09 February 2009

Tough morning

Very tough morning with Julia this morning. She got angry. That was it. There was nothing going on to really make her angry. She does say things which seem to provoke anger -- I hate school, No, I not doing that, etc. -- but this morning the anger just seemed to bloom. I tried looking in her eyes and she tried to pinch me and dig her very sharp nails into my face. (Yeah, gotta' cut those nails.) I insisted that we do our 10 count and it was the Helen Keller folding of the napkin scene (from Miracle Worker, if you needs more reference) all over again. I holding her down on the floor trying to get her to look at me; her fighting like a bobcat to get free.

In the end we did it, and got to school only a few minutes late. In the car, Julia said she was sorry, and I know that she means it. She hugged me a few times from the car to her classroom which I take to mean that these times are no easier on her than than are on me.

Gosh, I hope we work this out.

And thanks, Sharyn from your comment saying that my description of our eye to eye work reminded you are of the teaching of Thich Nhat Hanh. Of course, I don't think that my dining room this morning would have fit with the quiet of a Buddhist monastery.

So much to learn.

1 comment:

Sharon said...

I'm so sorry for your rough morning. It sounds like she sure is sincere with her apology though. It's so hard to see our children struggle...and hard to be in the moment when they are having a struggle. I hope I worded that correctly : )