So starts the countdown.

It's August. :( Not long now and it will be the morning of the first day of school. I'm trying to not be a total first time mom and buy everything monogrammed with her name, and make sure everything matches. Because I've been a mom for five years now, and I've been through this with four other children, I know it will all be lost by the second week. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do it anyway, because dammit it's only going to happen once.

Aside from the little fun things that come with this, so does the not so fun stuff. I am having to grasp earlier and faster than anticipated, that my child has alot of my personality. It only started showing up when she turned 5. She went from quiet, sweet, and mild mannered, to- loud, obnoxious, defiant, sassy, and rebellious. She was sent home with her first bad note EVER in her backpack last week. The note said "Abby is having a difficult time not talking during circle time. She also continues to talk when the teacher is talking, even after the teacher has asked her not to."

Abby of course looked at me with her puppy dog eyes and said " I know I was bad". I asked her what happened, and why she was talking during "teacher's turn", to which I already knew the response...and she didn't fail me. LMAO "The other kids were talking to me." Ok. Easy enough to address, or easy enough to determine ultimately if this is the case. I told her "You're not bad. If other kids are talking and bothering you, raise your hand and let the teacher know. Otherwise your mouth is to remain closed when the teacher is talking." She agreed.

This afternoon when I picked her up, the teacher had the note ready. This note said "Abby had a very rough day today. She would not be quiet regardless of the many requests to do so. We had a new teacher here today that was sitting by Abby, and was asking her questions, and Abby ignored her and continued playing and laughing with her friends. She continued all day not doing as the teacher asked her to do. How would you like me to handle this in the class?

On the one hand, calm down lady she's 5 1/2. On the other hand, it's starts with being 5 1/2. My response was, remove her from the class (completely) for 5 minutes. If she persists, eliminate one of her activities.

This time Abby had no excuse when I asked her why she had misbehaved. I asked her if she understood that when the teacher is talking she is to be quiet unless otherwise instructed? "Yes". Then you know this behaviour is unacceptable and not tolerated? "Yes." So, I made very clear that since she has made clear to me that she understands and has no questions, if she receives another bad note, there will be severe consequences. She of course thinks the natural "I'm going to get a spanking", or " I'll be grounded", and so she voiced that she knew these consequences. Too bad for her I was that kid, and knowing your consequences only makes it easier to make bad choices. So I quickly corrected her and informed her that she will not know what the consequences are. It could be no swimming, no soccer, no sleep overs, no t.v., I can take away all your toys, etc.. I told her to think hard before she opened her mouth in class, as anything could be the result of that bad choice. She was somewhat shocked. She had not yet imagined those possibilities. Granted she will still weigh what she wants to do against the potential consequences when she gets older, which is what I want her to do. Lesser of the two evils. The point is to make her own her choices.

This could be the last I ever hear of the problem, or it could not. Either way, my sadness is I have to let go of "mommy" mode and start demanding more from her, to prepare her for her long road aho. It just makes me want to cry.

Stay tuned....