Gratitude Days 13 & 14: Productivity & Teachers

(This post is days 13 & 14 of the 21 Days of Gratitude project.)

Day 13
Some days there just don't seem to be enough hours. Last night I couldn't sleep, too bothered by all the things I feel are stacking up on my plate. Massive work project due next week which I'm not even close to being done with. Preparing for holidays. Birthday gifts to buy. Need to write letters and send photos to Little Man's foster family in Korea. Thank you cards to write. Dinners to make for our neighbor who is undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.

My heart rate just went up writing about it.

When I have so much to do, I seem to be even more easily distracted (I curse you Facebook and Blogger!!), which means I work slower and get even less done.

Today, thankful for a few hours of extreme productivity and a (brief) feeling like I am making headway on that ever-growing list.


Day 14

I probably sound like a broken record. But it's where we are at right now. Little Man is always sometimes a Tiny Tyrant. He's as sweet and cool as ice cream, and in a flash, he's hot lava, oozing all over your shoes and screaming like a...two-year-old.

There's no predicting it. Sometimes he goes off when you ask him "would you like more cheese?" A simple yes or no would be fine. No big deal. But he leaps off his chair, throws himself onto the floor in the best telenovella fashion, and proceeds to wail.

So, today, I'm so very thankful for his two wonderful teachers who are patient and kind. We moved into a new classroom about five months ago and his teachers are truly amazing. They are energetic and sweet. They love him up and help him deal with those big emotions. They are firm with him in the most gentle ways. They don't take my passionate child's refusal to cooperate personally.

They are more than just good teachers. They truly love him. And their love is returned.

He talks about them at home, non-stop. Wanting to know where Miss A. and Miss B. are. He tells me stories about what they did together at school. What they ate for lunch. What books they read. He tells me about the baby in Miss Amanda's tummy.

Of course, he plays hard-to-get when he gets to school, refusing to look at them sometimes when he comes in the classroom. But they accept him for who he is, and know that Little Man expresses himself in his own darn time.

When I was teaching a parent gave me a gift once, that said something like "The surest way into a parent's heart is to love their child." It's true. You can't help but adore someone who loves and cares for your child as you do.

They are gifted beyond measure and I can't begin to thank them for the peace it gives me knowing that he is with these two wonderful young women when he's not with us.