Today felt like a Monday, not a Friday at all.... but then I remembered it's Friday the 13th, so maybe it felt like a Friday afterall, just a really, really bad one!

* Let me start by saying: none of what we're being told is unexpected. There is a reason I was adamant that Nixon get into a preschool program this fall, before he goes to kindergarten next year. I knew the transition was going to be difficult for him.  

   Onto today: First Nixon didn't want to go to school. His reasoning was he'd be hit again. Did he really believe this? I don't know. I do know I used momlogic and worked him into getting ready for school little-by-little.
   He was told if he stayed home, he was in bed, sleeping with no TV because the only way he was staying home was if he was sick. I asked him if he was sick and he said "NO!", then he says, very matter-of-factually "I should go brush my teeth so the other kids aren't scareded of my stinky breath."
   Take him to school and he is fine. There is the cutest little girl in his class who was so happy to see him! She started saying "Nixon! Nixon's here! Hi Nixon! Hey! Nixon! Nixon! Nixon hi!" as he was putting up his backpack. He played it cool (or rude, depending on your point of view I suppose) but did smile when she came over and joined him at the table he went to play at.

* And then we (Mac and I together, because Mac promised Nixon he would be there...which turned out to be a huge help) went to pick Nixon up. All the kids were in a nicely formed circle, but I didn't see Nixon...until I heard him, in the office, with the head administrator.
   Nixon decided to act an ass most of the day. He was refusing to do any of the choices of activities he was given, arguing instead to do only what he wanted. He was getting to the point of disrupting the rest of the class, so in swooped the Admin and off to her office they went. The goal was to calm him down, which today was not happening. He was rude, talked back and full of sass. When we arrived, he heard our voices and started crying. Until that moment he hadn't produced real tears.
   Mac took Nixon out to the car while I spoke to the Admin. She is amazing! Together, during about a 10-15 minute conversation, we discussed Nixon's issues and how to best address them. She said "He's smart, and he's stubborn. He's a difficult one because he knows what he's doing and he chooses to do it knowing the consequences thinking he can outsmart his way out of the consequences." Yep, that's Nixon.
   Our joint plan of action, during which I explained he'd been evaluated and is a self-led learner and can be very determined to get his own way, is to let her us the punishments we use at home as leverage at school. I also told her he responds very well to sticker charts (because they do individualize things for each child as needed, a HUGE plus and big reason why we chose this particular school as Nixon's intro).

* When we came home, Nixon was told NO PSP and NO iTOUCH for the day. Because of how he acted in school. He asked to go to his room and take a nap. He told me, as I tucked him in for his nap "I just need some time to be alone right now", and I get it. He's dealing with a lot of changes, but he also knows better.

   This weekend we'll be focusing a lot on proper behavior at school and why how he acted in school today is not okay. He learned the hard way, I wasn't joking when I said a bad day at school would mean to video game play time at home. He got none of that today.

This is what I saw when I walked into his room...an empty bed!

He's lying on the floor, next to his bed. This is a photo from under his bed. How cute is he?!