A day in the life of..

Friday night we went to the pumpkin Patch and picked our pumpkin. I'll tell you - Tyler is getting much better at this! Gone are the days of picking the worst, most rotten, lumpiest and smallest pumpkin. He actually takes his time and selected a really good one! We brought it home to decorate with Deborah and Tyler picked out the design before she got home. He decided he wanted to make it a mummy. Of course the level of difficulty: Difficult. Figures. He actually helped a lot this year. We all took turns carving because our hands were getting tired but he really did his part. It turned out awesome. I will post pictures soon. Saturday we went to the Carnival in Oldsmar with Steve, my dad and Lilly. It was a beautiful day. Tyler rode practically every ride and went through the glass fun house twice. He is like me in that way because I loved going through those fun houses!! There was this ride there called the tornado and it was one of those rides that has the wheel in the middle that you can spin and it will spin you around. Well Steve went with Tyler and spinned him all around - needless to say when he got off the ride he walked over to me and said he was going to throw up! He didn't but it was still funny. We went on the big ferris wheel together and he told me while we were on it that he was going to fall asleep. I guess it was a little boring but geez. I also told him while we were up there that after we were done I wanted to walk around and look at the crafts and things in the tents and he asked me why I couldn't just look from up there. hmm. The carnival was a pretty fun time - he came home with a Ace of spades pillow, and snake and a sword! Nothing like good old carnival prizes!

Tyler has started his lessons for First Reconciliation. Last week we went to the first meeting. He was so excited. He “can’t wait to eat the bread”!! All his friends were there with their parents – I felt so bad because I didn’t know it would be that way. Of course they gave this whole speech about how special this time is and how we should have our whole family and his Godparents involved. Then they told us that there would be a special mass for us on Sunday. I decided that I would ask Scott to come with us so we could show Tyler we are there for him and we do think this is a special thing that he is doing. You can imagine Scott’s response to that… Needless to say it wasn’t very “Godly.” Of course after some time he did the right thing and decided to come with us. I was happy he did but I knew he wasn’t going to make it easy…

On the way to church he was practicing his church songs. Interesting. At church on the way in I can’t be sure but I think he was using God’s name in vein… At last we are seated and all is well. They did a special blessing for the parents and had all the children come up to the altar. Father Pat talked to all of them and said a prayer for them. It was nice. Tyler LOVES going to the altar!! So now we are back at our seats and it is time to deliver the gifts. The usher walks down the aisle to select whom it should be and where should he stop? You guessed it – us. He taps Scott on the shoulder and asks him to do it. I thought Scott was going to say no, but he told me later he couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough. (Thanks for not lying in church Scott.) So we went up there and they handed Scott the tray with the host and the wine and off he went – Tyler and me walked behind him. It was a sight!!! Scott was walking so fast it was like he was running from the devil. (Perhaps because he was mad Scott switched sides?!) Tyler was biting his tongue trying so hard not to laugh and I was so nervous trying to think if Scott was going to be mad or not. We walked up to the altar, Scott handed Father Pat the tray and then we went back to our seats. When we got there, all three of us sat down and just bust out laughing!! We were cracking up. Tyler thought it was the funniest thing and told Scott he looked weird.

Overall it was a success – I think Tyler definitely felt special and he was happy his daddy came to church with him.

So, today was the dreaded parent-teacher conference. I have been so nervous about this day I can barely sleep. I mean I have already had two conferences with this woman so I am not exactly sure what I was so afraid of, but I have been a mess waiting for this day. I even had this whole list of attack comments and questions. I was ready to take on this teacher head on. Of course I know Tyler is bad to the bone, but I will defend him to the ends of this universe. THEN, when I get home I will freak out and address all his issues! : ) So, needless to say my stomach was in knots waiting for the news. (Remember she did tell me that she thought Tyler was just "so bright" but that his grades won't reflect that because of his behavior.)

Shocker - the teacher was 40 minutes late for the conference! I went in ready for battle - I sat down and she said, "Well, we already talked about all his issues, you know all about that." Then, she pulled out his report card and proceeded to tell me how the grading system works; they never give students "E"'s the first quarter because that gives them something to work for blah, blah, blah... Then she puts down the report card and says, "but I had no choice but to give them to Tyler because he is just so bright!" Yes, I am saying that Tyler got all "E"'s on his report card - this would be equivalent to getting straight A's!!! I was so proud I nearly cried. (Truth is I did tear up.) He got awesome marks in everything EXCEPT for personal growth. In that category there are sub categories and you either get a check or a negative. Out of 10 categories he got 2 checks and the rest negatives. Now I know this is a problem - but the fact that he can keep his grades up in the midst of all this is just pleasing. I am so proud of him. I know this behavior stuff will work itself out. Some of it will be easy to correct; following directions, listening, obeying rules, etc... It would be much harder to fix things like his grades if he just didn't get it.

I know a teacher's job is to say all these nice things about her students, but I still feel so proud of all the complimentary things she said about Tyler. With all the things he has been doing I get nervous she won't like him. I felt like she put those feelings to rest.

Now if we can get this child to make some wise choices there will be no stopping him!!!

GOOD JOB TYLER!!!!!

Tyler and his buddy Nicky on Pappa and Lilly's wedding day.

Tyler's playground in it's new location.

Tyler and his girlfriend Alex.

Tyler, Logan and Garrett at Will's birthday party.

Here is Tyler with his teacher and in the praying garden on his first day of school.

Twix kissing Tyler goodbye on his first day of school.

Please look closely at Tyler's face - he was singing so loud I think he popped a vain!!

I don't want to be chicken, I don't want to be a duck.....

Here are some pictures from Tyler's 7th birthday party - I finally got the pictures on disk! Enjoy!

Here is a recent picture of Tyler from Max and Linda - I think he is in Miami in this picture.

Sorry for the delay in posting. My life is hectic as you can imagine! Being a single mother is the hardest job I have ever had and I do know that I have it better than most considering Scott is still very active in Tyler's life. My days are jam packed and lately I have even been busy at work! Imagine that!

So what have we been up to? Good stuff first. Tyler is doing Boy Scouts again so that started and he seems to still like it. He is going to have his First Holy Communion this year - so classes for that have started. He has been doing basketball on Saturday mornings. He is getting better and better. Sometimes I am really impressed by his athleticism. He started soccer two weeks ago. Anything else? I think that covers it. Can you understand how busy my life is? It is totally run by this child. Thank goodness puppy training is over because that was just another day of rushing! Not to mention that second grade certainly isn't first grade! He has been having a TON of homework. Second grade has turned my son who loves doing homework into a homework groaner!

Things are actually pretty stressful right now. He is having a hard time at school. I don't know if it is because of the move, the change, the grade, what?? I feel bad because I do know how fortunate I am. For this child's entire life he has been so easy. I mean he did everything he was supposed to, when he was supposed to do it. Everything was just a breeze. He slept through the night, he ate everything I fed him. He gave up the pacifier the day I took it from him. He potty trained himself. He is just such a pleasant easy child. Pretend to hear the brakes sound right now. All that is changing! He is acting like a crazy man at school. Not really crazy. He has been not turning in his homework, talking in class and even bullying!! Where did he get this from?? I talked to his teacher the other day and she said that the good thing about Tyler is that he is a leader. The bad thing about Tyler is that he leads his friends over to the dark side!! He is truly the class clown. He makes everyone laugh but at the wrong time. What am I going to do? This is honestly the hardest thing I have ever done. It is just weird. I love this child more than I love anything in this world and the only thing I have EVER wanted to be good at is being his mother. I would do anything for him and give anything to be able to make him happy. What happened - where did I go wrong? I have failed at so many things in this life, but I refuse to fail him. I will be a good mother to him and give him everything he needs. We will get through this. I am hoping he is just going through a stage - but I can't be sure. He has been lying and all kinds of weird things. Me and Scott have shown him that we stand together in this and hopefully things will just calm down. In the mean time I hope I don't lose my mind. Say a little prayer for us!