The Morning Reminder List

It started with just a comment from Jacob's teacher back in September. While picking him up, I asked how his day had gone, and she mentioned that he had been playing a lot of baseball with his pencil during class when he should have been doing his work. She asked if I could talk with Jacob about it, and I promised I would.

So for the next week, I hit it hard. On our way to school each morning, we discussed the rule of no baseball playing at school, and when and where it would be appropriate. There were promises of treats and rewards, and Jacob did great. Within a week it seemed he had it down and baseball playing was done at school.

But I continued with my morning reminder every day, right as we were pulling into the school parking lot.

And then I picked him up from school again.

"Well, we kind of had a problem with Jacob climbing the bathroom stalls today," his teacher told me.

I nodded as she told me the details about what had happened earlier, and knew I would be adding that to my baseball pencil reminder each morning. Who did my son think he was, Spider Man?

I wasn't shocked by the climbing of the stalls. It had happened the year before at his old school, and I should have known to have talked with Jacob about it before he began his new school. The thing with Jacob is, he can't transfer one thing to the next. Just because it had been a rule at his old school to not climb the bathroom stalls, he wouldn't put it together that his new school would have the same rule. No one had told him, so it was fair game.

So as we pulled in the next day, I began our little talk while driving on the street before the parking lot, making sure we had plenty of time to cover both the pencil baseball and the bathroom stall climbing.

Gradually in the last two months, more and more rules have been added to our morning reminder list.

Let's see....

No hitting friends, no spitting, no falling out of your chair...

The list was slowly getting longer week by week.

And then I got the phone call from Jacob's principal. It's never a good thing when the principal calls. Apparently Jacob had been "tooting" on some of his friends or just "tooting" in general to get a laugh. Yes, my son's developmental age is a little behind. Passing gas is hysterical to him right now. So that was an interesting conversation with the principal. Jacob got to spend the better part of the day in the principal's office doing his school work. Thankfully she is an incredible woman and very tuned in to Jacob and wanting to help him at all costs. She knew that a day of sitting and just doing work would be an impossible task for Jacob, so she would set a timer for 15 minute increments and if he did his work he could spend a few minutes with her looking at a book or talking. At one point she had him go an entire 30 minutes solid of doing work, and if he could do it they would sing a song together. And Jacob did it! I still laugh when I think of Jacob and his principal in her office singing "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green.

And so the list was getting longer, and our morning conversation was now starting as we turned into the subdivision of the school.

The next week added another. No showing private parts. EVER!

Yes, my son thought it would be funny to shake his naked bottom at a boy in the bathroom. Really Jacob! What were you thinking? (Again, why had I not gone over that this was a rule at his new school as well?)

When I asked him about it, he told me he was mad at the other student because they were laughing at him for something he had done. So we went over what he could have done instead and that showing your privates will only get you in trouble EVERY time! There was nothing funny about it.

Again, we added it to the morning list.

For awhile, the morning list stayed the same with no new additions. That is until last week.

"How was Jacob's day?" I asked his teacher.

"Great! He had a great day! But we did have to have a talk about him singing songs with the word sexy in them, and at lunch not pulling the outsides off his corndogs and calling them weiners."

UGH!!!!

So again, we added them to the list and had a lengthy discussion. The funny thing is, Jacob really has no idea what he is saying. He doesn't even say the word correctly. He says "EX-SEXY" instead of sexy. For the past month he has been walking around the house singing, "Heyyyyyyy EX-SEXY lady...". Oh yes, we are doing it "Gangdum Style" at our house.

And if it's not that song, he's singing, "I'm EX-SEXY and I know it".

So Jacob came up with alternative lyrics. He is now singing "I'm happy and I know it" and "Heyyyyyyy Silly Lady...". Both much better choices for a seven year old and school appropriate.

I probably should have squashed it earlier, but I figured it would be short lived like every other pop song, and since Jacob didn't know the meaning of the word, I figured it was just best to not draw attention to it. Now he is quick to point out any time anyone says the word "sexy" although he still doesn't know the definition.

As for the corndogs...he heard a friend of ours refer to hotdogs as "weiners" and thought it was funny. Again, Jacob just has no filter as to what and where things are appropriate. But even funnier is he thought it was in reference to weiner dogs!

And so my list for Jacob keeps growing and growing. We now start our discussion as we round the corner from our house heading towards school. We just finished the first quarter of the school year with three more quarters to go. Pretty soon we will be circling the block a few times in the morning.

I'm thinking by May we will be leaving an hour early and taking a drive on the highway to get the entire list discussed.