That's exactly what I did. He had an assignment that included cutting and pasting, so I helped him cut out 20 pictures. We sat at the kitchen table and he talked to me a little nicer than normal. It took everything I had to be nice back, but I did it. We completed the assignment. I asked him to help me pick up the paper scraps and he rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. I'm sure I don't want to know what it was.

I did not receive a thank you for picking him up from school or helping him with his assignment. I never really expected one, but I did receive some good conversation with my son. Right now, in this moment of time, those little moments are all I have, so I'll take them! The rest of the time, I'll just keep deep breathing until these hormones run their course!! (Oh yeah, and the occasional glass of wine.)