Coincidence?

What a day, what a day! Nothing seemed to go as planned today but in the end it wound up being a good day. Funny how that happens when you just sit back and don't try and control the outcome of it all. So this morning was rather a ordinary. Nothing to earth shattering or unexpected happened. This afternoon though something earth shattering, or at the very least earth trembling, happened.

I had just walked in the door when the phone started ringing this afternoon. I looked at the caller ID and it was E's teacher. My heart sank because I just knew that he had some kind of emotional response to something and they needed me to come get him. I answered warily and to my surprise I hear from his teacher "Everything is okay but I wanted to let you know about an incident that occurred at recess today." Apparently E and a friend were goofing around and playing a game that involved fake punching. Well, as you can guess, someone missed and actually punched someone. The someone that got punched was E. His teacher wanted to let me know about it because there was a bruise under his eye. She assured me that he was fine and doing great. Whew! What a relief. On a side note I so appreciated her calling me instead of waiting for me to show up and see his eye. Love his teacher. Then she proceeds to tell me that his reaction to it was really good. He cried (what 6 year old wouldn't after getting punched) but he didn't get mad about it like he typically would. She said that he knew it was an accident and didn't blow up at his friend about it at all. He was fine with it and went on about his day. This is HUGE!! This is an earth trembling moment for us! Now is this out of the norm response just coincidence that E is completely gluten free or is it because he is completely gluten free (and if so can you really notice a difference this soon) that he was able to exhibit self control. I don't know and honestly I don't care. I'm just happy to see progress.

Now because E had such a "traumatic" day I decided the boys could pick what they wanted for dinner. Since I'm not very creative with all this gluten free stuff yet they had a choice of gluten free mac n cheese or gluten free pizza. They both chose pizza. I had also decided we should have ice cream for dessert. I went to the store and even found gluten free ice cream cones. I will use any excuse to squeeze in a fun treat. Lo and behold when I picked him up I see that his eye is not really that bad but whatever. So I made gluten free pizza dough from a mix I had read up on. Even though my pan wasn't the right size it still turned out really good. The boys devoured their slices and then asked for more. While sitting down to dinner I always like to ask them what 3 awesome things happened to them that day. And here is another earth trembling moment. E told me that they play a game called Around the World in his class. He didn't explain it very well to me but what I did get was that it is a math game and you go up against other students in the class. E typically sits out he said because he knows he has a problem with getting angry when he doesn't win. He also has a hard time being able to write an answer down quickly even if he knows the answer which frustrates him. Apparently he decided to play today because he wanted to see if he could do it. I think this gluten free diet gave him the courage to do it because we have talked about how it may help him concentrate better. What made this 1 of his 3 awesome things was that he was able to win against a few of his classmates and when he didn't win against some of them he didn't get upset. Yet another BIG win for him.

And I can't leave out T from all the big happenings either. This afternoon we went outside and rode bikes in this very dreary weather. While outside T decides he wants to learn how to read some words. I am one momma that is not going to miss that learning opportunity! I grab the sidewalk chalk and we get to work. My driveway is covered in all sorts of words! I have to say this little man surprised me on how fast he caught on. Some words we worked on were "at", "it", "on", "in", "hit", "hat", "and", & "the". Now tomorrow he may be able to only tell me half of them and that is perfectly fine. I'm just happy he is showing an interest in reading. I believe he may have my love of reading eventually. At least I hope he does. Both the boys have been all about me sitting and reading with them at night now. E has to read 20 minutes each day for school but even after he does that he will come snuggle up with T & me to hear a good book. Right now T is all about Dr. Seuss and E is all about the Bible.

So that was our day! By most people's standards our day was probably pretty boring but to me it was one of the best days! Just seeing my kids maturing and making progress warms my heart. Looking forward to what tomorrow will bring.