It Worked, It Finally Worked!

Yesterday was the first day that I was able to take Aaron to school and not have to peel him off of me before I could leave. The last several weeks have been absolutely exhausting as there has been an incredible amount of screaming every time, every single time that I had to say goodbye to Aaron at preschool, but yesterday was different.

It didn't start any different. He turned his alarm off and went back to bed. I had to turn on the over-head light in his room, announce that it was time to get up, and start making ridiculous threats that showed without a doubt that I meant business. You know the kind, "If you don't get out of bed, you will have to go to bed early tonight! If you don't get out of bed, the entire world will stop producing fruit snacks! If you don't get out of bed, we are going to be late and may God Almighty save you because Mommy CAN"T STAND to be late, and if we are late, Santa will find out and you KNOW what that means!!!" You know, the typical stuff.

Finally he drug himself out of bed and wandered out into the living room dragging his clothes behind him because, well, Mommy only said get out of bed, she didn't say get dressed. Kids, so literal. He decided that the pre-approved outfit of the night before did not suit sire's style that morning and so we had to choose a whole new outfit. A decision that should be easier than paper or plastic is more involved than holding a congressional hearing where Aaron is concerned.

We got through breakfast which was a whole other struggle and finally left the house five minutes late, LATE! As we were walking up the sidewalk to school, he talked about how excited he was that he had his umbrella and he seemed fine, but I have been fooled before. We got to his class and he started to tell his teachers about the umbrella. Hmmmmm, jovial. He went to wash his hands without a fuss. Hmmmmm, compliant. He grabbed his star with his name on it to hang on the bulletin board. Hmmmmm, willing. Could this be THE day?

He sat down at his seat and I opened the box of blocks that were at his table and he said with a sigh, "Urgh, this again?" Apparently he had played with those blocks a few too many times. Now this is usually where it all goes to hell. I hesitated and then I gave him a little hug and said, "OK Aaron, I love you. Have a good day." He hugged me and looked up and said, "I'm not going to cry today." I about fell over. I was speechless at first. When I came to I told him how proud I was of him and that I knew he could do it. He smiled, told me he'd see me later, and I left. On my way out I heard him tell the teachers, "I didn't cry today!" He was really proud of himself.

I know that I am lucky that we only did the crying thing for a few weeks. I know that there are parents that have to deal with it for months. I also know that just because it worked one day, doesn't mean that it will work every day, but yesterday, it worked. I walked down the hall and out of the school floating about ten inches off of the ground.