Sam got up particularly early this morning. Unfortunately for me, it coincided with a bout of insomnia from 2-4am. Also unfortunate, it was my turn to get up with the little monkey. Sometimes, I analyze the reasons he gets up so early, in hopes that tweaking some small thing will make a difference. It rarely does, but it makes me feel better to obsess for a while on a solution. Lately my focus has been the bed, which is on coasters and moves around a little bit, and the mattress, which is not the most comfortable (Hard and squeaks when you move). I know because it used to be our bed. It's a big investment for a theory, and I haven't totally convinced M it is necessary right this second. Edited to add...someone forgot to take Sam's ipod from him last night, so he was watching a movie when he got up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 today. Good to let him watch for a few minutes in bed, bad to forget to make sure to go get it when he falls asleep.
Sam is in good spirits now, but I'm already anxious about how the van will go today. Today is the last day of the summer program and then the kids have a week off before school starts. Being around the house with both kids all day can be challenging, so we are going to the farmhouse in VT next week. Looking forward to the nice long stretch there.
Showing posts with label van issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label van issues. Show all posts
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Hugh Hefner
Well, we had another bad van morning. The van came back with Sam right after it left and the driver said he was getting out of his seat and did M think he would settle back down. M said no, not now that you've brought him back, and took him to school himself. It's hard to explain how the same consequences that would work for other kids won't work with Sam. And yet, we know he needs to behave himself to stay on the van. Fortunately, I was home to watch the little person, so it wasn't a big deal to take Sam to school. But, we don't want to do it everyday.
On the other hand, it's not all bad. Sam came home and put on his pajamas and his red chenille robe and spread out the classifieds and started pointing to all the junk he wanted. Like Trix cereal and gummy bears. Not gonna happen, kid. I did give him some organic gummy snacks I found at Whole Foods (somehow made with juice makes it better). Funny kid.
On the other hand, it's not all bad. Sam came home and put on his pajamas and his red chenille robe and spread out the classifieds and started pointing to all the junk he wanted. Like Trix cereal and gummy bears. Not gonna happen, kid. I did give him some organic gummy snacks I found at Whole Foods (somehow made with juice makes it better). Funny kid.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Van
As I've mentioned before, the van to school can be an issue. For whatever reason, Sam can have a great morning, and then get on the van screaming and crying. Apparently, he is usually fine by the time he rounds the corner, but it is still stressful and anxiety producing to place a screaming/flailing child on a van and seat belt him in.Today, though, he was happy as a clam to get on the bus and giggled his way to and on the van. You never know...
The second problem is the unbuckling. He does this occasionally, but increasingly rarely, in the car with us. He's more apt to unbuckle himself as we approach our house or our street. But on the bus, it is such a regular occurrence that it is a safety issue, because the driver has to stop the van. First we tried a seat belt lock, which he quickly figured out (but which I had a difficult time figuring out). Then they got a monitor to ride with Sam on the bus. Another stressful, embarrassing thing to think about and wait for phone calls about. The monitors seem to only be marginally effective. They are not trained in any specific way, and so I think they just sit next to him and tell him to stay in his seat and not unbuckle. They often ask us what we do when he unbuckles, which makes sense, but doesn't really apply since we can stop the car and turn around and give him THE LOOK. Which comes with THE VOICE. We end up feeling kind of dumb and helpless since there is not a whole lot we can do to fix the situation. It's like someone continually telling you about something you can't fix and that makes you feel like shit.
The second problem is the unbuckling. He does this occasionally, but increasingly rarely, in the car with us. He's more apt to unbuckle himself as we approach our house or our street. But on the bus, it is such a regular occurrence that it is a safety issue, because the driver has to stop the van. First we tried a seat belt lock, which he quickly figured out (but which I had a difficult time figuring out). Then they got a monitor to ride with Sam on the bus. Another stressful, embarrassing thing to think about and wait for phone calls about. The monitors seem to only be marginally effective. They are not trained in any specific way, and so I think they just sit next to him and tell him to stay in his seat and not unbuckle. They often ask us what we do when he unbuckles, which makes sense, but doesn't really apply since we can stop the car and turn around and give him THE LOOK. Which comes with THE VOICE. We end up feeling kind of dumb and helpless since there is not a whole lot we can do to fix the situation. It's like someone continually telling you about something you can't fix and that makes you feel like shit.
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