I Know His Real Name

I was talking to the kids about what we are going to do when Dad gets home from work, and Hayden said, "When you talk about him you don't have to say Dad or Daddy because I know his real name is Mike."

Homemade Ice Cream

Since we were just getting used to spring, and we woke up to snow today, we decided to take advantage of it and make some homemade ice cream.

First we put a metal bowl in the freezer for a while to get it nice and cold.

Then Carson went and gathered up some clean snow. I think this snow was as clean as it could be because it had just fallen and nobody had walked through it yet.


Next we brought it inside.
Then we added some sugar, vanilla extract and some milk and gave it a good stir.

Then we ate it. It tasted just like vanilla ice cream. I wouldn't want to eat too much of it, though, because the only thing I could think about while I ate it was that it was snow and it came from outside. It kind of grossed me out. But the kids scarfed it down and loved it.

Then Hayden wrote a note to me on the floor with some pieces to a game.


He is such a sweetie!

Works For Me Wednesday

I have been working on getting my entire house organized. In the past I've been able to get it organized, but keeping it organized was where everything fell apart. This time I am doing things a little differently.

After each room gets completely organized I bring my husband and kids into the room and show them where everything belongs. Then once a week I go through each room and make sure things are staying organized. I look in every drawer, every toy box, every closet and every cupboard. If things have been put away in the wrong place, I remind everyone where things belong so they can put them away right next time. It takes me less than a minute per room to do a quick check, and it is well worth it to make sure things are staying organized. My family is doing a great job at helping me keep things organized. Even my five-year-old has kept his bedroom organized for over a month now.

Doing a quick check of my organized house once a week and getting my family involved in helping me out works for me to help keep it organized.

Go over to Rocks In My Dryer for a lot of great tips.

I'm A Soccer Mom

Today Amaya and Hayden had their soccer games. Carson normally would have been playing soccer, too, but since he broke his collarbone he can't. He will play during the summer, though.

Last week was the first week, although I don't have any pictures because my camera battery was dead, which I didn't find out until I tried to take a picture.

Last week Amaya would only go out on the field if either Mike or I was out there with her. But we not only had to be out there with her, we had to be holding her hand. Every once in a while I would slowly slip my hand out of hers and she would immediately grab my hand again. Towards the end I slipped it out once and she actually took off running.

This week was totally different. From the time we arrived she ran out with her team and her coach, jumped up and down with excitement, talked to the other kids and her coach, and even hugged one boy. She was so excited. During halftime when she was sitting with us drinking some water she said, "Can I go ask my coach if I can go out there again?" Then she ran over to her coach and told him she wanted to play.

Here are a few pictures of her. She's No. 5.

Here she is getting ready to play.


Here she is in the huddle.

Here she is watching Hayden play.

Hayden has done great during his two games. He really loves it and has a great time. He gets in there and really runs fast and gets right in the game.

He's much different from two years ago when he would be doing somersaults, lying in the goal, getting mad when one of the other kids kicked the ball, or sitting by us refusing to play. We stuck out the season because I told him he couldn't quit on his team, that they needed him. I told him if he didn't want to play again he didn't have to, but he had to finish the season. Last summer he wanted to play, but we didn't let him because he didn't seem ready. This year he really wanted to play, but I made him promise that he wouldn't get mad at other kids and that he would actually play. He said he would. The first game started off bad. We got there and he instantly got grumpy. He wouldn't talk to his coach or any of the kids. When his coach would ask him a question we would turn his back to her. She asked me if he was going to play and I said I didn't know. Then the second the game was going to start he all of the sudden perked up and got excited. He is a pretty strange kid. Now he loves it, and I am really happy for him that he can finally play soccer, which he loves to do at home, and have fun doing it.

Here he is getting ready to play. This is the best picture I could get.

Here he is in his huddle. He's No. 5, also.

Tackle It Tuesday

***UPDATED BELOW***

My tackle for today is to get the entire main floor of my house organized. I know that sounds like a big job, but I've been working on it for two and a half months, and today is just the finale.

Three of the areas (my two sons' rooms and the hallway, including the coat closet and the linen closet) are totally done.

In the bathroom I need to label a few things and hang some hooks for towels. I've already been shopping this morning and I bought everyone in the family their own set of towels which includes two bath towels, one hand towel and one washcloth. Everyone has their own color so now they can use their own towels instead of always using mine. We were desperately in need of some new towels anyway, and they were on sale.

In the family room I need to organize all of the computer, phone and television cables and cords, file some papers, and set up a spot for our library books to be kept.

The kitchen will be my biggest job. I need to look through all the cupboards just to make sure nothing is out of place, hang some hooks and hang a paper towel dispenser. I am going to make a menu center, which will be a magnetic board which I can put a weekly menu on and any shopping lists we have. I need to organize the refrigerator. Our kitchen doesn't have a real pantry, so right now all of the food is in a regular cupboard. It makes it hard to get some things because they are too high. It's impossible for the kids to get things down without climbing on the counter. I have another larger cabinet that holds nothing but kitchen appliances. I have a lot of them. I am going to switch some of the smaller appliances with the food to make the food more accessible.

I will update at the end of the day if I actually get finished. I'll also post a few pictures of some of my most exciting accomplishments. I'd better go now. I've got about 25 minutes to work before I have to go pick up my daughter from preschool.



****UPDATE****
First of all, I didn't mean to make today's tackle seem bigger than it was. Organizing my entire main floor sounded like a huge job, but I've already been working on it for months, so I only had a few things left to do.

Did I finish or not? Well, sort of. As with any good project there always has to be a snag. My snag came when I switched my food and appliances around.



Here is the food cupboard before. You can see that I also have some meal preparation tools in it, such as mixing bowls, measuring cups and choppers. That is because when I'm cooking I stand right in front of that cupboard and that's the best place for all that stuff. It's not the best place for the food, though. Whenever I need anything off of the top two shelves, I have to pull a chair over to stand on.
Now here is the appliance cupboard. It is jammed full of appliances. I love appliances. Even if I only use an appliance once a year, I still want to keep it.




Now here is the food cupboard after I changed it to the appliance cupboard. I probably need to get rid of a few things. I don't need two rice cookers and I don't need three slow cookers. I think this will work out fairly well once I get rid of a few things.

Here is the former appliance cupboard which is now the food pantry. It does not work well at all. The shelves are too far apart and the cupboard is too deep. Right now I have things stacked on top of each other. I need to put in a few more shelves and I want to get some pull-out drawer organizers to put on the shelves so it's easier to get to the stuff in the back. That is going to be a project that won't be done until at least this coming weekend.

That was the main snag. Everything else went pretty smooth. I'm not posting pictures of all of my organizing goodness because I think I'll do a separate post later of each room showing the best parts, but here are a few.

I put hooks up behind the bathroom door for Mike, me and Amaya to hang our towels on, since our bedrooms are downstairs. Carson and Hayden can hang theirs on hooks in their closets since their bedrooms are just steps away from the bathroom.

Since our house is fairly small and we only have one bathroom, storage space is limited. To help with bathroom storage I put an over-the-door-pocket organizer on the back of the bathroom door. Today I made labels for each pocket so everyone will know where to put things.

Back to the kitchen (since I accidentally posted the pictures in the wrong order). Here is the menu board I put up. I know the wood isn't finished, but give me a break people, I'm in the organizing mode, not the decorating mode. When my house is organized I will go back and decorate each room, but for now the wood is going to stay unfinished. It has enough room to post a weekly menu plus a pad for shopping lists.

Another thing I did today was replace our paper towel holder. For one thing it was clear across the room from the sink because that's the only place it would fit, and for another thing, it was broken so our paper towels looked like this:

I bought a new one that could be installed right above the sink. It looks much better and will work much better.

Another thing I tackled today was to throw away these beautiful cupcakes.

They look nice but they tasted like crap. They were supposed to be Chocolate Cherry Dr. Pepper cupcakes, three of my favorite foods, but they didn't work out. Darn. I thought for sure they would be the tastiest things in the world, but it was a very big let down. I'm not sure if I'll try them again or just give up on the dream.

Works For Me Wednesday

Our city provides us with a recycling can that they pick up every week. We have a garbage can just inside our back door to put recyclables in. Sometimes, when we're far away from the recycling can and feeling a bit lazy, I admit that we throw things in the garbage that could be recycled. Recently I've decided that we need to be much better about recycling things and we shouldn't be so lazy about it.

I am in the midst of organizing my entire house, so as I get each room done I am making sure there is a garbage can and a recycle can in each room. I make sure I buy a small garbage can that matches the decor of whichever room it's in so it looks good.

Having a recycle can in every room has made it much easier to recycle things, even if we're feeling a little lazy.

For a lot of great tips, go over to Rocks In My Dryer and check them out.

One More Almost Down

I'm almost done organizing another room. Carson's room will be done tomorrow. I wanted him to go to the store with me today to buy a few containers, and he had his daily temper tantrum because he didn't want to go. I tried to convince him it would be fun for him to help pick out things for his room, but he wasn't buying it. I told him if I went alone I was going to pick all pink and purple containers for his room. He didn't like that idea, but he still didn't want to go. I decided to go alone, but then Mike said he had a few errands to run so we all decided to go. After having such a tantrum over not wanting to go to the store, Carson went wild picking out things at the store that he wanted. After we got home I asked him if he had fun and he said he did. I asked him if it was worth it to have a tantrum over not wanting to go and he said it wasn't. I hope he realizes soon that his tantrums get him nowhere and he stops doing it.

After we got home he was excited to help me, so we went to work. We worked for several hours, then took a break for dinner and started back at it. Finally Carson said he was tired and wanted to go to bed, so I asked him if he cared if I stayed in his room and worked and he said that was fine as long as I dimmed the lights. He fell asleep immediately and I finished up. Tomorrow we are going to remove some things that have been stashed there but don't belong, move all the furniture out, making sure there are no small toys under them, vacuum the carpet and clean the walls. I want Carson to go through all of his papers and decide what he wants to keep. He needs to go through all of his coloring books and workbooks and get rid of some. He has way too many. Then I need to go buy several larger containers than what we have, and fill them up. Lastly, we will put labels on everything.

As I was working on his room, I was thinking about the last time I organized it and remembering how I thought it was so great. Now I realize a lot of the stuff I did just didn't work well. I've learned so much over the last year about organizing and I really think I'm finally doing it in a way that will work and that will last. I cannot wait until my whole house is done. The few rooms I've got done so far are so nice. I don't have to work next week, which means no money, but it also means a lot of time. After Carson's room is done the only other room on the main level that needs to be organized is the family room. Then I want to go through each of the other rooms and just touch up a few things that are bothering me and implement a few more things I've thought of over the last few weeks. I am planning on posting some pictures of my newly-organized main floor, but not until everything is done how I want it. My plan is to be done and have pictures posted by the end of next weekend.

Well, I'm off to read part of one of the five books I have from the library. I must think that getting organized is going to give me more free time to read. I certainly hope that's true.

I'm Nervous

There are two Sheriff's deputies canvassing our neighborhood with their dogs. Mike is not home because he took Hayden to a hockey game. I guess I'll make sure the doors are locked and Spot is awake. I'm sure glad we have a dog now that barks whenever he hears someone outside.

I also just read that there was a small earthquake in Salt Lake City. It was a magnitude of 2.1. This is the second earthquake in this area in just a few weeks. I hope it doesn't mean a big one is in the near future.

The Organization Continues

Since Carson has been having a rough time lately, I decided to start organizing his room today. Ever since I did Hayden's, Carson has wanted his done, so I figured this is the perfect time. It will make him happy.

Carson really wanted to go to school today, so he did. I was a little worried. I didn't want him to get bumped into or be in a lot of pain, but everything worked out fine. I told him he can't go out for recess, so he took some books to read while everyone else was at recess. He had a good day, and he even got a smiley face.

In his room I started by emptying his toy box, his dresser drawers and his closet. I started trying to figure out which containers would work where, and which toys would work in which containers. I came up with a great idea. Hayden used to have a Rubbermaid unit in his closet that had three drawers in it. It wasn't designed very well because the drawers were very big and the top of the unit didn't have a lot of support so it started sagging down in the middle, which made the top drawer difficult to work. To close it I would have to reach my hand inside and pull the top up, while closing the drawer and trying to get my hand out of the way before it got pinched. When I redid Hayden's room I took that unit out and was going to put the whole thing in our recycle bin. Then I looked at the drawers and realized I could pull them out and use them as containers. I used two of them in Hayden's closet. I saved the third one for future use. I was still going to recycle the rest of the unit, because I figured it would be of no use without the drawers. Luckily, I had stuck it down in the basement instead of immediately getting rid of it. Today I realized I can use it as a shelving unit. It fits perfectly in Carson's closet. I put all of his large puzzles on the two bottom shelves of it and put all of his smaller puzzles in a container on the top shelf of it. There's still room for one more container on it. There are also two tall skinny drawer units in the closet, one that was already in there and one that came from Hayden's closet. I'm hoping I can do his whole room without buying anything. I still have some new containers that I bought a while ago but haven't used yet, so he will have some new things.

When Carson came home from school he asked why I messed his room up. I showed him what I had done so far. He seemed a little disappointed with his closet because he wanted a brand new shelf like Hayden got. I explained that his closet is a different shape and the things I put in there would fit better. Then I told him to make it cooler we could make labels to put on all of the drawers and containers in his closet, and I even have different colors of labels he can pick from. Green is his favorite color, so I told him we will do labels in green. He was happy about that. I think he'll like it when it's done.

Carson is really playing up the broken bone. I've been letting him sleep in my room each night so I can keep an eye on him and be there if he needs to get up or if he needs pain medication. He has a hard time getting up after he's been lying down. Anyway, Mike is stuck sleeping in Carson's room while Carson sleeps in ours because Mike cannot sleep if one of the kids is with us. Tonight I told Carson I think he can sleep in his own bed, and he started to have a tantrum, so Mike and I agreed to let him sleep in our room one more night, but he had to promise to sleep in his own bed tomorrow. It's probably better for him to sleep in my room tonight anyway since his room is a mess right now. I wouldn't want him tripping and falling during the night if he needed to get up to use the bathroom.

It's been a week since we started implementing some different ways of dealing with Carson and so far it's working great. His behavior has been greatly improved. Now, I realize that part of the reason he's been a bit calmer is because he hasn't felt great, but I can still tell that things are working better.

Tonight right before he fell asleep he asked me what "one of a kind" means. I told him what it means and he said, "I am one of a kind," and I said, "You certainly are one of a kind, and I love that there is no one else just like you and you are mine." Then he fell asleep.

Carson

Warning: This is going to be long.

I have diagnosed Carson as having ADHD - Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type. Now, obviously, I'm just kidding, sort of, but sort of not. I mean, I'm not a doctor and I really don't know very much about ADHD, but from what I've been reading on the internet about signs and symptoms of ADHD and how to help kids deal with it, I am positive that Carson has it. I did talk to his doctor about it the last time he saw her, and at that time she said he was probably borderline. His behavior has gotten much worse lately, which is why I've been checking into it.

His behavior has been getting worse and worse, and in the last couple of weeks he has been almost unmanageable. Last week was really bad and it led us to really re-think the way we deal with him. He was in trouble at school a lot last week. Thursday he came home with his daily note from his teacher saying that he had had a very bad day. Then after school he was very wild and out of control at home. That night as I was putting him in bed I told him that the next day after school we were going to go to the zoo, but that he could only go if he got a smiley face at school. I told him that if he wasn't good at school I would drop him off at Grandma's house and I would take Hayden and Amaya to the zoo and he wouldn't be able to go. He started crying and said, "I want to go to the zoo." I said, "Well, then you had better be good tomorrow." He said, "But I can't be good."

The next morning something happened that set him off (I can't remember what it was) and he had a major temper tantrum. It was almost time to leave for school and he just stood there and screamed at me, "I AM NOT GOING TO SCHOOL! I HATE SCHOOL!" I said, "You don't hate school." He said, "I do, too." I said, "Don't you like going to school and seeing your friends?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Don't you like doing your work?" He said, "No." I said, "Don't you like your teacher?" He said, "No. She's mean." I explained to him that his teacher is not mean, but it's very hard for her to teach all of the kids in his class when she is always having to deal with him disrupting things. I told him that all of the attention she gives him trying to deal with him is taking her attention from the rest of the class. He did end up going to school, but he was not happy about it.

After he left for school I really started think about everything that has been going on with him lately. The two things he said that really bother me are: "But I can't be good," and "I hate school."

The fact that he says he can't be good really convinced me that sometimes he really can't control his behavior. I think he is so hyper that sometimes it is physically impossible for him to sit still. His teacher said a lot of times when she is up in front of the class talking he is climbing on top of his desk, crawling underneath it or walking around it, when he should be sitting down listenening. His desk is moved away from the rest of the class because he is always bothering the other kids when they are trying to work. She said that he seems to be listening to what she is saying, so she just ignores the fact that he is moving all around. At home when he's telling a story he is constantly moving. He'll sit down for two seconds, then stand up, then bounce on the couch, then walk around. It's actually very tiring listening to him tell a story. Those are only two examples of his hyper behavior. I have many more, but I'll stop there.

The fact that he says he hates school is a real concern. He has always loved school. He has even faked being well when he was sick just so he could go, only to puke at school and have to come home anyway. He's done that more than once. Lately, however, he has faked being sick to avoid going to school. I think if a kid starts hating school when they are only in 2nd grade they are going to be doomed unless things change. Usually kids don't start hating school until middle school or high school, right?

Another thing he does that is way out of character for a child his age is he has full-blown temper tantrums. He yells, throws things, slams doors and lies down on the floor and kicks his legs like he's a two-year-old.

There are a lot of little things he does, too. He's really smart so at school he finishes his work really fast, but sometimes he is in such a hurry to get done that he makes really simple mistakes or leaves some answers blank. Whenever I point those out to him he comes up with the right answer every time. He doesn't really listen when I tell him to do something. I can say, "Will you please go downstairs and get a roll of paper towels off the shelf?" He'll say, "Yes," and head off downstairs. A few minutes later he'll come back and say, "What did you tell me to get again?" He's smart and things come really easily to him, but now he's started to avoid doing things that require effort.

I could talk about his behaviors forever, but I won't. We've really been trying to come up with some ways to deal with him differently. I've come to the conclusion that he has the temper tantrums because he's so frustrated he doesn't know how to handle it. He'll get punished for certain behaviors that I now believe he can't control. I believe he knows he can't control it, and to get punished for something he can't control just gets him frustrated. We've stopped punishing him for most behaviors. Now, if he does something like hits Hayden or teases Amaya he'll get punished, but if he's climbing the walls (he literally climbs up the door jambs to the ceiling) or is bouncing off the couch or is beginning a tantrum because he's been told he can't do something, we quickly get his attention focused elsewhere and distract him from his annoying behavior.

Two examples of the way we're changing our ways of dealing with him are: last Friday Mike told him if he got a smiley face at school then they would go play outside after Mike got home from work. Well, he got home from work late and by that time it was dark and freezing cold outside. As soon as Mike got home Carson started getting ready to go outside and Mike said they weren't going to because it was too late and it was too cold outside, but they could go out the next day. Carson started to have a tantrum and yelled at Mike, "But you said we could go outside when you got home from work!" Mike stopped and thought about it for a second and realized that he did promise Carson they would go out, so he said, "Okay, we can go out, but it's only going to be for about 15 minutes until dinner is ready." That satisfied Carson and they went out and when they came back in Carson had a great night. The other time was Saturday morning. The first thing he wants to do in the morning is play video games. I always make him wait until after breakfast because otherwise he won't eat. He needs to eat a lot because he's only in the 10th percentile for weight. It always turns into a big deal with him yelling and crying and me threatening that unless he calms down he won't play video games that day. So Saturday morning started off like every other Saturday morning with him wanting to play, me telling him he had to wait until after dinner and him starting to have a tantrum. I quickly said, "Why don't you help me with breakfast and then you can go play." He stopped mid-tantrum and said, "Okay." So he helped with breakfast and he had another great day. I've been having him focus on my face when I tell him to do something, and it is working. He doesn't forget what I've just told him 10 seconds earlier. When he's been very hyper in the house and won't calm down, I've been having him take Spot outside to run around for a few minutes, and it seems to be working. He's a little calmer when he comes in. We had the best weekend we've had in a long time. And then he got hurt.

He even got a smiley face at school on Monday. His teacher wrote in her note, "Carson made a good choice today. When the play got rough, he left." Well, yeah, he left because he had a broken collar bone! It's kind of hard to continue playing rough when you have a broken bone. I've come to the conclusion that it was just rough play and not the other kid picking on Carson, although he still insists the kid was being mean. His teacher witnessed the behavior right before it happened and right after, and she had already told the boys to stop playing so rough, and they didn't listen. Then Carson got hurt.

I actually feel guilty about saying this, but the last two days have been wonderful. Carson has been so quiet and calm and not causing problems. I know it's going to wear off when he feels better, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. It's kind of hard to be obnoxious when you're in pain and can hardly move. I think he likes being waited on hand and foot, and he's been watching Star Wars movies constantly. I do feel bad that he is in so much pain. He is getting frustrated because he can't do normal things, but he's been great about not using his arm and about taking it easy. He is starting to get restless, though, and wants to go to school tomorrow. I think I'll let him, but I'm going to tell him that if it starts hurting to much or if he's tired he can call me and I'll come and get him early. I need to call the school in the morning to find out if I can take some pain medication and leave it at the school in case he needs it, or if he can call me and I can come and give him a dose of it. I'm sure he's going to need it tomorrow because he'll be up and moving a lot, which he's not used to.

Yesterday I talked to his teacher about the incident, and while I was on the phone with her I told her about some of the changes we've made in the way we deal with him. I gave her some suggestions about things she could do to help him be better at school, and she agreed to try them. I want her not to punish him when he's being hyper, but instead give him something to do around the classroom, like run something to the office if she needs something taken there, organize the books, clean the chalkboard, anything where he can be up out of his seat moving. She said she could even just send him to another classroom with a pencil for the teacher, something simple. When he's done with his work, he has plenty of choices of things to do, like reading books and taking a test on the computer, doing a math workbook, working on the report he's going to do about Star Wars, but sometimes he just can't sit there and do school work, so I think if he can be up moving around he won't be bugging the other kids. I also told her I don't think it's a good idea to keep him in for recess if he's getting out of his seat and not minding. He needs that time to burn some of his energy off. I've noticed that when he has a good day at school, he's good all day long and when he has a bad day at school he's bad all day long. I think on his bad days, being made to miss recess and sit at his desk just makes things worse because he can't burn off his energy and he gets frustrated.

Anyway, I am still going to be researching different ways to deal with him and there are a few books I want to read. I figure if his teacher, Mike and I can train ourselves to focus his energy elsewhere when he's not doing what he should be, then eventually we can teach him to do it on his own. He's such a funny, loving, energetic, smart boy that I don't want him to feel like he "can't be good." I want him to learn to harness his energy for good things and feel good about himself and not be so easily frustrated. He is a very special kid and he needs to know that. At his parent/teacher conference a few weeks ago his teacher told us, "Some day when he finds the cure for cancer I'll be able to say, 'I once was his teacher.'"

He is sleeping next to me as I type this (yes, even though he's getting big I still have him sleep with me if he's sick or hurt so I can keep an eye on him) and staring at his cute little freckled face makes me so happy he's mine. Even though he's my oldest child, he's still my baby. I can't wait to see just how bright his future is going to be. I know he's going to do very good things when he grows up. As I tell him every day, I love him more than the world.

Bathroom Talk

Carson really needs to learn how to use his left hand very quickly. It's bad enough having to wipe a three-year-old's butt, but having to wipe an eight-year-old's butt just might push me over the edge.

I'm Here

I'm still here. I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted. There are several reasons I haven't posted. I've been busy trying to keep up with everything I need to keep up with, and I haven't had much to say.

I've been dealing with a lot of stuff to do with Carson and his behavior at school. He gets in trouble a lot because he doesn't mind the teacher. I think, although he hasn't been diagnosed with it, that he has ADHD. I did talk to his doctor a little bit about it the last time he went to the doctor and she said he could be borderline, but since that time his behavior has gotten a lot worse. He gets frustrated really easy and he just doesn't pay attention to what people tell him. He cannot sit still for anything. He gets in trouble almost every day at school, and it's only getting worse. I don't feel like getting into too much of it right now because I'm tired, but there is a lot I want to say on the subject.

Today a kid was being mean to Carson, according to Carson, but I haven't talked to the teacher about it yet, and at recess the kid pushed Carson down and then jumped on him and broke Carson's collar bone. The reason I say "according to Carson" is because Carson and a certain group of boys have been playing very rough at recess. It got so bad they couldn't go out to recess for a couple of months. Instead they had to go to a class during recess to talk about what types of behaviors are acceptable. Carson finally earned his recesses back just last week and now this happened. The kid that hurt him wasn't involved in the past behaviors because he is a new kid. The teacher saw the incident happen today, so I need to talk to her to find out if it was just rough playing or if the kid really was being mean. For now, I am taking Carson's word for it.

A few days ago Carson asked me what a gangster is. I told him it's a person who does bad things. I asked him where he learned that term and he said, "Austin's dad used to be a gangster, but then he died. Now he has another dad." Austin is the kid who broke his collar bone. I guess the saying "like father like son" might apply here.

Carson is staying home from school for a day or two, until he's not in so much pain, and I've got to call the school and talk to his teacher to find out exactly what happened. I'm very annoyed at the whole situation. He's going to have to miss soccer, which he's been looking forward to all winter, and I'm not looking forward to seeing how much the emergency room visit is going to cost. We do have insurance, but we have a $1,000 deductible, so we'll end up paying for it out of our pockets.

I am going to get Carson settled in bed now, and I'm going to have him sleep with me in case he needs some pain medication or he needs to get up to go to the bathroom. Once he's laying down he can't get up by himself because it hurts too bad. I really hate the fact that my little boy is hurt, but he's actually taking it pretty good so that makes it a little easier.