Crazy morning

I spent my morning with my cousin's kid, C, restraining him while being pinched, bitten, and spat on.

Let me explain.  His mom said I could take him to VBS today at church, where I'm teaching.  He was fine in the car, but when we got there, he wouldn't get out.  We tried talking about it.  No dice.  But I had to teach.  So I literally dragged him out of the car, prying his fingers from the door handle.  I carried him kicking and sobbing into the church.  The teachers have to come 1/2 early for a prayer time beforehand, but I was told I could stay with him in childcare while he calmed down.  But he didn't.

Finally the teachers came to take the kids to their classes and he was not calming down.  So Debbie told me I could go ahead and take him home and she would find someone to sub for me.  As soon as I said, "C, do you hear that?  Miss Debbie gave me permission to take you home," he stopped crying and said to her tearfully, "Thank you."

Everything was fine after that.  I am going to have a talk with him about using his words, and he needs to apologize for the scratches on my arms, even though I know he only did it because he was scared.  I'm also going to teach him the Bible lesson and tell him exactly what to expect tomorrow, and we can brainstorm some ways of coping when he feels scared.

Two cool opportunities I had with him:

1.  I had told him that after VBS we'd go to McDonald's.  In the car, I said "Even though you did not listen to me, and you hit me, I am still going to take you to McDonald's, because even when you are bad, I still love you."

2.  He asked why my cats ran away from him.  I said, "Just like you are scared of new people, the cats are scared of new people."  Jasmine came down, and he approached her, whispering "I won't hurt you," and was delighted when she let him pet her.  He kept saying, "Look at this, Jazzy loves me!  And I love her!"

PRAY that he will be more willing to come tomorrow.  I already have permission to keep him with me the entire time, even though he's not in the grade I'm teaching.  Pray that he'll make friends with both kids and adults!

We got McDonald's breakfast, watched The Incredibles while wrapped in blankets on the couch, and now he's playing with army men and singing a song he made up:  "You stole my baby, you stole my baby, you stole my baby, all the rest of the day."  He really is a great kid.

Update:

Before he left today, he begged his mom to let him spend the night, which shows he is no longer mad at me for restraining him.

He also told his mom, "Amber is really strong, a lot stronger than you."  That cracks me up because the only reason he knows I'm strong is because I restrained him, dragged him, and carried him for half an hour.  I'm just glad he's a skinny five-year old so I can hold him down!

He said, "When I go to VBS tomorrow, I won't be scared anymore."  The children workers are so amazing, they arranged for a potential sub for me if I have to leave early again.  They said, "Don't worry about inconveniencing us - your primary focus is to take care of C."  They said, "Don't worry if he doesn't make it into class tomorrow - even little baby steps, like him walking into the church by himself, is huge."

I am in tears because of the warm hearts of our childcare workers who are going out of their way to help him have a good experience, and to support me as I support him.  His mom (R) was so kind to him when talking about why he was so scared today.  He's used to spending all day every day with his mom (she works at a preschool/daycare so he has daycare there). 

I have high hopes for tomorrow!