It’s been AGES since I made an actual post.

Some bullet points to get caught up.

Zander and Zevan started school on August 18th. Our first year tuition free and full day. Woo hoo! The transition for them was seamless.

We’re still working out the pick up/drop off logistics at school. But we’re doing good so far.

THE HITTING AND THE SPITTING

Zevan’s teacher pulled me aside on the 2nd day of school to let me know that Zevan had been hitting other kids during recess for the first two days.

Great.

This comes on the heels of a playdate incident where Zevan hit a friend of his *with a stick* because “he wouldn’t leave me alone. I said I didn’t want to play that game with him, and he kept following me around.” Zevan was punished for that, and got an earful from me.

Also, I found out that he and Zander both were spitting/mock-spitting on friends’ plates at a cookout.

I was totally at the end of my rope with both of them. I couldn’t believe what they were doing. I was LIVID and devastated from disappointment.

So they both got a HUGE lecture from me all the way from school to grandma’s house. I immediately told them there would be no video games at grandma’s house that day. I told them how mortified and disappointed and sad I was. And totally laid it all out for them that they were *on notice.*

They were sufficiently contrite and apologetic. They knew I was pissed.

I totally went overboard and said they were not even to pretend to hit each other or another person. They did pretty well, too. Although it was a little disconcerting that they would be so happy to announce, “I didn’t hit anyone today.”

On Saturday, in the car, they got into a fight on the way home from our hike. They immediately lost their video game privileges for the weekend with no chance to earn it back. Yeah, I think it’s sinking in now.

ZANDER’S ALLERGY TEST AND BLOOD DRAW

Zander’s allergies have gotten more severe lately. After inadvertently eating a cookie that caused a reaction, we were in the pediatrician’s office a few days later for an RX for an epi-pen. Shortly afterwards, we were at an allergist where we both got allergy testing done. And it HURT. Ow. It hurt me, so I know it really hurt his little back. He cried for a long while during and after the back pricks. I felt so bad for him. He was a trooper.

We discussed it, and he decided that he would like to try allergy shots. I said I would do it with him, too. And the day they were supposed to make the serum, they called and said he had only done a screening allergy test, and would have to come back for more. I knew there was no way he would do it again so soon. She said he could do a blood test instead. I gave him a choice and he chose the blood test.

Zevan, who had recently had shots at his last well check, told Zander, “It’s okay. Shots don’t really hurt that much.”

So we finally went for the blood draw today. He sat on my lap, and I told him that it would be better if he didn’t watch, but he wanted to watch. She put the needle in, and she had to take 3 vials from him. The needle must have been bumping up against his vein because it was hurting him. She kept backing it out a bit, and he said it felt better each time, but then said it hurt. After she finally pulled the needle out, he got woozy and pale. He didn’t cry, but he did moan a bit. I am pretty sure he was close to passing out. Zevan remarked, “His face is a different color.” So I coached him through some deep breaths and told him to close his eyes. He was SUCH a trooper. And despite all that, he admitted that it was MUCH better than doing another allergy test. Poor little guy.

Zander is reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordin.

***START SPOILER ALERT***

I pre-read it a bit and realized that the mom is killed fairly early in the book.

Now, our boys, to my knowledge, have never seen the actual beginning of Finding Nemo when his siblings and mom are killed. Nor have they seen the trampling scene in The Lion King. Or Bambi. But they have seen tons of Animal Planet shows and are well aware of the circle of life. And, of course, their grandpa just died a couple of months ago. Naturally, I was concerned about how reading this might affect him.

He’s been obsessively reading it since for the past day. He even took it to school with him. On the way home today, I asked him what was going on in the book. He told me – excitedly – that “Percy Jackson just killed a minotaur!”

He described the battle vividly. This is the part of the book where the mom is killed, which he didn’t mention, so I probed, and asked him why Percy attacked the minotaur.

Zander answered that he was after Percy’s friend Grover. We talked about Grover a bit. Then I asked if anyone else got hurt. He replied, “Percy’s mom.”

“What happened to her?”

He hesitated, and then said, “She got killed.” And he talked more about Grover and the battle.

I didn’t want to make a HUGE deal of it, so I finally said, “Bummer about his mom.”

“Yeah, it was a bummer.”

And that was that. I know that Percy does address his grief in an upcoming chapter, so we’ll see if that prompts any questions or if he just reads on.

***END SPOILER ALERT***

Zander’s is really doing great with his two wheel bike riding. Zevan was doing pretty good, too, until he had a decent fall where he ended up with a road rash on his elbow. Ow. He’s been less than enthusiastic about riding since then, but we’re working on it.

Both boys have been playing D&D with Doug and recently finished an adventure. We all played Cadoo last night, and that was fun. Although Zevan was suddenly shy about acting things out.

Zevan is definitely going through a behavioral transition period. A couple of months ago, I put the hammer down, and we had a heart-to-heart about his behavior. And I think that he has been really trying to do better. Other than the recent hitting/spitting incidents, anyway.

Zevan has been reading a lot more lately. Lots of comic books, and, of course, the Captain Underpants series. He’s also quite the comedian. He’s also been a little less selfish and a little more empathetic. These are good things.

That’s it for tonight. More soon, hopefully.