Christian's First Week of School

Christian's first week of school went very well. He has made several friends, including a girl named Maya. To have Christian tell it, "I'm Maya's friend, but she says she's not my friend!" On all but one of the days, Christian did not want to leave because he was having too much fun. Play time is at 1 PM, so he is playing when I arrive to pick him up. All the teachers are amazed at how well he assimilates (there's that word again Karen) with the other children. We thought he was outgoing and intelligent before he started school, but once he started school, it was like a light switched on. He has new found confidence when dealing with strangers (especially with girls his age :o), and is saying and doing things beyond his years. Grandmother Patrick called and Christian answered the phone. When asked where his mommy was, he said "She's not here, she's at work. I can take a message for her." This coming from a 3 year old! She told me that Christian sounds like a grown person on the phone. However, his new found confidence has also caused him to get into trouble though. :o( His routine has been to eat eggs for breakfast, and upon finishing them, asking me for a piece of candy. I would verify that he ate all his eggs before he would get it. Well, Christian figured out that Daddy was more concerned with an empty plate then with him eating them; or so he thought. On Monday, he showed me his empty plate, less then 5 minutes after receiving them. Being suspicious, I looked, and found his eggs hidden in the ladder of his toy fire engine. I scolded him, told him that I didn't appreciate his lying, and sent him to his room. After about 30 minutes, he apologized, and said that he wouldn't lie again. This would turn out to be a lie! On Wednesday, feeling a little smarter, Christian got his eggs, and two minutes later, came to me with an empty plate and asked for candy. I knew right away that he hadn't eaten his eggs, so I told him I was going to look to see if he hid them. Quickly, he got nervous and said "No daddy! Don't come out!", and began pushing me, trying to hold me back. I searched all over the bonus room looking for the eggs. He had done a much better job of hiding them, having learned from Monday's experience. Finally, I found them. He had hid them inside the Ottoman, having taken only one bite. I scolded him again, sent him to his room, and told him that I would think about if he should go to school. I took his eggs to him in his room and told him that he needed to eat his eggs before he went to school. He was sitting on the glider, sulking, and didn't respond. I came back 5 minutes later and told him that he still needed to eat his eggs. He was now on his bed reading his books, and said that he would eat them after he finished reading his 3 books. He finally came out and said that he had ate his eggs. I told him I was going to look in his room for them, and he had no problem with this, so I know he ate his eggs! While buckling him in the car, he said to me "Daddy, I'm sorry." and I asked him what he was sorry about. He said, "I'm sorry about the eggs. I won't do that ever again!" I was touched. It bothered him that he had disappointed his daddy. I know there will be other times he will test us, and lie to us, but it was nice to know that he knows right from wrong, and that it's important for Mommy and Daddy to be happy with him. As Dad said in a bowling analogy, it's okay for children to go from gutter to gutter, but as long as they don't end up in the gutter, then they're okay. (or something like that :o)).