a pickle dilemma
We had quite the mix up today. Most of the day, I'm sitting right at my desk in the front office. But when I need to feed the baby, I go lock myself up in the curriculum room {just a tiny room with obviously curriculum and other odd and end stuff} {secretly, it's divine. I curl up with a book of some sort and relax} {shhh, don't tell}.
So, I'm sitting there and my phone starts to ring. My caller id says, "Bonita Road". Why is my work calling me? I answer to hear Mrs. Judy tell me, "You gave Silas the wrong sandwich."
Uh oh. I immediately could play out in my mind how that scenario went down. Silas would take one look at it, freak out and not want to eat it. I asked Mrs. Val exactly what happened and she said he opened his lunch and this was their conversation:
"This is my brother's sandwich."
"Well, how do you know that?"
{eyes start to water} "Because this sandwich has pickles. Eli likes pickles. I don't eat pickles."
"Well, that's okay. How about I take the pickles off?"
"I can't. The bread and the meat have pickle juice on them. I have no lunch" {tears begin to fall}
So, because I wasn't available, Mrs. Karen got him some rice {they were having teriyaki chicken and rice for lunch, but no doubt, he does not like teriyaki chicken. he is obsessed with rice, however.} I happened to run into Silas as he was putting away his lunch box. I could tell he was on the verge of tears at seeing me. I asked him what was wrong {although I already knew}
"I'm just so upset, mom. I didn't have a sandwich for lunch and I really wanted my sandwich but I couldn't eat it."
I opened his lunch box and sure enough there was the sandwich with the infamous pickle, completely untouched. We took it and played switcheroo with Eli's since he hadn't had lunch yet. {Just to clarify, Eli's lunch would have mostly likely been just as traumatic with a pickle-less sandwich. It's his favorite part, no doubt!} Silas had time to gobble up his sandwich before lunch ended and headed back to class, happy and finally full.
It's funny how much you learn about yourself from your kids. Silas and I are alike... and I do mean a lot alike. I totally get where he was coming from. He thought he was having a sandwich, he realized it wasn't something he liked and he got upset. He got fixated. He loves rice {is borderline obsessed with rice}, but his brain wanted that sandwich. I am so that way. I am a planner. I like to know how, what, when, where, why and any other detail you can give me. I don't like surprises. Don't get me wrong - I am not suggesting this to be a good personality trait. I don't care for it at all, which is why I try to work with Silas about rolling with the punches and it being okay if everything isn't perfect. In this case today, the kid was hungry, lunch was basically over and I didn't want him to starve so I fixed the situation. But another time, another place - I definitely would have approached it differently.
Some amazing quality traits he does have are loyalty, compassion and love. He was telling my mom about it on the phone when she asked about his day at school. After explaining the situation, she jokingly said, "That Mom. You're gonna have to get her!"
Do you know what he said? I love this kid.
"It's okay. I'm not mad. It was just a mistake."
He totally defended me and my pickle switching. You better believe, my eyes will be more careful when I'm packing the lunches from now on out ;)
So, I'm sitting there and my phone starts to ring. My caller id says, "Bonita Road". Why is my work calling me? I answer to hear Mrs. Judy tell me, "You gave Silas the wrong sandwich."
Uh oh. I immediately could play out in my mind how that scenario went down. Silas would take one look at it, freak out and not want to eat it. I asked Mrs. Val exactly what happened and she said he opened his lunch and this was their conversation:
"This is my brother's sandwich."
"Well, how do you know that?"
{eyes start to water} "Because this sandwich has pickles. Eli likes pickles. I don't eat pickles."
"Well, that's okay. How about I take the pickles off?"
"I can't. The bread and the meat have pickle juice on them. I have no lunch" {tears begin to fall}
So, because I wasn't available, Mrs. Karen got him some rice {they were having teriyaki chicken and rice for lunch, but no doubt, he does not like teriyaki chicken. he is obsessed with rice, however.} I happened to run into Silas as he was putting away his lunch box. I could tell he was on the verge of tears at seeing me. I asked him what was wrong {although I already knew}
"I'm just so upset, mom. I didn't have a sandwich for lunch and I really wanted my sandwich but I couldn't eat it."
I opened his lunch box and sure enough there was the sandwich with the infamous pickle, completely untouched. We took it and played switcheroo with Eli's since he hadn't had lunch yet. {Just to clarify, Eli's lunch would have mostly likely been just as traumatic with a pickle-less sandwich. It's his favorite part, no doubt!} Silas had time to gobble up his sandwich before lunch ended and headed back to class, happy and finally full.
It's funny how much you learn about yourself from your kids. Silas and I are alike... and I do mean a lot alike. I totally get where he was coming from. He thought he was having a sandwich, he realized it wasn't something he liked and he got upset. He got fixated. He loves rice {is borderline obsessed with rice}, but his brain wanted that sandwich. I am so that way. I am a planner. I like to know how, what, when, where, why and any other detail you can give me. I don't like surprises. Don't get me wrong - I am not suggesting this to be a good personality trait. I don't care for it at all, which is why I try to work with Silas about rolling with the punches and it being okay if everything isn't perfect. In this case today, the kid was hungry, lunch was basically over and I didn't want him to starve so I fixed the situation. But another time, another place - I definitely would have approached it differently.
Some amazing quality traits he does have are loyalty, compassion and love. He was telling my mom about it on the phone when she asked about his day at school. After explaining the situation, she jokingly said, "That Mom. You're gonna have to get her!"
Do you know what he said? I love this kid.
"It's okay. I'm not mad. It was just a mistake."
He totally defended me and my pickle switching. You better believe, my eyes will be more careful when I'm packing the lunches from now on out ;)
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| photo obviously not from today ;) |
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