a little down

This has been a hard week so far for me. Monday afternoon, when Asher got off the bus, he immediately said he got on Orange that day. For those that don't know, they do a card system for behavior - they start on Green every day and apparently they get 3 warnings for whatever, then they have to turn to Yellow, then Orange, then Red - Red they go to the principal's office. This was Asher's first Orange. He has gotten several Yellow. He was NOT FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS as usual and then also threw 2 basketballs in a classmate's face during Gym. His teacher wrote that Mondays seem to be hard for him. Aren't they for everyone? lol Anyway, she said that she has a behavior plan she wants to discuss with us on Thursday (parent/teacher conference). I was going to leave the kids with John while I went to the conference and then to the PTO meeting (like the PTA) and then on to a Girls' Night Out. Well, now that has changed - we BOTH need to be there for the conference with NO children. My normal sitter can't watch the kids that afternoon, so I am figuring out the best way to get the kids watched after so John and I can do this thing. We know Ash is a good kid overall - he isn't devious or a mischief maker. But he is extremely active, loud, boisterous, talkative, and did I mention active?? Sound like anyone we know?? Poor kid doesn't hardly stand a chance with the genes he has from both John and me. lol John told me he always got into trouble for talking in school. I never did in elementary - I was TERRIFIED of the principal and I can still remember the one and only time I got in "trouble" in kindergarten for talking during naptime. I was devastated. Now of course as I got older all that changed, for the worse, but that's a whole other story I won't share! lol John supports me, and knows I am very upset over all of this. He thinks it isn't that big of a deal. And it probably isn't, in a way. I am sure there are many kids in that class that get on Yellow, Orange or Red almost daily - Asher has said as much - and who knows how their parents react? They may not even care. But I DO care and feel like we are at a point in Asher's behavior where he has to know and obey. John agrees, but says we will deal with this over and over with his type of personality. Why is parenting so hard?? I am looking forward to conference on Thursday to get to discuss more in detail things. I want to know when he gets in trouble - the timing - who else gets in trouble - is it a group thing, etc. I am also trying some changes to his diet and routing a bit. My biggest complaint and I will voice this, is lack of physical activity in the school. These FIVE year olds only get a 20 minute lunch followed by a 20 minute recess. That's IT! No rest time, no morning/afternoon recess. I totally disagree with this. I understand they want the kids to learn and be the best, etc, etc and I want him to succeed as well, but these kids need to take a break and burn off some energy, get some fresh air, then come back to the books. Yesterday John finished framing the area down by the gate entrance that had eroded over time. He then called the concrete company to come and fill it in. We weren't able to close the gate last night, and it will be difficult to close it period they way the concrete is. John wants to move the gate up several feet on the drive - the posts it's attached to now are old and shaky, so he just wants to re-do it. That is his next project. The baby quail - 2nd batch - should arrive this morning. I have a chiropractor appt at 10 am and will get them afterwards. The brooder is set up and ready to go, I will just have to put them in. Hoping for better outcome of this batch, with the steadier heat source. Oh yeah - Cooper is now an outside cat. For many reasons. As of yesterday afternoon. He loved being outside, but wanted to come back in when it got dark. I have seen him this morning, so I know he survived the night. It is going to be so much nicer only have one cat in the house... Got to go change Allie...