Heard around our 'hood -- the Onion edition

The start of school has been tough around these parts.  Everyone gets up, gets dressed, and goes to school without complaint, but Seth {in particular} is stressed to the hilt.  To say he is max'd out might be the greatest understatement of all time.  What I've learned from this is that five year olds don't tell you, "Hey, mom.  I'm stressed.  School is hard and it makes me anxious."  Um, no.  They go off.the.hook. with bad behavior, convincing their otherwise unaware mothers that they are the worst parent in history.  

Bummer.

One of Seth's perseverations since starting school is with sitting on the "Ss" on the rug during circle time.  His fixation has driven him to (1) pace if he can't sit on it or (2) push other children off of it.  Unacceptable.  Once I learned of this awesomeness, Seth and I decided to play a game where each day he reports to me the letter that he sat on and when he does not sit on "S" he gets a prize.  So in the midst of attempting new and interesting behavior modification techniques, we had the following conversation last night:

"Mom, I sat on G today and H yesterday."

Wow!  Awesome job, buddy!  I'm so proud of you.  You could even sit on S every once in a while, as long as you give other children a turn.

"No one even wants to sit on S any more."

{figures}

Oh, well then you can sit on it!

"No, mom.  I can't see well.  I need to sit on a letter close to Mrs. Volz so I can see the pictures."

{Yes, he said I CAN'T SEE WELL.  Atta boy....}

That's true, honey.  I'm so glad you are realizing that and making changes!

"I wish I didn't have to wear glasses."

I know.  God made your eyes and brain a little different so it's a challenge you have, isn't it?  Sometimes God gives us hard stuff to teach us things.

"Why do I have eyes that don't work right?"

I don't know but I do know that God is going to use it in your life!  Should we pray that God heals your eyes and for ways to handle the hard stuff?

"I don't want to have hard things.  Diego doesn't have hard things."

Honey, Diego is a new friend and you probably don't know what hard things he might have in his life!

"Diego doesn't have glasses and he has a mom AND a dad.  I don't want to have just a mom."

{Ahhh ouch.  And so there it is}

Aw buddy.  That's mommy's hard thing too.  Let's pray for your eyes and for a daddy, ok?  I'm so glad that we can talk about the things you are feeling inside.  I'm proud of you.

******************************

In room number two, Zechariah {also known as complete motor mouth these days} is telling me stories:

"Once upon a time there was a boy named Zechariah.

Zechariah was sitting on a bench.

His family came and found him and took him home.

And gave him lots of chicken.

Because he liked chicken.

The end."

{snicker}

Zechariah, how did that boy in the story feel when his family came to get him?

"Nervous!  Those people were STRANGERS!!!!"

And just like that we were off to a different topic.  But the onion of feelings about his adoption peels one more layer even as we peel away at the anxiety Seth has for school.

It's never ending.

Thank God His mercies are new every morning....

Great is Thy Faithfulness.