What a terrible start. Alex went to bed earlier than usual last night, but he still woke up later than usual. He said he was sick and couldn't do school. Every move Emily made started him shrieking. Emily was more clingy than usual, and she was running a fever--poor little thing. I gave Alex his medicine and breakfast and told him school was starting in 30 mins. We made it through phonics--barely. I used the music from SSW&R, and Emily decided that she did not want to hear me sing, so she threw a fit. Meanwhile, Alex was getting more aggitated. By the time we sat down for Reading I, he had had enough of Miss Emily. I finally resorted to a video in the other room for her, and she fell asleep very shortly. I know this means she is not feeling well.

Even with Emily out of the picture, Alex was not attending and was very irritable. He got something in his eye, and the screaming began. He would not even let me look at it. I took him to my room, told him to lay down and to come and get me when he was calm and ready for me to look at his eye. After about 10mins (aka an eternity) of screaming and fit-throwing, he came out and let me look. Whatever was in his eye was gone, thanks to the tears. We talked for a few minutes, and I asked him if he was ready to finish his work. He told me he didn't want to do school because "it takes a long day." I explained that if he could not work with me at home, he had to go back to regular school. I also told him that at home, he gets through his work much faster, and he could even be finished before Laura got home if he started soon. That perked him up--he loves to finish first! The rest of the lesson went relatively smoothly, even though after he subject, he tried to talk me into skipping something.

It was so hard knowing what to do today. I want to keep school fun, but at the same time, we are both going to have to learn how to make it through challenging days and days where he isn't feeling well. I also want to make sure that I don't lose my cool with him--that was extremely hard today when he was throwing a fit about Emily or screaming about his eye. I am glad (and a bit amazed) that I did keep my cool through all that. It was bad enough that I wanted to cry.

Alex is now happily playing with his HotWheels set, and he even let me use one of his cars. I got a big, "I love you, Mom!" with a smile. I'm calling today a success.