‘My little treasure’, I called him as I talked to his after school carer the other day. It had been an interesting day. I’d spoken to the deputy prinicipal earlier that day, as JJ spent most of the day in his office after being really disruptive in the classroom.

A year or so ago I’d have really taken this to heart but now I’m a lot more philosophical about it. The deputy told me that JJ’s really intelligent and he knows what he’s doing when he’s being disruptive like this but he does it anyway. He said that in 25 years time I’d look back and think, ‘gee he was a ratbag at school’. I hope he’s right but I hope it’s sooner than 25 years.

These days I take one day at a time. The day before this phone call JJ won a gold medal at after school care for excellent behaviour and he was the best kid to have around that night. When he’s being really nice to me, and polite it’s almost seems surreal but I do enjoy those moments because they don’t last.

The next morning he was very different and I knew that he’d be in for a bad day at school. Sure enough I was right. But then yesterday he was fine. I could be living in Topsy Turvy land because I don’t know which way it will be at any given time. One way of looking at this is that at least if it is bad at one time, then I know it won’t stay this way.

This is all a huge learning experience for me and I’m sure it’s making me a stronger and better person. Yes it is.

PS: I took the photo above in King’s Park when we had our recent Perth trip. I was standing around admiring the scenery, or sheltering from the rain, or both. JJ had disappeared then he appeared just above me in this tree. Don’t you just love the texture in the tree? I’ve got no idea what type it is but I love it.