Warning! Meltdown!

I picked up Gaige from school yesterday and was met in the carpool line by one of the teachers explaining why Gaige was crying. She said he had felt a little ill earlier, but that he wasn't running a fever. As Gaige entered the van, the trickle of tears turned into a torrent with dramatic sobbing following closely. Trying to deduce the cause of the meltdown while maneuvering out of the school parking lot was a little tricky. Between sobs and moans, I finally managed to glean the following information: everyone disrespected him, his leg bone was "twisted", and he was "really, really tired".

The total disrespect by his classmates was the result of them not wanting to play what Gaige suggested, so they went off and did their own thing while he stubbornly refused to change his position, as he is wont to do. The twisting of the leg bone (the opposite one was twisted the day before) I attributed to growing pains and was relieved after an hour's rest on the sofa and a dose of ibuprofen. So relieved, in fact, that he was able to chase his brother around the house and drive me crazy.

I'm pretty sure that exhaustion was the biggest factor in the meltdown. Adjusting to first grade takes a toll on a six-year-old boy. That, combined with not getting to sleep until 9:30 p.m. on the average night and waking up by 6:30 or 7:00, equates to not enough rest. Having homework every night for the first time has been a big adjustment as well. I'm hoping that in a few weeks all these new developments will be old hat to him and will make for smoother sailing.

I didn't have the camera with me to record the meltdown, but I found a picture of a similar one when Gaige was four.



When Jaye, Kelly and the kids were here last weekend, they went to the zoo. Lauren and Kelly are exploring the Habitat House.



Matthew was doing a little computer work with his dad, but then he got sleepy.