Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Another Tale of Two Ainsley's

You will have to excuse my absence from the diary yesterday. You see, I was still reeling from the fact that Ainsley had received 3 blue stickers in a row from school. Not only that but I have also received word that she has been both especially kind and helpful, going out of her way to help others when she had completed her work.

Given this trend, Ainsley has not only outperformed Graham and Sydney, but decimated them. Based on this evidence she has trounced them to win the most conscientious, honest and sweet award. Only two weeks in and she has outperformed both her siblings, receiving more accolades than either achieved in an entire semester.

As a dedicated reader of my blog I know you are tired of reading these words. Perhaps you are even put off by my constant bewilderment concerning Ainsley's scholastic accolades. But, given your history of reading my dribble, you should also know that when I am unable to process my reality (be it childhood cancer or extreme shock from twerp excellence) I must write to deal with my horror and angst.

You know, I am half waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop out with a camera to tell me I have been punked.

It is still far too much for me to process but I must say that I am extremely proud of her. It is one thing to set your behavioral expectations low and make normalcy the bar to achieve but it comes at a price when she so far exceeds your expectations that you feel guilty for underestimating her.

I somewhat feel that way.

And yet, I still spent my weekend finding empty candy wrappers that she had stuffed in the couch after being told she could not have candy. I found her twice (in one day) hiding in the corner of the laundry room chugging cans of Coca Cola - minutes after she had been told she could not have soda. DeeDee found her under the dining room table chowing down on all of the marshmallows from the brand new box of Lucky Charms after her mother had just told her no snacking before dinner.

She hit Graham no less that 10 times and bit Sydney 3 times (twice more than she received from the Guinea Pig)

On Sunday, I asked her to make her bed.

She told me "NO!" and slammed the door.

And those were just the most memorable of her weekend escapades.

What is the difference?

And, before you tell me it is discipline, it's not. She receives consistent punishment - just obviously not enough to prevent another incident.

It will take a great more purpose than I have to figure this one out. God love her.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We felt the same about our son when he went to school. We were shocked at his first conference and even asked the teacher if she was talking about the right kid. Everyone always says that if your kids behave well when away from you, you are doing a great job with them. They have to let the bad out sometime...better with you than at school! :)

Keep up the good work!


Gayle in AL