Another *(^#A@ Day!!

Yesterday was another of those very difficult days with Alex. He came upstairs after showering and dressing and was in SLOW MOTION. Michael told him, "You need to be upstairs at 7:20 so we can get everything done." This made him move even slower. He ambled towards the kitchen chair as if to eat, and Michael said, "Come on. Let's go get your reading done." He appeared surprised that reading was coming before eating, but we decided if reading came first, then he would have to hurry to eat, instead of taking all day to eat and then not having time to read. Aren't we smart?

Reading actually went fairly well, but then Alex thought he'd get back at us by refusing to eat. Oh, well. It's going to be another hungry day at school. Lunch will look awfully good today.

Fast forward to 3:30 p.m. when the boys get home from school. I dug in Alex's backpack to retrieve his math homework and had him start on it. We have a tight schedule on Monday because the boys have soccer, which we signed up for solely to make Alex happy. He moaned and whined and had attitude for ten minutes over math homework. I gave him a little talking to about being happy, that happiness is a choice, HIS choice, and that either way, happy or mad, he still has to do his homework.

Just then the doorbell rang, and I said, "Mrs. Benson is here to help you." I let her in, and I then had a five-minute battle of the wills with Alex.

"Come on, Alex. Mrs. Benson is here to read with you."

"No Mrs. Benson."

"Come on. Only 30 minutes, and then it will be time to go to soccer."

Silence.

"Be happy, Alex. Once you get better at reading, we won't have to do this anymore."

"No reading."

"Alex, if you won't read today, I can't take you to soccer practice."

Silence.

"Which is it? It's your decision?"

"I don't know, Mom." More silence.

Well, you get the idea. I finally sent Mrs. Benson home, and I know Alex regretted it immediately. I called Michael and said, "Any way you can come home to be with Alex while I take Quinn to soccer? Alex needs to observe us leaving for soccer. "

Fortunately Michael was free to come home, and off Quinn and I went. Michael said Alex never moved from the recliner for 90 minutes. He was still there when Quinn and I got home. He refused dinner. At 67 pounds, you can't really afford to skip two meals in one day, but oh well. I can't force him to eat.

After dinner we all went to a Bennion Jr. High open house for sixth graders. Halfway through the evening, Alex started to return to his normal self. He was blown away by the fact that every classroom in the junior high has a "smart" board, which is something I myself knew nothing about. It's a huge computer screen on the wall, and the teachers just tap it with their hand to go to different websites and to use for interactive learning. I think Alex started to think about how lucky he was to be here and started comparing the school to his school back in Ukraine. On the way home we had a discussion about the importance of education and hard work, and by the time we got back, the Alex we know and love had returned. He hugged and kissed everybody and was happy the rest of the night. He even finished up his math and did more problems than I asked him to.

This morning he served my breakfast up for me and got me orange juice. If only that little boy would stay instead of the one that comes to visit every third day or so.