Do-over

After a rough week, we decided to pull Tristan out of the Performing Arts Magnet program he was in and to enroll him in the 6th grade that was added for this year at our local elementary school. Phew. What else do you do when your boy goes to sleep crying, wakes up crying, spends his days listening to teachers scream at kids, is relentlessly teased (physically and verbally), listens to teachers threaten children by saying that they will call social services on their parents, comes home with no homework, goes to school and isn't taught anything but sits and listens to teachers tell stories about their lives...all of this goes on for several days.

Monday afternoon, we ran into one of Tristan's friends from K-5, a nice boy and his Mom eating lunch at the local bagel shop. The boy was BEAMING and said how much he loves his new school (the Mom agreed). After some talk, I felt like lightning hit me. I phoned David and we talked about what was going on with Tristan and the new school and how the last week had been very stressful. We felt that it was better to take him out now before it got any later in the school year. The whole thing felt right. I discussed with Tristan how this is only something we could do once that Mom can't fix everything and that our priorities were his education, safety and overall well being.

I took him to the school he had been enrolled in and spoke to the Dean (since when do middle schools have DEANS?) who was condescending at first..he kept stressing that I was pulling him out of a middle school and enrolling him into an elementary school. We went back and forth on a few things. I did what was best for my child a boy who is 11...not 11 going on 18. He's 11. He goes to bed surrounded by his toys, Legos, stuffed animals and Ben 10. He loves comic books and cartoons. He's 11. I want him to *be* the age that he is and not feel pressured to be "all grown up" as that will come with time and each passing year.

Tuesday morning came and we had more work to do at the prior school. We spent 90 minutes getting all of the bureaucracy out of the way...At 9:15 we were at the new school..we all felt so much better. We filled out the paperwork. They told us that they felt it was better that Tristan start tomorrow (now today, Wednesday).

I walked Tristan to school this morning. He was smiling, laughing, joking, happy. He was excited about the new school, the new teacher, the new students (there is one 6th grade class). He didn't cry. He kissed me goodbye and said he'd see me this afternoon. I feel so much better. My boy is happy and so am I!Last night we took a walk to Barnes & Noble at The Grove. My friend Andrew had talked about this book on his blog and it piqued my interest! The book is Collections of Nothing by William Davies King. I dove into it last night and had a really hard time putting it down.
I also picked up the latest Mary Engelbreit Home Companion. WOW! This new issue is a keeper. It's the first issue in a long time that had me very excited about the content within.

On the way home we stopped at Family on Fairfax. I didn't buy anything, but was excited to find that they had copies of the Peter Beard DVD I have been looking for. When I got home, I decided to look up Peter Beard online as I remembered murmurings of Taschen releasing some new Beard books this Fall. Oh. My. God. My jaw dropped. Remember the $6000 Beard book I was lusting after?? They are releasing a "working class slob" edition. Frickin' finally! It is $100 and I am eagerly saving my pennies now for it...it comes out just in time for my birthday!!! Two hardcover books in a slipcase. 784 pages of pure Heaven. I am ecstatic!!!!!! This is one of THE books that I have been wanting since I found out about it (knowing that I would damn well not have the $6000 to 15,000 that was necessary to purchase it!) Woo hoo!!!