Finally decided to go and see Jollys teacher again, and actually ask whether Jolly was bright, lazy and bored; or else a pain in the arse with attention span issues (my exact words).
After snorting her coffee all over her desk, she agreed he is very bright, they have him pegged to watch and she admitted in a whisper (her classroom is next door to the office, the door was open and the head was in the office) that Jolly is one of the two pretty-darn-clever ones at the top of the class. That he always has extension work, they always stretch him, they always expect more from him… If only they could get down on paper what they know is in his head. He’s impossible to assess cos he’s very difficult to get to work consistently.
She said ‘we’re gradually working our way through our arsenal of tactics. We were sure sitting him next to the very clever girl he’s matched with intellectually would fire up the boys competitive streak, and make him match her (a teacher-tactic that works like a charm with No.1, I realise). But Jolly just sits back in genuine pride and admiration at how well the girl works and how much she achieves.
She has him working in a group, knowing he has brilliant ideas and suggestions – and he merrily sits back and admires everyone else’s ideas and complies, because he’s too self-effacing to put his own forward as quite possibly better.
He floats along on his little pink cloud, so laid back he’s horizontal. He’s adorable in class, but too woolly, and they haven’t yet found his trigger. Every now and then he pays attention and zap, he’s showing them he’s as sharp as anything. But half an hour later he’s drifted off out the window again (except when he’s drawing, which absorbs him utterly to the point where he forgets to write anything to go with it).
So – we probably have to wait for him to simply not be 6 any more, but in the meantime are very reassured that they have him pegged (oh so well), we are not having parental delusions and he is very bright, and all will come in the fullness of time.
This of course led to much parental angst, wondering if he’s so used to being squashed and least-important with two older brothers with very strong personalities who lead all the time and treat him as the little tagalong that he has no sense of how clever and good his own brain is. Sigh.
Took No.1 to the docs this afternoon – day 2 off school, about the FIFTH time since Christmas, all with random glands-like-golfballs in his neck. 24 hrs usually does it, but this time it’s lurking – and yet no temp or green ick on the throat to suggest an infection like I would expect. GP was concerned by the glands (in armpits, stomach, and arms too) and has treated with penicillin and swabbed his throat cos she suspects it may be a deep-seated strep infection (in which case he may be headed for tonsils out), but she thinks it possible it could be glandular fever… Exact same scenario we had at the same point last year…
Boy has worms (oh, so does No.1), but I have actually managed to clear Jolly of lice. Temporarily, anyway. At least long enough to have his hair chopped super-short, which will help. No.1 also has 4 verrucas which keep growing despite much large doses of Thuja and painting. Tonight I caved and bought the expensive freeze-em treatment – poor lamb, they’re big and they hurt him so I thought it was best (seeing as doc refused to treat them 2 weeks ago and said ‘well, they drop off in about 6mths”). But the freeze treatment made him really really properly cry tonight… I only managed to treat 3 of the 4, he’s promised to sit for the other one tomorrow , literaly begged me no more tonight. :(
Oh, and Pink is constipated again. Tried her with prune juice – “Yuck mummy! Yuck! Yukyukyuk!!! No, nonono. YUCK!”
Don’t think she liked them much.
I’d quite like a day off, actually.
Childhood M.E. / CFS, parenting 
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