Hunter - That's Our Boy!!

I think it's pretty safe to say that this kindergarten year has been pretty rough on us. Perry and I both knew with Hunter starting kindergarten that there was going be a learning curve, but seriously... 

We're now two-thirds of the way done with the school year already! It has flown by! It's amazing to see Hunter sitting at the table with us reading his books out loud. It completely blows my mind! He struggles and guesses at some of the words, but for the most part, he does pretty good! He's really good at sounding out words too to try to spell them for us. He's such a smart kid - which is why his behavior just baffles Perry and I. 

Since he was maybe 3 years old, we have wondered if he might have ADHD. We've thought about getting him tested, just to ease our minds, but kept putting it off thinking, "he's just a boy." But let's be honest, we've been thinking that for about 3-4 years. He hasn't grown out of it. He bounces from activity to activity and is so easily distracted. Now it's just getting frustrating. How many times have I thought, "Calm the frick down, child!" Way too many to count...Hunter, I love you, but my house is not a gymnasium, nor is it barn. 

As many of you know, we had "the scissor incident" at the beginning of the school year, followed by a phone call from his bus driver, followed by numerous visits to the office for multiple reason. I seriously lost track of how many times he's been to the office - he was throwing snowballs once, he apparently punched a kid in the face when he was showing him how he plays golf on the Wii... Wait, you did what?! "Yeah, now he has a loose tooth." Gahh! But his most recent trip broke my heart...

His class had a "Literacy Lunch" where the parents get to join their kids for lunch. I was super nervous to go because whenever I'm around, he's out of control. When I arrived and he found me in the hall, he was so helpful! He found a folding chair in the hallway and proceeded to bring it into the classroom for me to sit on at his table. As we were eating our lunch, I asked Hunter if he drew the pictures on the table. Without hesitation, the little girl next to him piped up, "Those aren't his. He didn't get to draw any pictures because he drew something naughty." OH? "He drew a picture of a GUN! And that's not good." Hunter's eyes were huge at this point. Clearly embarrassed, a bit shocked. Not long after, he teacher bent over and said, "I'm sure you heard what Hunter drew?" Yeah...I heard he drew a gun. "Well, it's not so much that he drew a gun, but that he drew it pointed at people..." At that point I seriously wanted to curl up and cry. I'm pretty sure I had tears well-up in my eyes. 

After our little craft and story time, every one headed outside for recess, at which point we were welcome to head home. Hunter insisted I stay, which was fine - we played four-square at recess - but it looked more like just throw the ball to someone. It didn't last long before he ran off to go down the slide and climb on the jungle gym. Before heading inside, he was sure to point out which kid was "the scissor kid" because, you know, they're besties now. Who would have thought? I had a nice chat with his mom, and admitted how nervous I was to talk to her. (After all, my kid stabbed her kid in the face with scissors!) But luckily she was cool about it - and we just recently had not one, but TWO playdates. 

Anyways, lunch was on a Wednesday, and then that Friday afternoon, I received a call from the school counselor going over what she and Hunter spoke about earlier that day - guns and where we've played with them, and rules about them, the like. Apparently in their chat, he said he used to play guns with an older kid while he was at daycare. And they used to take naps together. What he made her believe was that the older kid was a high school kid and not one year older than him. So when he said they took naps together, I envisioned a nuclear bomb going off in my head. Kids at daycares take naps together in the same room...That's what happens. No he didn't get sexually abused. End of story. 

He has been attending small group counseling, which I think will be good for him. It's a group of about 5-6 other boys that meet on Fridays and the talk about sharing, and their feelings, and how to act in different situations. He enjoys it - they got to make their own rules the other week, and put them to the test by playing "Go Fish." Even though I do approve of his counselling sessions, it prompted Perry and I to visit his counselor to talk about his behavior. We've decided to take a few tests to see if we can figure out what's causing his behavior. Between all the extra energy he seems to have to being easily distracted to not remembering what we told him to do, we figured if there is something going on with him, it's better to figure it out now, than to wait until later. 

Phew! This post is longer than I had anticipated! But Perry and I have both completed the BASC's tests and Conner's test and are waiting to hear back from the school psychologist. He's also started participating in the school's "Check-in/Check-out" program. Every morning he goes to the library to get his slip and throughout the day he's graded via smiley faces on how he's doing. So far he's gotten 100% on his first three days. Woo-Hoo!!