Brandt went back to school today for the first time since Christmas. Yesterday was the first day in a week that he didn't have a fever and even though he still coughs, especially when he runs around, it was definitely time for him to go back. Unfortunately, his anxiety is telling him otherwise. Last night was a bit rough-he went to bed pretty well, but he kept waking up crying for the first hour or so. This morning he wasn't very happy about getting up, so I bribed him by letting him play on his tablet as soon as he was ready for school. That worked until it was time to head out for the bus and then he melted into a puddle and sobbed, saying he couldn't go and that he would miss me too much. The bus was still waiting, so he ran back into my bedroom to "get something to remember [me] by" and came out with some of my bracelets in hand. Then he fell to the floor sobbing again. By then the bus moved on and I was left with a very sad little boy who didn't want to go to school. So I did what a lot of desperate moms probably do-I yelled. When that didn't work (like it ever really does- duh) I turned to bribing, or as I like to think of it, incentivizing. I bargained with him that if he would go to school I would pick him up afterward and take him to the wrestling match-just me and him. He's been waiting for months to go watch Mitch Lauridsen wrestle, so this was a pretty good bribe. There were a lot more tears, but eventually he made it to school, and I made good on my promise with some help from my family. My mom kept Kylie until Bryce was done with chores and Maleri let buddy ride the bus home with Jolie and then brought him to town with her when Allee came over for gymnastics.
The absolute highlight of the day came when Mitch, who is a senior and a varsity wrestler came up into the stands not too long after pinning his opponent (in like 40 seconds I might add) and gave my Brandt the biggest hug. He then held him for a few minutes and talked to him and didn't even seem the slightest bit embarrassed that a 6 year old was making funny noises and tickling him in front of the home crowd as well as his teammates who were milling around. It was such a tender mercy at the end of what started out to be a really stressful day with buddy. Brandt was on cloud 9 and couldn't wait to get home and tell his dad and sister all about it. Once again, we are so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people!
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