Gracie  had Lunch With A Loved One at school on Wednesday.  Last year, I didn’t get to go with her because I was taking preschool pictures.  She was disappointed but got over it when we told her that her Aunt Becky was going to drive over from Mobile and go with her.  This year, she again wanted me to be the one to eat lunch with her, so I made sure months ago that my schedule was going to be clear at noon on Wednesday.  I had a wonderful time with her.  She wanted to dress up, so I did, too. I brought McDonald’s as a treat for the both of us.  I was thankful to be able to spend some time with her.    All the kids were excited to have a grown-up eating lunch in the cafeteria with them.  And, I’m sure that they were all a little more active than they usually are.

Gracie, though, at least through my mommy glasses, seemed a lot more hyper than the other children.  She was constantly in and out of her seat, giving me hugs, chattering on about anything and everything.  Were this a one-time occurrence, I would probably just chalk it up to a social 6-year-old that is very attached to her mommy being excited that she was getting to spend some extra, special time with me.

But, it’s not a one-time occurrence.  Gracie’s really struggling this year with her behavior at school.  She’s losing marks on an almost daily basis for not following directions, or not finishing her work, or talking out of turn.  Last week, she was doing fantastic and made it to Wednesday with no marks.  But, on Wednesday, when I picked her up from school, I could tell by her face that it hadn’t gone well.  She’d lost four marks, all for talking, all in one day.  So, her behavior grade for the week plummeted to a B-.  I go back and forth, thinking that this is just something that we need to work on with her and that she’s fully capable of regulating her behavior, then thinking maybe she’s just coming into her own socially and will grow out of it, then thinking maybe the pediatrician was right all those years ago when he said we needed to keep an eye on her for ADD.  (But, then again, this is the same doctor who said last week that Abigail was ready to ride in a booster, so what does he know?) 

When I walked Gracie into school this morning, her teacher met me at the door, mostly just to apologize for not having time to talk to me at Lunch With A Loved One.  But, of course, I had to open the proverbial can of worms and ask how Gracie was doing in class.  She gave me that look that said, “Well……..” and my heart sunk a little.  She said she’s not focusing in class the way she should.  She’s doing well (her reading level has jumped nine month levels in the last ten weeks) with her class work, but her teacher thinks she could do better.  She said that Gracie is very social and just so “happy go lucky”.  I almost choked on that.  Gracie is not generally what I’d call a happy go lucky kid – she’s constantly questioning herself about a lot of things from her schoolwork to if her friends really like her to who she should vote for in the next election.  (Seriously, she says right now that she doesn’t think she’ll vote for Mr. Obama again)  I see her as my drama queen and the one we’ve always had to worry about wearing her heart on her sleeve.  So, to hear her described that way, even though it was in a context of her not-so-stellar behavior, actually made me a little happy.  I know that whatever we need to do for her, we will.  My greatest hope is that we end up on the other side with a little girl who behaves better, but is still happy and maybe even a little go lucky!