It's Saturday!

When I turn on my laptop, there is this little weather feature thingy that tells us the current weather, what to expect for the day, and then gives a 3 day forecast. This morning, at 8:37 am, it was -15 with a wind chill that makes it feel like -22! -22?!!??? Okay - it is only December...we are not supposed to be having weather this cold yet. Whatever happened to that whole 'global warming' trend everyone has been talking about?? Geesh. -22. Crazy, I tell ya...

On Thursday evening, the boys and I were all watching a Christmas special together. It was nice, I will admit. Towards the end of the movie, the A-man turns to S and says, "Are you going to tell her?" and S's face transforms into that well-known 'little black rain cloud' we are all so used to. He replied - with a grunt, I believe - "No." Feet go up so knees are at the chest, arms are crossed. (He had been quite relaxed prior to this.) My internal warning bells start flashing and screaming in my head. The A-man then informs S that he will tell me if S doesn't.

A few minutes later, S tells me that he is going to ask the principal if he can go back on his regular bus - no longer take the mini-van. The regular bus was not a good thing for S. Far too much stimuli, and non-structured time. I asked why he would want to do that, and it seems he had another problem with the other boy that rides with him. I mentioned another issue a few weeks back, actually.

After a bit of time, I was able to determine that the other boy had been 'bouncing' for the whole ride home, and by the end of it, S had enough. He had asked the boy to stop, he had given the boy warnings... really, he did all that is to be expected. Unfortunately, this boy also has low social skills, and either simply didn't get it, or simply didn't care. Anyway, S lost his temper. When the van stopped to let the other boy out, S took off his seat belt and grabbed the other boy in a choke hold. I guess he held him like this for a few moments, then let go. The boy cried, but after the driver reprimanded S, the other little boy gave S a taunting "Nah nah" as he was getting out of the vehicle.

I still maintain that this entire problem could be completely resolved if S would be allowed to ride in the front seat of the van, as he used to do. For whatever reason, our 'normal' principal decided S couldn't ride in the front because of the front air-bags. He's 12 years old - he weighs almost 70 pounds. Front air-bags are not a concern, but I guess the other kids were wanting to ride in the front, and rather than have an argument with all of them, she simply deemed that no one was allowed in the front. Stupid woman.

Yesterday morning, I tried to call the principal before school began, but he was in a meeting. I sent an email to the SERT to let her know what had transpired, and to request that she talk to the principal and see if together they could override the whole front seat issue. I know he would be fine if he could just have some distance from this other boy. When she wrote back to me, she told me about an incident that had occurred in the French class that morning. Another bit of a blow up, but this time, he simply got extremely agitated and eventually left the class and went to the special ed room.

This is actually a very big improvement for him. Very little upset to the others in the classroom, no insults or injury to anyone...he simply... left. The SERT's main concern was not the behaviour - it was the level of frustration poor S was enduring. Of course, with S, you can never get to the root of the entire issue right away. It takes a very long time, and often a very long and drawn out conversation. I did make mention the SERT (in my reply) that it is a week to the Christmas holidays... it is the time that we will start to see more escalations in his behaviour, simply because of the excitement brought on by the holidays. Predictably unpredictable is my wee guy. We know it's coming - we just never know what "it" will be.

S would not talk about it last night. To be honest, I was okay with that. I ended up working an extra hour last night - missed my dinner with the jury - and by the time I got home from work it was almost 7. I was tired, the weekend was upon us, and I knew I would have ample time to review the situation over the weekend.

As I have been typing this, I have had to chase the cats out of the tree - three times - and I have had a conversation with S about the events of yesterday. Of course, the actual 'incident' was simply the result of a number of weeks' frustration. I will have to have a good chat with both the SERT and the principal about this. Short version... I don't think the EA 'gets it.' Truly. Now I have to make sure I get this dealt with right away, because once the New Year hits, the 'regular' principal will be back - oh happy day.

Anyway - enough blogging for today. I have to finished sanding and prepping the foyer walls - we begin to paint today! And I think my new mantle is scheduled to be installed over the weekend, too!!