Cooker Man

I realized I have had too many picture-less posts, so here is one of my little man doing what he loves, being "Cooker Man"! Chase came running out of school yesterday with both thumbs up yelling "Mama, I had an awesome day!" Yeah! He gets lots of rewards when he has a great day and one of them was he got to cook spaghetti with me for dinner.

Preschool Update

He is being moved to a different classroom! WhoooooHooooooo

The wheels of preschool justice turn slowly

I had my meeting with Cruella, aka: Chase's teacher and the principal of the school and we still have not come to a resolution as far as placing Chase into another classroom with another teacher. The principal acted as a mediator between Cruella and myself and I really felt like I came up on top. I think the principal was very unimpressed with Cruella's behavior during the meeting. Cruella wouldn't even make eye contact with me from the time she entered the room until we finished an hour later. She was extremely defensive of every point I brought up and came up with the most lame excuses I have ever heard. At one point when I was indicating that she would not help with getting Chase settled in the morning she denied ever even seeing a problem, then in the next sentence she said she never wanted to intervene because it would harm the "sanctity of the parent/child relationship"! I think even the principal had to bite her lip to try not to laugh! The principal told Cruella that herself and every other educator at that school would and should intervene in a situation like that and that it was her expectation moving forward that Cruella do that; nothing like getting reprimanded by your boss in front of a parent! The meeting went on to discuss Chase's increasingly impulsive behavior with the Principal's suggestion being made to bring in a behavioral specialist to observe Chase and see if we can get to the bottom of this. There were several other suggestions made by the principal, all of which I thought were good ideas. The principal indicated to Cruella that she needed to instigate these suggestions along with the referral to the behavior specialist immediately at which point I interjected and told them specifically that in no uncertain terms did I want Chase to remain in that classroom with Cruella, I had indicated that in the first meeting I had with her. I wanted him moved asap and thus there was no reason for the principal to direct Cruella to do anything. At that point the meeting was pretty much over and the principal indicated to me that I would hear from her by tomorrow afternoon as to what accommodations can be made to move Chase to another classroom. She asked if I wanted to add anything else and I brought up the day that Cruella told Chase that because he coughed on her, it made her sick and she had to go home and how I had to spend the entire weekend consoling Chase because he was so upset; Cruella flat out denied that ever happened! I told her that Chase in no way has the capacity to make anything like that up, he doesn't have the vocabulary or the knowledge for anything so ridiculous. She finally admitted to saying something to the effect to the entire class, but she didn't single Chase out; whatever!

I am just so over all this drama, as I'm sure you all are too!

Cruella Update:

This woman took 4 days to get back with me to set up a meeting with her and the principal. We are meeting next Wednesday morning with her, the principal and myself. I just don't think she gets it. She seems to think this is a meeting to discuss Chase; when in actuality we are meeting to discuss her! I just want her out of our lives, she sends me an e-mail this week chastising me for sending Chase in tie shoes instead of Velcro shoes! (His velcro shoes were in the wash and this was the first time he has ever worn tie shoes to school) In the time it took her to write and send me the message, she could have tied his shoes, instead he comes out of school tripping over the laces. She then sends a behavior report home with a note stating that Chase had bad behavior for putting a toy in his mouth! I will be lucky if Chase stops sucking his thumb by the time he is twenty years old, he has huge oral sensory issues! Honestly, this woman grates on every last nerve I have.

p.s. The dogs all survived, but I probably went thru a whole bottle of Resolve carpet cleaner and Clorox Clean Up cleaning up their messes!

Jane

All that's left

This is what is left of the Valentine candy that I had got for my kid's valentine surprises! Nothing! I had it in my bedroom closet on top of a mid size dresser and apparently one of the dogs got into the closet, dragged it onto the floor and all three of them went to town! All of this happened while I was writing my last blog post. I am just sick over this, as are they! I've already called the vet and since I can't identify which one ate it, we're assuming it's probably all three of them, I just have to wait and see if anyone has a reaction. Most of it was chocolate, which I know can be really harmful to dogs. I've found one pile of puke (sorry for being so gross) but it's not like I can tell which dog it belongs to! They are all hiding under the bed right now, they know they've been baaaaad dogs!

Oh please let this day get better!

Met with the Principal

I met with the principal of Chase's school yesterday and it went about as I expected. I outlined all of the issues we have had since starting there about 6 weeks ago and detailed some of the more ridiculous incidents. She listened and took lots of notes. She indicated to me that while she does believe that Mrs. C is a good teacher, she does have some issues with "warming up" to parents. I told her that perhaps if this was just a personality conflict between Chase's teacher and myself, that I could rise above the situation, but I really felt that her attitude was detrimental to Chase's issues and as a result Chase was acting out much more than usual. I told her I really wanted Chase to be moved to another class. Although I think it will happen (and I told her I wanted it to happen sooner than later), she wants to have a meeting with all three of us present; Chase's teacher, myself and the principal. I agreed to that and was told that Mrs. C would be in contact with me to set it up. Haven't heard from Cruella yet! I don't really think she could say or do anything at this point to make up for her behavior over the past 6 weeks, but I'm interested in seeing how she defends herself in front of the principal.

Susan, you are so right. I really don't think she wanted Chase (or any other kid for that matter) in her class. I also don't think this woman needs to be teaching preschool. She is so detached from the kids and I can't imagine wanting to be a teacher, yet not even connecting with them on such a basic level. I am in contact with Caroline's old Kinder teacher from Dallas (she became such a close family friend) and she indicated that teacher's are taught to physically guide and redirect the student's attention to something else if they are having a hard time in the morning separating from the parent. Chase's teacher refuses to do this, even though she sees us struggling every morning and like I said before, it just sets up the day for disaster.

So the drama continues until this next meeting. I keep y'all posted!

Jane

p.s. Thanks for all the feedback, it's nice to know that I'm not the crazy one! (at least this time)

Cruella DeVille is going down!

I have reached the end of my rope with Chase's pre K teacher. I think this woman is certifiable! Chase has had a really hard time with the transition to his new pre K class and his teacher has done nothing to help facilitate it. She still does nothing when we get to her classroom, Chase is clinging to my leg or else he is completely "squirrelly" and all over the place and she just sits at her desk pretending not to notice, blasting her classical music. It just sets up the day for failure. He is being sent home with "behavior reports" daily, most of which have not been good. I know my child and know that he is capable of some of the things he has been reported doing; i.e. hitting, spitting, etc. But she is sending home "bad" reports for talking during rest time, throwing rocks on the playground (onto the ground, not at anyone), holding his crayon incorrectly, not sitting with his feet under the table at lunch, etc. Obviously, some of the reports are justified and hitting and spitting will not be tolerated, but the others??? Come on! Chase lives and dies by these reports and comes home so dejected when he gets a bad one, which is almost every day. And to try and talk to this woman is futile, she is completely unapproachable and very defiant when I do speak with her. The final straw was yesterday; when I picked Chase up from school, he told me his teacher had gone home sick, he proceeded to tell me in the car that Mrs. "C" told him that because he coughed on her, it made her sick and she had to go home! She is nuts! Chase may have gotten the wording mixed up, but the gist of the conversation was there; and Chase does not have the vocabulary to make that up on his own. I was so angry, I called the school and have an appointment with the principal on Monday morning to discuss transferring him to a different class. Stayed tuned to this soap opera: "As the Preschool Turns"!