Surprising Expectations

I have mixed feelings on surprises.  Some surprises are great.  For example, if Doug wanted to surprise me with a date, Coach or Vera Bradley bag, a day without children- those would all be perfectly lovely surprises.  However, other surprises are . . . unsettling.  And I had a few of the unsettling variety yesterday.

Apparently Andrew's class has a behavior system in which the teacher uses color coded cards: green (for good behavior), yellow (for on the verge of being not good behavior) and red (for obviously not so good behavior).  I don't know where I've been or why I have not been aware that this is the system used in his class, but for the first 5 days of school- I was oblivious to it.  However, Andrew gets into the car yesterday afternoon and begins talking about it.  He tells me that his card stayed on green, but someone else got their card pulled.  Since I hadn't heard about this system, I asked him to clue me in to the details.  I was surprised to discover that Andrew does not view his card getting on yellow- as a bad thing!!!!  Well, huh.  I am glad I was not surprised with a note in his agenda about him getting on yellow- I have now been prepared that it's likely to happen as he has a rather lackadaisical attitude towards that whole color.  Good to know.

So, we're driving down the road and I am lost in thought over this revelation and I realize that I would be very surprised if Andrew had misbehaved at school.  He's very compliant with his teachers, and wants to please them.  But, then I surprised myself by realizing that while Andrew's misbehavior is a surprise,  Alexa's misbehavior is expected!  I am more surprised to hear she's had a good day (which means- no fits in which she tries to move her lunch table (earlier this week) or head bangs the floor when she doesn't get her way- practically every day). 

Well, poor Alexa.  She has a bad rap.  I have low expectations for her apparently.  I am surprised at myself!  I thought I was better than that, however . . . maybe I am just being realistic with myself, after all- she is my child- and she proves that EVERY day practically.  So, while she'll ultimately end up beautiful, smart, calm, and all around wonderful- it'll be a LONG road to get there.  :-)

Check out my sweet Lou-Lou showing off her dancing moves!!

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