Yellow Light Yesterday...But No Tears Today

So the squeaker had a pretty bad day yesterday. By noon, his grandma had called me three times. One of those times, I talked with him, but he was crying so hard that I couldn’t understand him. But it was clear that he did not want to go to school, and he was sad and upset about it. I told his grandma that she had to put him on the bus no matter how much he was crying. I could tell she hated doing it, but she did it.

When he got off the bus later that afternoon, he seemed pretty cheerful. We went inside and I checked his folder, where there is a little “traffic light” that tells me if he was good (“green light”), a little naughty (“yellow light”), or VERY naughty (“red light”). Every day so far, green has been marked.

But not yesterday. This time, yellow was marked, and the teacher had checked “called out.” When I asked him about it, he got kind of upset. He told me he cried about it at school (which made me sad). When I asked him what happened, he said that he had seen a beaver or a hedgehog from the bus, and he was very excited about it. He said that he got in trouble for talking about it in class. That made me even sadder. I hated to think of him being all excited and then getting reprimanded for it, even though I figured the teacher probably did what she had to do to quiet him (he does sometimes talk over people, and trying to stop him just makes him talk louder). My husband asked him if the teacher had warned him multiple times, and the squeaker said that she had. He seemed very sad about it, so my husband reminded him that he needs to remember not to call out and we let it go at that. Later in the evening, he told me he hated school. But I think he was still smarting about the yellow light. I do wish it hadn’t happened since he is already struggling with school, but I suppose it’s also valuable to learn that even when he makes a mistake, it isn’t the end of the world. It won’t just be shrugged off, but it’s also not a great big deal.

He also said that lots of kids got in trouble yesterday. Some kids were apparently reprimanded for playing rock, paper, scissors (which the squeaker described as some strange game that you do with your hands that he didn’t really understand, LOL. He was very baffled by it.).

Today went better, apparently. No tears, though I did get an anxious phone call from him just before he got on the bus. But no tears is an accomplishment.

The pipsqueak, on the other hand, had a GREAT day yesterday, even though he is still jealous when big brother gets on the school bus. Apparently, he told his grandma all about his PARTY. He told her it was “in a few days,” and he named a bunch of the people we invited. I have no idea how he knows this stuff. He must absorb a lot more than I realize.