Bad days

Do you ever have one of those days when things are just off, and you don't feel quite yourself?  I was having one of those days yesterday, especially since we had gone over the blood test.  That wasn't all it was though.  I couldn't figure it out.  I often have these moments during the day when I'm completely involved in something and I have this strong feeling that I need to say a little prayer for Kalie.  I'm sure if you have kids too, you have had this feeling before.   I had one of these moments yesterday while she was at school. 

 

Kalie came home from school and seemed a little down.  She didn't come in with her usual, upbeat "Hi, Mom!"  She just gave me a quick,small smile and plopped herself down on the couch.  I asked her what was wrong and she told me she fell down and hurt her knees at school.  Something was still bothering her though, but I didn't push her.

 

 I was looking over her work from school and noticed that it wasn't good at all.  On one paper where they were supposed to describe the butterflies they have been.. growing (is that the right word?), she couldn't write a complete sentence, she wasn't getting her point across and it just didn't make sense. After several outbursts during homework time and a lot of defiance and crying I set her down on the couch.  I asked her what was really going on and she just started crying.  It broke my heart and even now makes me upset thinking about her big tears.  She told me that she didn't understand the butterfly paper, she didn't know what she was supposed to do and she wasn't allowed to ask for help.  A little boy in her class had been a little mean to her too.  She just had a bad day.  I explained to her that it's ok to have bad days.  Everyone has them.  I then told her that the most important thing for us to learn from bad days is that we have to move on from them.  We can't let them define us and we have to choose to be happy again.  Usually she would've "listened" and then a little bit later would have done something mean or just continue to be grumpy.  Yesterday, though, she only moved forward and never looked back.  I was so proud of her.  It's hard for adults to do that, let alone a 6 year old.  I have a feeling that bad days that were so often here, are going to start to dwindle in numbers.