Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Is it always like this?

Is the first day your kid heads back to school or pre-school always such an awesome sigh of relief and happiness? Woo Hoo! Jackson is back at school 3 days a week, he is excited to go and I am sooooooo glad to take him. The feeling is akin to the old feelings of last-day-of-school bliss. Yippee! It has been a good, but long summer and the small boy and I are in dire need of some time apart - besides nap time. Boredom is Jackson's mortal enemy. It makes him hyper, destructive, whiny and defiant. Me too, except the destructive part. And I am more tired than hyper. But you know what I mean.

Today has been awesome. He was so excited to go this morning, could hardly wait while I packed his lunch and backpack. He got a little nervous as we pulled up and said "Is school closed today? We can go tomorrow." He needed to hold my hand as we walked in. I usually have to force him to hold my hand. But once in the classroom, he sat down at the round table with the other kids and dove into the play dough. I could not even get his attention to say goodbye.

I was worried he would wet his pants. And he did. As I expected, he doesn't want to stop playing to go potty. The teacher is going to make a point of reminding him to go. And I will continue to send changes of clothes for him. I hope it doesn't take him too long to get the hang of it. It would be better if they had an organized potty time, in which everything stopped and they all went to the bathroom. But their bathroom is connected to the classroom, with tiny toilets - very cute. And the kids are just supposed to go when they need to. Jackson might need to be directed to go. Not even a reminder, but an order. Ask, "Do you need to go potty?" The answer is nearly always 'no' even if he is performing the pee-pee dance right then. Tell him instead, "It is time to go potty now." And you will have more success. I may suggest that if he doesn't do better tomorrow and Thursday.

But back to the 'hooray' to back-to-school. We get a break from each other, i get uninterrupted work time at the Palace, and we are happy to see each other when I pick him up. It is just an awesome time all around. And I am so comfortable with the school and I like his teacher.

I love days like today when I can be so productive. I got the poster or our season opener, The Producers, designed printed and distributed to businesses on the square, I got the marquee cases out front changed over from last season/Nunsense to this season/Producers. I sold about 30 season tickets, scheduled a crew to steam clean the carpets in the lobby and auditorium, got the batch/transaction reports done from the weekend and answered the phones and took care of people who came in.

After I picked up Jackson and took him back to the Palace, he went down easy for his nap and slept til 4:00. It was just a good day. Big change from the last couple of weeks when he has become increasingly bored and disinterested in hanging out at the theatre. Our tempers flare and we fight. He acts up, I scold, it doesn't correct him and he escalates when I am on the phone or working with someone. It was looking kind of bleak for the future of Jackson being allowed to be at the Palace. But with school starting it is looking up. I am also in talks with a young lady to keep him on Friday afternoons so I can get all the show-critical stuff taken care of without forcing him to waaaiiittt for me to finish everything, acting up and causing it all to take longer. Friday show days take a lot of work to be ready and I need to concentrate on that and Jackson shouldn't have to sit there while I work til 5 or 5:30. Heh, if he isn't there, I probably will be done with everything much earlier.

In closing I would just like to say...Yay first day of school!!!!

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