Okay, so not yet...

There was a miscommunication regarding summer program director information.

It seems that Thursday's meeting was about filling out the paper that asks us what we'd like to do during summer, not the meeting or communication that tells us where we're expected to be this year.

I asked to be a summer director at our newest location.
I don't know if they will allow me to do so, but I did ask.

Also, I didn't follow instructions, since they asked me to 'choose two locations to work' over summer.
I chose one. If they don't send me there, I'm not sure what I'll do.

I have admitted to myself that I can't work with incompetent people. I really don't know how I managed to make it through last summer.
When I really think about what happened, it makes my eye twitch.
Seriously.

So I'm not sure what's going to happen.

I spent an hour at today's meeting. It was scheduled to begin at 10, but as usual, it was about 10 minutes late.

There wasn't anything covered in person that couldn't have been covered via email. As usual. It's frustrating to drive 40 minutes or so to get there, sit there and listen, then drive home another 30 to 40 minutes, depending on traffic.

There's always that one person, too. One who knows something about every topic brought up. She's pretty proud of the fact that she has handled similar situations. Pleased as can be to share it with everyone.

I want to slap her, I really do. Between the meeting starting late and her running commentary after every point, I think we added at least an extra 20 minutes to the time we had to stay.

Snacks on board, paperwork in order, summer request turned in, I headed home. Another 25 minutes on the road.

I did manage to get a short rest, but not enough to be ready for the craziness that is my usual afternoon.

In no particular order, this afternoon's shenanigans included the following..
Esme wet her pants because she can't walk away from Drew long enough to pee. She laughs this shrill, braying laugh at EVERYTHING he says, she hangs on him (and I call her away and explain to her at least three times every time he's there at the same time she is that it is not appropriate for her to be hanging on anyone, that we all deserve our personal space so please keep a distance between you and the other kids) and she's generally just acting like a silly girl... which she is. She's a sweet kid and it's not her fault that the puberty fairy has smacked her over the head early. She's smart, she is kind to the smaller kids, she is artistic and has a great sense of humor, she is willing to go back and pick up her stuff because she leaves it everywhere and I have to remind her to get it, and she's a nice person.

She's just a lot of work.

.



James has been crabby lately and I'm really tired of dealing with it, but he's a six year old boy with unlimited energy and did I mention he's crabby?

He's used to dealing with his brother by kicking him. They get mad and kick the crap out of each other.

That's not fun for anyone, of course.

But the bigger problem is that James has decided that kicking other people is an acceptable way to release some anger. So while the kids were playing Turtle Tag on the grassy field and he tried to tag Amelia but she was already turtled and refused to be out, he kicked her. And then kicked her again.

When I talked with him about it, he owned up.
Looked sheepish and embarrassed and sad all at once.
"I just got mad," he told me. "I will tell Amelia I'm sorry."

When I told him that talking to Amelia is a good first step, but that he'd have to tell his mom about it when she came to get him, he promptly denied doing it at all.

"I didn't kick her! I don't kick anyone! It's not nice!"

"Dude." (say it with me here....) "You know I can see you, right?"

When Will came over to talk to James right after that, James screamed, "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" in his face.

I constantly have to enforce and reinforce the school rule that the kids aren't to pick things up off the ground. Telling them that they're not allowed to do that only works temporarily. Like 3.2 seconds. James is one of the biggest culprits, but they all do it.
::sigh:::

Our nice new play structure attracted some wasps. They're building a nest at the highest point, so there's caution tape all around and the kids are supposed to stay off.

But Will and James both thought it would be a good idea to sneak up there when they thought I wasn't looking. They were wrong, I *was* looking.
::sigh again::

We went indoors and did our 20 minutes of reading.It was nice to have a short break from Esme screaming laughter over every single thing Drew said or did.

There's more but it's getting late and I have to get up at five. Have I mentioned that I get up at five?

So wish me luck with the summer director thing... I don't want to do it, really.. but I'd rather do that than deal with the crazy.