Tonight

Is Ella's first school conference as a Pre K. I hope it goes well but I cannot believe the time is set for 8pm. I could have asked one of my friends to watch the girls but I decided they are coming with. I almost hope they have a meltdown to show the teacher a little of what goes on when 4 and 7 year olds are out past their bed time. Passive Aggresive of me isn't it?

But, I am going to push the teacher a little anyway. Ella still cries really bad most mornings at daycare. Today I tried a new tactic... I asked her to think of something that makes her feel happy in hopes it will trigger a coping method for her. Ella's comment was she likes Stay Home Days Mom.... while doing the hiccup cry. But then when she got off the bus she told Beth she had a great day and didn't need to call me at work.

I am going to ask the teacher how much contact other parents have with the kids to see if someone may be bothering Ella in some way. I will also push on finding out how they handle her tears at school. According to all the conversations I have had with her teacher, Ella does not cry much at school. But, I really don't think its an attention getting move on her part to cry so horribly.

I have talked with the speech therapists too to see if they can give me some insight. It turns out a little boy was pulled from speech and maybe from school because he was missing his mom so much. That happened right before Ella starting struggling. So that explains it to a degree but that was over a month ago and its no better. Its time to pull out the big guns and get this girl excited about school again.

I played around with the idea of pulling her from school all together since its a pre school class and not required. But, I don't want to give that message to Ella - that its ok to quit school. So I will push some tonight to be "One Of Those Kinds Of Moms" I am sure it won't be the last time either. My Dad was One Of Those Kinds of Dad's so I will follow his wonderful example. Question, discuss and question some more until you feel you have the answer... Thanks Dad! :-)