Expect

Grant usually does fine for holidays and emergencies, and I think that has everything to do with expectations.  The routine must and will be different. 

Before Thanksgiving, I had to pick up some family members with car trouble.  No tension from the kids during any of that.  Then, Thanksgiving.  No major problems (one minor one involving a game of dominoes) all day!  When we came home, we prepped the upstairs and painted half of it.  No problems!

This morning?  Get ready for School.  Nope.  Can't handle it.

Grant wanted so hard to fight with someone.  He was upset on the inside and really, REALLY needed a reason to make it outward.  Why?  No idea, really, but I'm sure it was tied to routine on some level.  He was horrible to Abbie, and then picked a fight with me, too.  There was anger, there were tears...he was determined not to have a happy morning.

Luckily, I was able to pull him out of it by telling him a little about my friend Danny's running blog.  For someone who thinks he is interested in running, this is good stuff.  To be honest, it's good stuff even if you aren't interested.  Danny shows us exactly how tough one person can be.  How much love and appreciation we can have for friends and supporters.  How you can pull yourself out of the depths and achieve.  Plus, it's about running.  Exactly what we needed.

Speaking of Grant and running, his training exercise with Josh was a complete failure, if you'll recall.  He tried to trip his own father, called him names...all the worst things he does.  Well, I stepped in.  Saturday, Grant and I did a little pre-training.  We stretched, and I talked about each stretch and how it can help us toward our goal, and how to do it to maximize these results.  Then - we walked.  We talked about which parts of running were benefited by aerobic walking.  We talked a little about circulation and heart rate, and a little about breathing.  And we walked.  We walked briskly, but stayed together.  We talked about pacing and how Grant's goal for his next 5k is to be more even in his pace.  And we talked about running. 

Me:  In a 5k, who are you competing against?
Grant: Myself.
Me:  Right. You want to see if you can do better, faster, or both.  Do the other runners have anything to do with that?
Grant: No.
Me:  That's right.  So what should your feelings for them be?
Grant:  Nothing.
Me:  I don't agree.  They are your companions.  They are your running friends.  You want them to make their goals, too, right?  So you should be helping them, right?  If you see someone who looks tired, what do you say?
Grant:  Keep going!
Me: RIGHT!

It's a start, but I see that I am going to have to be in charge of Grant's training.  Maybe it will be good for me...

I'm expecting that book in the mail any day now.  It was actually supposed to be here Saturday...

I am so afraid that it will show up, and not tell my anything I don't already know.  So, so afraid.  I have hanging all my hopes on help from without, since what I've been doing isn't enough.

This morning was rough, but hopefully we can still have a good day.