I thought Tristyn was going to have a meltdown yesterday when it was time to wake up and get ready for school. I won't go into details but let's just say it wasn't pleasant and it was full of frustration, crying and bitter words.
The reason? The boy was exhausted. He always is when he comes back home and then on top of it he has a hard time shutting off his mind and actually laying there long enough to fall asleep. I made a mental note to remember to have him go to bed a little earlier that night to try to catch up. But--I would keep him away from any and all clocks so he wouldn't know he was going to bed early.
Tristyn came home from school with shadows under his eyes. For awhile he was distracted by friends over to play but then soon after they left and we had dinner he returned to meltdown mode. Everything was upsetting him. Especially the fact that Maia bought a book at the school book fair with the money I gave her that Tristyn had also wanted. I pointed out to Tristyn that this was actually a good thing because he wouldn't be getting enough money to get ALL the books he wanted and now he could get the other three and read the one Maia got. It would be almost like he had gotten to get all of them. He kept insisting he was going to buy the same book and would count his change to bring to school to make up the difference in the amount of money he was getting from me and the amount he needed. The logic I presented him did NOT sink in. Over and over and over I explained how it actually worked out for him and he just yelled and cried at Maia. In a flair of annoyance (I'm working on the patience thing) I told him he was going to bed early and to go take a shower.
Some time later, Tristyn came downstairs to the second floor freshly scrubbed and wrapped up in his bathrobe. He said:
T--Am I in trouble?
M--For what?
T--For what I did.
M--(seeing that he was quite upset and asking very gently) What did you do?
T---I didn't want to go to bed early and I locked my door so I couldn't get in and go to bed early.
!!!!
It took every ounce of me to hurry him downstairs so he wouldn't hear me laugh out loud. Don't worry, he didn't get in trouble and later we had a nice talk about the day and ways to try to improve some of the things we have difficulties with.
Eddie is home safe and sound. Nineteen days later and weighing considerably less but he's home. I am very thankful for the kind family who found him and called me. Rick is going to order flowers and have them sent to their house to the grandmother because she is the one Eddie went up to and she brought him inside.
The missionaries from down the street came down to talk last night too. They were here about an hour and a half and we had a good talk. I sent them home with dessert of course! Some cake and some butter cookies I had just made that afternoon were packed up and sent home with them.
Guess I'll be baking again today. =D
