Update

Last week I posted about how Son #1's gym teacher told him that his dog could play football better than Son #1. (Click here if you missed it.) Anyway, I resisted the Mama Bear urge to roar into the school office the next day and defend my cub.

Today was my son's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting at school. I arrive and am greeted by:

1) Son #1's primary teacher, Mrs. G. (homeroom, language arts, social studies)
2) Son #1's math & science teacher, Miss H.
3) Son #1's speech teacher, Mrs. A.
4) and the special ed resource teacher, Mrs. L. (the asst. principal did not attend).

Wait a minute. Mrs. L.? You used to be Miss N. Oh, that's right, I had heard that Miss N. married a fellow teacher over the summer. You guessed it. Mrs. L. is now Insensitive Coach's wife! Talk about awkward...

Time to regroup. During our conversation about Son #1's temperament (he's generally very even tempered, but he does tend to internalize his pain and/or anger and lets loose later), I managed to sneak in a little reference that Son #1 came home from school last week very offended that his gym teacher said (blah, blah, blah).

Apparently Mrs. L. picked up on my subtle cue because Coach L. took his foot out of his mouth long enought to call Dear Hubby at his office, *and* call me at home to apologize. This was about an hour after the IEP meeting ended. Coach L. admitted that he said it, but insisted that the comment wasn't directed at Son #1, but was said to another kid in jest (but does that really make it okay?). Anyway, he seemed to feel very badly, apologized profusely and said that he will apologize to Son #1 in class tomorrow. I guess things are all warm and fuzzy now. Hopefully Coach L. will think before he speaks and we can all live happily ever after.

Meanwhile, guess what happened yesterday: Son #1 got mad at an acquaintance at school who took grabbed Son #1's rolling backpack and took off running. When Son #1 caught up to the kid, the kid smacked Son #1 (not hard, he said). The kid wouldn't let go of my son's backpack so Son #1 gave him this sort of karate chop to the arm. Kid released his grip and Son #1 took his backpack back.

Apparently the whole thing still bothered Son #1 because an hour or so later, he raised his hand and said he had something to 'confess' - just like a good little Catholic! Except instead of confessing privately to a priest, Son #1 went to the middle of his classroom to make a public confession! He was getting teary-eyed and had trouble getting the words out so the teacher took him out in the hall so they could talk privately. From there, they went to the assistant principal's office where Son #1 explained the situation and - get this! - asked if he could please go to the kid's classroom and apologize. His idea! Did I mention that he's 11? They shook hands, made peace, other kid was fussed at (he has a history), and all's well (whew!). He told me about the tussle, but I learned about the public confession today from Mrs. G. She was touched.

I have one little thing to brag about regarding Son #1, but I'll do it as a separate post since this one is getting very long. Stay tuned....