I Messed Up

     Travis brings an action figure everywhere he goes. Usually it's a large one, occasionally it's a tiny one. Yesterday he was going to bring Buzz Lightyear to school. When the van pulled up he looked at me, pointed at Buzz, pointed at the car (my car) and said I want Buzz back please. I said what do you want? He said car (pointed) Buzz back please. I was confused. I asked him if he wanted me to put Buzz in the back of the car. He said yes. I asked if he was going to go to school in the van. He said yes. So I took Buzz and I put him in the back of the car (Travis had asked really nicely) and I buckled him in. Because of course Buzz Lightyear wants to be safe in a vehicle. I was confused but it was cute. I took the photo, sent it to Travis's teacher and asked her to share it with him and tell him Buzz was safe on the way to Ludlow High School.

    After school Travis asked me again for Buzz back. He was being literal. The back of the toy was missing. There is the part that covers Buzz's wings and it was not on there. So we searched the car, but it was not there. I messed up. I thought Travis wanted me to put Buzz in the back of the car. Nope, he wanted me to look in the car for Buzz's back! It was not in the car, I told Travis he would have to check his room. I still don't know if he located Buzz's back or not. (I checked, he found it).

       I have been working glacially slow this week. So far all I have managed to do is dremel a bunch of dolls and start working on chaps. I got 4 sets traced out, one cut and assembled, and one partially cut out. I am super slow this week. But I still have a ton of things on my brain and I need to get some things finished so I can have less I have to do. I need to wrap up the Field of Dolls Online Fall show (this weekend). And I need to send out the October offerings from the miniatures club. If you don't know what that is you can check out my Ko-Fi page. 

    

      There have been a lot of extremely challenging behaviors at school this year. The kids are not doing well emotionally from the past couple of years. There is a lot more acting out, a lot less maturity, a lot less patience. Which means a lot more for the staff to deal with. Oh yeah, our mental health has also been suffering. It's been hard. Last week we had an A.L.I.C.E drill (active shooter drill). I hate those. So much. The kids are mixed about them. A lot of them say it's a good way to get out of class and we should do them every week (hard no). Some of them act as if they are a game or a joke. Some of them say they try to get "shot" (there is a guy with an airhorn for the drills with the kids. He is the "shooter"). And then I have to lecture yet another group of kids on why we do these drills. And it makes me sad. Sad that we have to do them and sad that the kids think it's a game. Thankfully, we only have to do one of those drills a year. 

     I have a couple of students who are particularly challenging. For one of them I have made some huge breakthroughs in the past couple of days. The first day it happened I figured it was a fluke. It was an easy day where they did not have to do all that much. Then yesterday was a harder day. Actual work, higher expectations, and the output and behavior was phenomenal. I am still a bit wary that we will backslide and have another explosive day (literally swearing, verbal abuse to the other students, the staff, throwing things, slamming doors, etc.) But I am hopeful we have turned a corner. A kid that would escalate from vaguely annoyed to explosive with redirection is now taking the redirection and doing fairly well at self regulating. I am hopeful. And pretty proud.

     So I am slow with doll work, but picking away. I am wrapping up the show, working on miniatures club, and school things are going pretty well. And it's almost the weekend. Good times.