Mason was chosen as Royalty of the Week in his class this week!
He got to tell the class all about himself, his likes and dislikes, his favorites, things he's good at, what he wants to be when he grows up. Which, by the way, much to my dismay is now a professional baseball player. I'm not sure why I expected him to pursue the career in dentistry that he's talked about ever since he was four years old. I mean, it's not like he's going off to college tomorrow, and we need to apply for dental school. But still. I had high hopes. Our conversation last week went something like this:
Mason: Mom, the people who play baseball on TV . . . do they have to get a job?
Me: Well, no. That is their job. They get paid to play baseball.
Mason: They do?
Me: Yep.
The next day he came to me with another question:
Mason: Mom, do baseball players have to get a job during the time they don't play baseball?
Me: Nope. Well, I guess they could if they wanted to. But I'll bet most of them don't. They make a lot of money playing baseball so they don't have to get another job.
Mason: So all they do is play baseball?
Me: Pretty much.
I should've known at that point that something was up. So this week when he proudly announced that he wants to be a professional baseball player, last week's conversations made sense.
He also got to choose three "special items" to take to school one day to show his class. He didn't necessarily choose the "special items" that I would've chosen for him, but he did pretty good. And then I had to write a letter to him and send it to school in a sealed envelop for Mrs. B to read to the class. Being the over achiever that I am, I made a book for him. I wrote a poem with each stanza given its own page. And I printed a picture of him for each page. I really wasn't sure what he would think about it, and I didn't really expect him to say anything about it. But one of the first things he told me after school was that Mrs. B really liked the book I made. So I asked him what he thought about it. He said it was good and then he told me what his favorite pages were and how the kids in his class really loved the picture of him holding the shark. I didn't expect to get that much out of him so it really made me feel good.
Other than that, this was a rough week for us. Well, I guess more for me than anyone else. There are going to be good days, and there are going to be hard days. This was a hard week. It's only September. We have been in 3rd grade for six weeks and two days. It seems like a lifetime! I don't even want to think about how much time we have left! I just don't know how we're going to make it. It really doesn't seem possible.
Homework was hard this week. We spent two hours on homework on Monday and Thursday nights. Tuesday and Wednesday nights weren't much better. Last night resulted in tears. Lots of tears. Trying to make it to Mason's Monday and Wednesday therapy appointments on time is a nightmare. School is dismissing later and later each day now. I have to get in the carpool line between 2:30 and 2:40 so I can be at the beginning of the line. Even at that, I'm usually the tenth or so vehicle in line. And then Ellie and I have to sit there in the stinking hot until 3:25. It's ridiculous how long it takes for that line to move, and then we have only an hour to get to Baton Rouge for Mason's first therapy appointment at 4:30. That drive to Baton Rouge should only take 30 minutes at the very most. But both days this week we pulled up in the parking lot at 4:28 because traffic has been so bad trying to get over the bridge. By the time we get home, it's 6:15. Everyone is hungry so we eat. We can't start on homework until 6:45 or later, by which time Mason has already been in school all day with therapy besides, and he is done. And I don't blame him!
This upcoming week isn't going to be any better. He has a book report due. He's already finished the book. He actually just finished reading his very first chapter book from cover to cover, which was a tremendous accomplishment for him. It took nearly the whole month, but he did it! Writing this report is not going to be easy. It's something else we have to do on top of the other homework he already has. I can't imagine how long it's going to take each night to get all of this done.
I don't know what to do. I just can't see us (mainly me) continuing on like this for the long haul. I am so exhausted that my eyes hurt, and I can barely think straight. Really. I cannot. Yesterday I folded Seth's dirty clothes instead of washing them first! True story! Of course, part of that is because Ellie took the dirty clothes pile that was on the floor in the laundry room waiting to be washed and put it in the dryer. But still. All of these long hard nights at the table doing homework are really getting to me. I feel like Mason's only memories of me are going to be sitting at that table doing homework. I really hate those memories. I really hate all of it. I've thought so often lately about quitting therapy. I don't know if it's helping. I guess it is. Surely it is. But I don't know. Mason got his progress report last week, and he really did well. His GPA is currently above what is required for his school, but I don't know how long it will stay that way. It seems like the last couple of weeks have gotten harder. I just wish I knew how much therapy has to do with his grades and how much its contributing to his improvement in reading. But I don't suppose there's really any way to know.
Hannah Kate, on the other hand, had her first reading test last week. She made a 100 on it. School is so easy for her right now. As a matter of fact, I really think she's a bit bored with it. She's already beginning to read, and she can already write simple sentences without any help. Of course, I am obviously thrilled for her and super proud. But I am sad, too. I am sad for Mason. It is so hard for him! And it just doesn't seem fair. He doesn't know the difference though. He doesn't know that it's easy for other kids. I worry about him a lot. I worry about him because I just wish he could have fun sometimes. I wish we didn't have to go to therapy. I wish homework didn't take two hours. I wish it was easier for him.
When I wrote his book this week, I told him on the last page that he is royalty EVERYDAY because he is a child of the King, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I told him to never forget that.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
~2 Corinthians 4:16-17