A good start to a new week

Woohoo! Conner had a great day today at school. Considering where we started last week - it's something to celebrate. No hitting, biting, pinching, yelling or screaming - he did get upset but he worked through it with words.

I re-read what I write and try to see it through someone else's eyes and I wonder sometimes how we got here. Before Conner opened my eyes, I was the person who saw parenting in black & white. Children behaved, or misbehaved and that was dependent for the most part on their parents and the household rules. I've learned alot in my 6 short years as Mom... but nothing as powerful as an open mind (the humble pie I've had to eat by heaping spoonful helped).

We don't allow our son to jump off the back of the couch and fly through the air at random intervals throughout the day, but he does it. We don't allow Conner to physically attack the animals or his sister, but he does it. We don't allow temper tantrums, but amazingly, he's prone tho those several times a day. My point? It's not about rules and allowances - he does have to suffer the consequences of his poor decisions and some days are full of poor choices. But it doesn't mean he will not do those things and there's only so much supervision I can give him.

We're trying, hard, to learn why he's doing those things so we can help divert him and teach him to deal with his emotions and physical energy in more positive ways - but making a list of rules and allowances - cross it off the list.

I love my boy for so many reasons like every mother. On really difficult days I try to remind myself of the gift Conner is to us - before him, the world was black and white and had straight edges; Conner's world has brought color and deviation to mine.