It's Bullysh*t

Last Thursday night I the whole family vegged. With no school the next day, the kids and I caught up on some Idol and Joe poked around on the computer. Around 9 the boys wandered upstairs to watch something else and apparently slam bedroom doors. Joe dealt with the door issue and came back down. A couple minutes later Griffin appeared to let me know Gus was hanging from our canopy bed. This is a capital offense. Joe I believe took the stairs two at a time and pulled the plug saying, "That's it!" Everyone was going to bed. Typical kid responses ensued. But it was Gus that stood out of the crowd.

The kid completely lost it. Screaming bloody murder and throwing himself around, it was a full-fledged fit. A conniption fit. A conniption fit of grand proportions. I have been privy to these before, but this even shocked me. A good portion was used to inflict great harm upon Griffin by screaming, "I hate you!" Griffin was thoroughly and completely devastated. Meanwhile I must note Will, brushed his teeth, put on his pajamas and got in bed, no questions asked.

We were able to get Gus calmed down to a snivelling, quaking, pile of boy in the fetal position in his bed. I knew this had nothing to do with the bed or Griffin tattling on him. We made him apologize to his brother who was still crying and saying, "Gus broke my heart." Just the saddest thing. With Griffin accepting the apology and feeling a little better he was taken to bed by Joe and I attended to Gus who was now bawling on my shoulder. I told him all the things you're suppose to tell someone who's freaking out and he started to talk. The first words out of his mouth really got my attention if everything else hadn't already. Through his tears he said "Do you realize I was tombstoned like five times today?"

O.k. sidebar if you aren't sure what tombstoning is, here's a video.

We freaked. If you had seen Gus' you would have joined us in our freaking. He was terrified. Gus is a little kid. He's more the size of a third grader, than a fifth grader. The kid that he is accusing is 3-4 inches taller and bigger "all over" Gus said.

We asked, where were the recess ladies? They were all gathered together talking by the building. He said the kid tackled him and wouldn't let him go and how was he supposed to get help if he couldn't get up. Meanwhile if he did tell, he would be a "baby" for the rest of his life. All of this was told to us through tears and sobs. Then came the worst part, when he said, "What am I going to do if those kids come to school with knives?" What? What kids? I thought it was only the one. Well, actually he's been having major trouble with a group of four boys. He listed them all off and I have to say he's had trouble in the past with these guys. One of the kids caused us major problems in kindergarten.

Obviously, we're was going to the principal, (and we have) but I wanted to know what Gus wanted to happen. It's a very delicate thing. As a 5th grader you tell on some kids you may just make matters worse. He wants the kids to lose recess for a week, I'm thinking if there's any witnesses, which he gave me a couple names . . . it's gonna be more than recess. But I was impressed that even after I told him I'm not sure the principal can keep his name out of it and these kids are going to know he told, he still wanted me to talk to the principal. It's bad enough to take that risk.

As a parent that always assumes my kid is guilty, before proven innocent I'm so worried he is embellishing. I don't want anyone to get in trouble that shouldn't be, but at the same, if this continues we could have a much bigger situation. Joe took away from Gus' raw emotion and what he said, that he's totally scared.

After hearing everything that happened we got Gus calmed down and I started thinking. How long has this been going on? I know he's been getting comments about his height the last couple of years. We given him strategies to deal with it, but who knows if he used them. But the insomnia since before Christmas break, the mood swings, the falling grades . . . aren't they all signs of emotional distress? Oy! We've been talking about it, but he's never brought this up before.

It's going to be an interested week. I was able to get in to see the principal on Friday . . .were on break until Wednesday, so nothing can be done until then. He's bringing the boys in one at a time and seeing what they have to say. I hope there's a kid in there that caves! Oh it would make it sooo much easier for us.

Meanwhile Gus had a good weekend. I think it helped to get everything off his chest. He knows we're gunning for him and his grandparents are too.

One more thing . . . .Have I mentioned how much I hate WWE? I hope those assholes visit all the kids they unintentionally paralyze.