I Knew He Was Trouble When He Walked In!

I knew I was in trouble when the phone rang and the caller said, "Do you have a sec?"

No good phone call starts out that way! I was proctoring Freshmen Assessment exams for the day. I was in a huge room with over 200 students. There were more than enough proctors, so I stepped out when the unfamiliar number came up on my caller ID. Incidentally, I know people who don't answer calls that aren't in their phone book, but I think that it not a luxury a mom has.

My initial instinct was right. It was the school. Please note that this was the first Friday of the school year. Four days in. How lucky am I to get a phone call four days into the school-year!?

To be specific it was the kindergarten teacher. Let me say up front that we love his woman. This is the second time around she has taught one of our kids, so not only do we know her, but she knows us. As much as people tend to think that Henry and Ben are carbon copies of one another, they really aren't they have their own distinct personalities that I can read in a heartbeat.

Ben's latest personality quirk is his stubbornness. He's not defiant. He won't yell "NO!" if you ask him to do something he doesn't want to. He just pretends he didn't hear you. And he can pretend really well!

I also know that this trait tends to surface when he's out of his regular routine. And I think it goes without saying that there is no such thing as "routine" for the first week of Kindergarten! Looking at the situation from his perspective, everything is so completely new and unfamiliar that I can't completely blame him for shutting down.

On this particular day, a rule was enforced that older siblings cannot walk their younger siblings to class. Apparently it was making the older kids late for class. The kids are supposed to get off the bus and go straight to their rooms. Henry had been walking Ben to class each morning, but on the day in question, he had been stopped at the library and asked to go to his own room.

To help put a picture in your head, my kids' school is more or less shaped like a capital E. The office is at the top left corner. The library is at the bottom left corner. Henry's class is in the middle of the middle bar, and Ben's classroom is out at the far end of the lower bar.

When Henry turned around and went to his classroom, Ben sat down. Whether he was pouting because of the change of plans, or just leading his own, silent, one-man protest a la Gandhi, I cannot say for sure. What I do know is that the librarian asked him to go to class and he sat.

The teacher was called out of her room to come get him. And he sat.

The assistant principal showed up and encouraged him to move. And he sat.

He eventually gave in a little bit. By sliding a few inches down the hallway. The assistant principal cheered him on. He moved a little further. Eventually, he scooted himself all the way down the hallway and into his cubby, where he continued to ignore everyone.

Then one little boy in his class looked at him and said, "Why you scootin' around on your butt?! Why don't you get up and walk?"

That got his attention a little bit.

Then the same boy wanted to know, "Why you sittin' in your cubby? Don't you wanna sit in a chair?"

And ever so slowly he climbed out and went to his seat.

According to his teacher, he was absolutely fine the rest of the day. She'd even talked to him a bit and gotten the story that he was mad about Henry leaving him.

As she was telling the story, we were both laughing. Don't get me wrong! It's not okay to disobey your teachers, but if you're going to protest, a silent protest is really the way to go. He didn't hurt anyone or put himself or anyone else in danger. And he eventually got where he needed to be and changed his attitude.

But that afternoon when his Kindergarten teacher told me this story? I knew I was in trouble. And I knew she was too! Ben has a very unique way of getting his point across.

And just for my very own Taylor Swift song, I'll put this here for you, since it's probably in your head now anyway!

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week 15 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. 

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts.  Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                          Baking In A Tornado

http://themomisodes.com                                          The Momisodes

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/                  Spatulas on Parade

http://sparklyjenn.blogspot.com/                                 Sparkly Poetic Weirdo

http://www.southernbellecharm.com                        Southern Belle Charm

http://thelieberfamily.com                                         The Lieber Family Blog

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com                                  Never Ever Give Up Hope

http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch          Confessions of a part time working mom

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com                        Someone Else’s Genius

http://www.clutteredgenius.com                             Cluttered Genius    

http://www.smalltalkmama.com                                Small Talk Mama       

http://www.renasworld.com/                                      Rena’s World

http://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com                                 Climaxed

http://dinoheromommy.com/                         Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com/              The Bergham’s Life Chronicles       

My subject is "I knew I was in trouble when..."  It was submitted by Lydia of Cluttered Genius.