Looking for Silver Linings

Miss Grace has started another school.

I'm going to call today a victory.  Even though the day started out rough -- Sophie refused to go to school because "her stomach was hurting" this morning -- I think I handled the situation with the best version of my mom self, and I'm really happy about that.  I was able to recognize in the moment that she was REALLY tired {for some reason the melatonin didn't kick in last night and she wasn't able to fall asleep until almost 10:30} and her high-stress tendencies certainly didn't help to calm her down and help her want to go to school. Rather than blowing up at her and engaging in a trip-to-nowhere shouting match {which unfortunately is my initial inclination as a reaction to ALL of her freak-outs and melt-downs}, I responded instead with patience {what??!??} and kindness.  It helped me realize once again that all Sophie really needs when she's so wound up is to have someone hold her and hug her and show her some love.  And THEN she can start to calm down.

Once the older two were off to school, I was able to focus on Sophie and finally get to the point of calmly offering her two options:  1.) She could choose to let me help her get dressed and ready for school and I would drive her there, or 2.) She could choose to stay in her room all day long and "rest."  And with that choice would also come early bedtime and grounding from electronics for the entire week.  When she chose the latter even WITH all the consequences, it still felt like a win-win situation -- she was able to make her own choice {calmly and rationally} and I was still able to implement consequences to that choice without forcing the decision on her.

And you know what?  It worked out pretty well.  She stayed in her room without any problems for most of the day, and even though having her home all day long put quite the cramp in my plans for getting back on schedule for the week, I did my best to find the silver linings and find some I did.  For one thing, I was able to talk to the school office and her teacher and explain the situation, and they were very understanding and willing to work with us -- which was VERY nice to feel, considering I never exactly felt any warm fuzzies from the school LAST year when Grace was the one refusing to go to school left and right.  Also, because we were parked at home, Jane made the bus for Kindergarten on time.  AND, with nowhere to go and nothing else to do, I figured it was finally time to work on potty-training Superboy, and we managed to get off to a pretty good start on that!

Once everyone was home at the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Sophie acquiesced to the whole no-electronics thing even though the others were watching TV, and instead sat at the kitchen counter while I made dinner and worked on the homework packet that Grace brought home with her from school.  Meanwhile, Grace -- our resident pied piper of Hamlin who has spent the last couple of days setting up a classroom in the dining room to play school with the little ones -- managed to get everyone {except for Ethan} on board with being her pupils by the end of the day and spent a good chunk of the evening playing creatively and nicely with them and having lots of fun.  And then, once the little ones were all up in bed for the night, Ethan and Grace had an impromptu dance party in the dining room while listening to their favorite radio station and singing along to some Ariana Grande.  Hahahaha.  It was epically hilarious.

So that was my day!  Thankfully, Sophie fell right asleep tonight, so I'm REALLY hoping that everything will be smooth sailing in the morning.  Until next time, peace out!  Haha.