Making Adjustments

Wenesday 8/16/2006
Monday morning when Joel woke up he began complaining of a sore throat. He dawdled enough getting ready that he missed the bus. When David talked to him a little bit Joel said he had a sore throat and his tummy ached and he felt like he was going to throw up and he was hot and his hair hurt. We just had to chuckle a little. As I talked to him it came out that he missed me while he was at school. We came up with a little plan similar to the one in The Kissing Hand and I told Joel he could say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help him be happy and not miss me so much. OK so far. Yesterday Joel was again pretty sad. I printed him out a picture of the two of us together from our computer and let him take it with him. He went without too much of a fuss although I could tell he was a little sad. Today was the worst day yet. On the way to school he told me that all the kids said they hated him. (I'm pretty sure this isn't accurate and he just misunderstood, but still...) Joel started crying before we got to school and then he started really crying and clinging and didn't want me to leave. I pulled the picture out and gave it to him and he settled down enough for me to leave. I can only wonder what will happen tomorrow. Poor little guy. I've started driving him to school in the morning and letting him take the bus home in the afternoon and that arrangement seems to be working ok for right now but I also have David to help me get Seth while I wait for the bus right now too and that won't be the case anymore next week. It's really kind of draining to have so much rushing around to do and to try to figure out how everything will work. We barely made it in time for the bus yesterday because of the s l o w lady at the bank where we were opening an account. The bus was about to pull away from the bus stop, Dave pulled the van over to the side of the road I jumped out and waved the bus down running across lanes of traffic. I made it, Joel got off the bus and it pulled away only to have Joel burst into tears that he left his backpack on the bus. Lucky for us the bus was going the same direction as Seth's school so we chased it down and at the last bus stop I again jumped out of the van and ran up to the bus and retrieved Joel's backpack. I said to David, "Whew that was exciting. How boring is my life that I get an adrenaline rush chasing down the school bus?" He laughed and started singing Hawaii 5-0. In the meantime we were some of the last people there to pick up Seth from school but what else were we to do? So life is kind of like that right now. Big rushes of intense moments followed by long boring stretches during the day. Yep, well time to hit the sack so I can get up early tomorrow too. Makes me tired just thinking about it.
More stuff to be thankful for:
Plums
Rain
An umbrella
Friends (old and new, but especially old)
Rubber stamps
Getting enough sleep last night
Watermelon
Carpooling