Well, here we are again.

First the good news. 1) After a nearly two weeks, Shooter is holdable by adults and Caleb again (assuming stern admonitions against squeezing). Joshy is still too rough. Shooter is happy as can be when in the backyard. He hops, nibbles, digs and hops again. Inside, he's a pellet dropper, and he circles me again like he's wanting to make me his bunny bride. He's hot inside (when it feels cool to me) which reassures me that he is ok in the increasingly chilly days and NIGHTS. That dense soft coat is doing it's job for him. 2) Caleb's backpack was recovered and now it brandishes his name in puff paint. 3) We got a good hour in at the park before an accident occurred.

The down side of this mid-week update:
1) It's starting to be grayer more and more.
2) Jockey had his first accident at school. He did all that he should (ask and go to the bathroom) but the aim was a little off and the fluid ran out of the bowl and onto his clothes rather than back and into the water. I can't fault him for being too small for a big commercial size toilet and not being able to scoot far enough back to be over the water. It was in the last 5 minutes of school for which I was 5 minutes after picking him up. However for the first time in Little Doves history, a child (my son) refused to put on the back-up clothing. Just flat out cried and refused both teachers attempts. Luckily I got there in time. Later he told me he thought the replacement clothes were wet. The staff was wonderful and understanding and overall great. They even made sure to tell him that they looked forward to him coming back on Thursday for show and tell day; I had to ask them to do this because I had told him all summer that he would get kicked out of school if he peed in his pants. Well this was truly and accident of gravity not his own negligence so I feel ok sending him back to school and I just have to bide my time until he's tall enough to stand at that wall contraption. (Right now he'd need a stepping stool, but that's what you get with pipsqueak cute boys.) And I wasn't worried about it, that is until today.
2) We were at the park and he asked to use the bathroom. Of course he had to run have the distance of a football field and I picked him up by the tummy to get there faster... no such luck. So we had to leave the park today. Maybe I giggled it out of him over the long distance, but it's not a good streak this week.
3) The most depressing issue, however, is that Caleb has been in school 3 weeks and I've already been called into see the teacher for Caleb shutting down and increasing defiance. Sigh, do I have to deal with this on such a gray, pee soaked day? I responded to the teacher with a yes I'll meet you any day any time and then I sat down to speak with Caleb. He said he had a good day, no "stages" (levels of bad behavior), and no problems. So I asked him about pictures and his teacher, nope no problems. So then I read him the email from the teacher, and we talked about it. Turns out he was afraid of the picture man who was new to him and he was afraid of the red feet on the floor. He didn't know why the teacher wanted to have him stand on them, and he didn't tell the teacher why or what he was afraid of. And the other defiance? He had no excuses or examples. I don't know what's going on. I feel puzzled about how to affect change.

So he's spending the rest of the afternoon in his room. When I heard him playing with toys, I bagged everything except books, puzzles and one bear up; he was tearful, angry and then helped (that threw me too, but I put on a stoic front). I gave him a letter sheet and a math workbook and a pencil. He can work on those, stay in and think and take a nap. Daddy can have a talk with him at home because Caleb pulls the same defiance with me. I don't know what to do. I have to communicate the seriousness of this to him. And I felt awful about the toy thing until I remembered that it was done to me and it did leave and impression that I learned from. I have to get this stopped now.

I wish I was wrong about this, but I thought I'd have to be HIGHLY involved at school with Caleb. Now I've already been to orientation, PTA, 2 other brief talks with the teacher, dropping off separate snacks, searching for a lost backpack, Cirriculm night tomorrow, and now this! (On top of the Awana behavior issues too!) Ever have a job you want to resign from?

Why can't it always be sunny, pee-free days at the park, getting along with the sibling days, and "I love you mommy" and "Jesus told me" days?!

Ok, back to life, more as it comes.