Kindergarten???

Sidekick has been in quite a PITA lately, and we have just not been jiving together, if that makes sense.  For the past several weeks, he's been having some issues at school with listening, staying on task, etc. Every day I would get a bad report about him which would just piss me off and lead me to getting frustrated with him. His behavior made me question sending him to kindergarten in fall. He'll be five in July, and the cutoff for going to kindergarten is August 1st, so he will be one of the youngest in his class. Academically, he scores way above where he needs to, but his behavior at school reinforces that he is just young, maybe too young to go to kindergarten.  I've questioned the kindergarten thing ever since I got pregnant with him (truth!), probably because I'm in the education field, so I know the challenges of a young kid vs. an older kid.  So my struggle has been this:

Do I hold him back because he's young and with "youngness" comes behavior problems even though academically he is more than ready?

OR

 

Do I send him because he is academically ready, and cross my fingers that he has a good teacher who will work with him?

 

 

This shit keeps me awake at night.  I feel like this one decision will set him up for success or failure for the rest of his educational career. I worry that holding him back will create more/different issues because he'll be so darn bored, and that will cause additional problems.

 

Last week, he did a 180!  He just turned into this different, lovely kid.  His reports from school were amazing.  His behavior at home was perfect.  I yelled less, got frustrated less, and truly enjoyed being with him every single day.  What happened to him?  I don't think I yelled at him one time this past weekend. I enjoyed every minute with him.  I loved that he was so good and helpful while we ran errands, cleaned, did laundry, etc.  He was a dream.  He was my sweet boy who I adored more than ever.  Of course I loved him while he was being a PITA, but there were plenty of times that I didn't like him.

 

If THAT kid stays around, I am 100% confident that he will be ready for and will be successful in kindergarten. But I'm pretty sure that I have jinxed myself by putting all of that in writing, and he'll do a 180 again in the wrong direction. That's just the way my luck is.  But then I look at this cute face, and I remind myself that it's possible he can continue being the awesome kid he's been!

 

 



Disney World-- It's not REALLY the Happiest Place, is it?

Last weekend we got back from our whirlwind trip to Disney World, and I can't understand why people go there more than once in their lifetime.  Really, I can't.  While I loved seeing such joy and excitement in Sidekick's face, it's certainly not a place I'd like to go again.  It's kind of a rite of passage, and I'm glad we went, but as he said the day we left, "Goodbye, hotel room.  I'll see you again when I get old like my Momma."  He's right.  He can take his kids while I am happily hanging out in my retirement home. 

The trip was exhausting, which I total expected.  The entire place is like a well oiled machine which makes the trip so much easier.  The meal plans, transportation, Fast Passes, etc. are all there to make the trip more enjoyable.  We went to Magic Kingdom for 2 1/2 days, and Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios one day each.  We rode a lot of rides, got signatures from a bunch of characters, he did Jedi training, he wiped out big time and got a goose egg on his forehead, ate at some cool places with characters, swam, and I had to reign him in during all of it.  He was crazy!  His listening was less than good which made me completely crazy (and I know it made our friends bonkers), but sometimes it's hard to reel him in amongst all of the stimulation and excitement.   

But is it magical???  Sure... if you are a kid or one of those crazy adult Disney fanatics.

I was so worried we'd get sick right before or during our vacation.  I was wrong. We got sick right afterwards.  I have what I'm pretty sure is influenza.  I'm now on day five and feel a little better today than any other day.  Along with my cough, runny nose, and sneezing, my body has been so achy, and no matter what kids of meds I take, nothing took away the achy muscles and joints.  I've had to sleep with a heating pad on my legs because I have been in so much pain. I seriously don't know the last time I have been so sick. 

Then on Tuesday, I got a call from school that Sidekick had a fever, so he has a much milder version of what I have.  His fever finally broke last night, but he's home again today.  I'm hoping that the fever stays away so he can at least go to school tomorrow.  We've had a little too much bonding time over the past almost two weeks.  Haha.

Here are some pics from our vacation: