Pajama Party

Today started off normal. Cam wakes up, gets ready for school and then drop off time comes. He growls at me as we park that he doesn't want to go. I growl back that school is not an option and that went over well as you can imagine. His new idea is that I should be his teacher and that he doesn't need to actually go to school for that to happen. The kid at the age of 6 is smarter and deliberates better than most adults I know...including myself. But, his deliberating this morning got him nowhere but in his classroom. When we walked in he only wanted to read his book about animals, so getting him to actually look up at the board and see what the writing assignment was about was a struggle. Once he finally did look up, I saw the blank stare in his eyes and the freezing up began. Today's topic was, if you met a scientist what is one question you would ask them and why? I began to think of all the animals he has been talking about and trying to think of questions he could write about, when he looked at me and said he had a question to write about. "I think I would ask about why people want to kill elephants for their tusks when elephants are such beautiful creatures." You could have knocked me over with a feather! He thought of it all on his own and actually had a good topic to write about. I left quickly as to not ruin the moment or distract him from his writing. What a great morning, right?!

Fast forward to a couple of hours later and my phone rings and it's the school. My heart sinks, why are they calling? See typical parents can assume that they are calling for something good or possibly that their child is sick. Cam has had such issues in the past that every time my phone rang it meant a meltdown was happening, chairs had been thrown during the meltdown, etc., I think you get the point. The phone calls were never good. So, I answer the phone and this time it is just to tell me that he said his stomach hurts and could I please come get him. Not happy that his stomach hurts, but very happy that there were no other issues going on. I head to pick him up and it's during recess and he's sitting next to the tree holding his stomach and his teacher said he's been complaining about it for awhile, so she was concerned. We head home and he says he's starting to feel a little better. Once we got home, in his words "it's weird, it's like poof and my tummy feels a lot better". Ok, ya got one over on your mom and you got to come home. But, this isn't like Cam, he doesn't lie. Now, yes I know kids pull this type of stuff on their parents all of the time, but Cam doesn't. He can't lie, it's not in him. So, something must be up. We talk to him and find out he had a rough day and just wanted to come home. The noise in music class was way too loud and even when he covered his ears it still hurt them. Then he got to another class and again the kids were being really loud and that's when he said his stomach started to hurt. So, do I think he had a really stomach ache? No. But, I do think he didn't understand how to express everything that was going on inside and maybe from the anxiety of everything going on today, plus his anxiety with school in general his body was tense and he thought it was a real stomach pain.

Here's where my mommy issue really came into play. We were suppose to go to a pajama party at Chick-Fil-A tonight, the kids especially Cam were beyond excited about it. Cam had been talking all week about it. But, he came home early from school and we didn't think it was right to let him go do something fun when he came home sick. So, we told him that we wouldn't be able to go. Insert big meltdown here. He just kept telling us that he felt better now, how much he wanted to go, you name it and he yelled it with huge tears streaming down his face. So, daddy and I look at each other and told him that he can go play in the playroom while we talk. Once he calmed down, he was good with that idea. We decided that we didn't want to punish him really because he didn't lie, he felt his stomach hurt and it wasn't just to come home. It was to escape the loud noises that were hurting his ears and the tension from school. But, we still didn't feel right just taking him and saying all is ok. So, I came up with a compromise, we would go through the drive thru and we would come home and eat in our pajamas and have a pajama party here. One, this is a better idea anyway because he usually gets very overwhelmed at big events like this and two we're not letting him go, but still letting him have fun.

So, our pajama party is in full effect! Guess what Cam wanted to do for it? Eat his dinner, play a little bit and watch Wild Kratts the rest of the night. Wild Kratts is good for everything, even pajama parties. Peyton wanted to do the same, so tonight is a win for both. 

I am really worried about the anxiety issues. I am proud of him for telling us what hurt his ears, that is a big step for him. But, I am so concerned about these issues with going to school and what it is causing internally for him. I now realize it is not just the social issues, but it is the sounds, the smells and the unknowns that are causing the anxiety too. But, for tonight we will party in our pajamas and let the problems of today fade into the background.