Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

This week has been hard and exhausting.  Sawyer doesn't go down for a nap very easily, so much of my day is spent trying to get him to sleep.  I feel like Rowan gets neglected because I am spending so much time with Sawyer.  I feel really guilty for that because I think Rowan could really use some one on one time and extra attention right now.  He's in his third week of school, and he has his good days and bad.  Today was a bad day.  So much so, and adding in his past bad days, it looks as if he'll stop going to Lincoln elementary, and start attending Clinton Elementary again as soon as all the required paperwork is filled out.  His class at Lincoln is larger, and they don't have the resources to offer him the special attention he needs.  At Clinton the class is smaller, and they seem to be more geared towards children like Rowan who have specific needs.  In other words, at Lincoln Rowan is the minority and at Clinton he's the majority.  While I am happy that the switch will be better for Rowan, I am also a little sad because it feels like a step backwards.  I guess it just makes me worry about his future and wonder if he'll be ready to begin kindergarten in two years with a mainstream class.  Cause, according to both the special ed lady that works with Rowan in his current classroom, and the occupational therapist who's worked with him in our home, Rowan seems to be doing worse this year than he was last.  They draw this conclusion from behaviors he's demonstrating this year that he didn't last.  In an attempt to help curb some of this naughty behavior Jon and I have decided to go TV free.  We've considered this in the past, but hadn't moved forward with it, cause well, it's a pretty big commitment and change for all involved.  However, after speaking with his special ed teacher, I knew it was time, and that the sacrifice had to be made.  Rowan is big into acting out what he watches, and, being a boy, he likes shows like Transformers Prime and Beast Wars.  While these are kid shows they certainly still portray things that my four year old does not need to be acting out on fellow students.  We're hoping no TV will help get some of this behavior under control, or better yet, stop it completely.  And in addition to that we hope to spend more quality time together.  Wednesday night while Rowan was in the tub we unplugged the TV and hauled it down to the basement.  We put it in the guest room and locked the door.  When Rowan noticed that the TV was missing he just kind of went, "wha?!"  And really, that was about it.  He's asked for shows since of course, but we just tell him we're not watching shows right now. 

Thursday was our first day without the TV and it went better than I thought it would.  Rowan was pretty cool with the whole no TV/no computer scenario.  It helped that he had school for some of the day.  In the morning we went to the duck park and library, then it was home for lunch, and then school.  After school he did things to earn stickers.  I told him if he earned 10 stickers he'd get the dinosaur puzzle that I had purchased at the $1 store.  So he picked up toys, watered the trees, took his blankets to his room, and on and on until he'd gotten ten stickers.  He seemed to go to bed for the night with less drama than usual as well.  Course after he was in bed I was wishing I had a TV to watch.  I had been watching The Wonder Years on Netflix  while breastfeeding, but I guess I will have to figure out something else to do now.  So yeah, that is the latest.  Here's to hoping we start to see some positive changes over here!