Geography Genius

Yesterday (Wednesday) was not a great day. Jeff managed to get Henry an ENT appointment b/c Henry had been complaining about his ears hurting. Unfortunately, his ENT was working at his East side office, which is on the other side of the city from where we live.

On Tuesday, the late afternoon teacher Marisa had said that Miss Stephanie had reported that Henry had been aggressive with the other kids all day. This was a concern to us in part b/c he mentioned to me the other day how another kid hits him. Plus, I've seen a couple of the girls be super aggressive with each other. Anyway, Jeff and I wondered if Henry's ear problems were causing his poor behavior. For example, he was SUPER whiny in Oregon. Little did we know at the time that he had a major ear infection.

I picked up the kids in the afternoon on Wednesday. There was a "report" waiting for me at the front desk. Apparently, Henry scratched another kid. It sounded as though they didn't see Henry do it, but he'd been sitting next to the child and then the child was found with a scratch on his face. I talked with Henry's teachers. They said that he hasn't been acting like himself for a couple weeks. He randomly bopped some kid on the head the day before for no reason. And, he tried to stick pieces of corn into his own ears. When we got home, Jeff hopped into the car and took Henry to the ENT. I stayed home with Miss R.

Henry had a good time in the waiting room. He met several kids there. He had fun with the wire toys. Jeff and Henry waited there awhile as the staff tried to fit Henry into the already full schedule. Long story short, his ears look good. No problems observed by the ENT. Dr. Dean told Jeff that Henry's sensory experience is probably quite different from his pre-tube experience b/c he can hear now w/o the sound being muffled. I suppose that was good news, except it also means that there's no easy fix to Henry's supposed behavioral issues.

On the way back home, Jeff took First Ave heading toward Wetmore, on which resides the restaurant Sweet Tomatoes. We rarely drive on First Ave with the kids except when going from the UofA to my parents' house. We haven't spent much time at the UofA this fall (once?) with the kids for weekend breakfasts. Jeff turned onto Wetmore. When he was a block from Sweet Tomatoes (too far to actually see the restaurant), Henry announced "Sweet Tomatoes!" Bizarre. He truly has an uncanny sense of geography.

Jeff picked up food from Jason's Deli. He and Henry visited Toys R Us while they waited for the food. The kids had a good dinner. Play time. Bath. Teeth. Bed.

On Thursday morning, I had a talk with Miss Stephanie. I was concerned about the so-called aggressive behavior. Whereas the previous day, I came away with the impression that something was wrong. I came away from this morning's conversation with the understanding that he was exhibiting behavior that was typical for his age. While I was talking to her, I witnessed a boy try to take a toy away from Henry, but Henry held his ground and didn't hit the kid who was in his face. The boy was pretty upset at not being able to steal the toy away. I told Miss Stephanie that I was concerned over the comments from the previous day. She said that kids sometimes act out more at school b/c the teachers are limited in how they "punish" the kids (e.g., they don't do timeouts).

In the afternoon, Grammy and Poppy picked up the kids. The kids had had a good day. When they got home, we played in the train room. Read books. Teeth and bed.

I'm very much looking forward to our trip on Saturday. I think that we are going to have a great time.