Back In The Swing

To my son Tommy,

One of the hardest things to do in life is get back into a habit when you have had a lull.  You quickly become accustomed to the way things are and forget the ways things were and don't dare look at the way things can be, should be, or will be.  This is all usually compounded by guilt and shame of letting the practice go in the first place.  Lets just face it, sometimes it is scary to get back in the swing of things.

Today we had an incident with you and school.  You have missed three school days (the past week and half because you only go two days a week) because of being sick.  We had the doctors ok to send you back Tuesday but it just seemed too hard.  Today we fought through the reluctance.  You didn't want to wake up.  You didn't want to get cleaned up.  You didn't want to get dressed.  You didn't want to do your mask treatment.  You didn't want to do anything because you didn't want to go to school today.  That quickly school had become an unknown again, something to worry about and be afraid of.  It is like if you saw a lizard and started telling the story, before you know it the lizard is some horrible huge dragon.  Not until you face it again will you see it is just a tiny lizard.  To get you to school again to face the mean dragon it had become, and to no doubt realize you love school again, took some serious struggle today.

It is no fun hearing excuses we have used to you being shot back at us.  "It's too early!" is still ringing in my ear in that whiney voice.  "We can do school tomorrow." or "Just stop" were two popular phrases from you today.  But we didn't stop.  We fought through the tears and the yells and the screams and the fights.  We got you dressed and fed and out to school.  We didn't get a full mask treatment on you, but I think that would have taken a dart gun with a sedative to accomplish that task.  Mommy and I dropped you off and as your bottom lip started to quiver and before we could see your tears come...off we went.

Your mom just called and you had a great day in school. As double bonus you ate pancakes today and any time a new food gets passed your mouth it is a day to celebrate!

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo