The Winner Takes It All

Grade three has not been a good transition for Jack.  There are days that it's seemed harder than adjusting to kindergarten or grade one, so I can only imagine what he's feeling.  There have been bullying issues that thankfully (hopefully) have been resolved. His teacher and the school has been amazing at nipping this in the bud.  He's a loner, but the bullying has made this especially evident. Academically he's lagging behind in math and his writing.  His focus is scattered at best, in work he does at home with us or with his tutor. A teacher who has him for two subjects this year (and had him last year) told us he's very engaged in one class and like a different kid, totally disconnected in the other.  At home in recent weeks there have been big freak outs over small things where it's been very difficult for him to calm down.  I am feeling his self-confidence plummet and it's been heartbreaking.

It's report card season and as I hear other parents complain about their kid having average marks and not excellent marks it makes me want to scream.  At the same time I know that Jack is kind, creative, clever, and wonderful, and I wouldn't trade that for straight As. His recent issues at school could be so many things: his response to the bullying, that he's about to make some sort of a jump, or the one that I fear the most, that he's pulling away from school. We're currently on the wait lists for an assessment and support, but I still worry - a lot.  He's not a disruptive kid, he's well-behaved, sweet and close enough to grade level that I fear this isn't a priority, there's only so much funding to go around.

Okay - enough complaining....

Since his first haircut Jack has been terrified of the clippers.  Two hair cuts ago our hairdresser showed Jack how the clippers would feel on his arm and asked him if he'd consider letting her trim the back of his hair with it during his next cut.  She held him to his word last week and all it took was a little extra screen time on dad's laptop to convince him.  He even let her trim around his ears with the clippers.  Chris and I both made a big deal out of it.  He needed a victory, heck we all needed a victory.

Then the next day he began working on creating comic books with a girl in his class and this seems to be an ongoing project.

They say not to sweat the small things, but what they don't mention is celebrating the small things.

Here's hoping that we figure out some of the bigger stuff some time soon!