Oh man, it’s been an up and down week. We went shopping again Sunday, getting 2 pair of jeans and a pair of shoes for M to skate in. They are completely separate from his school clothes, and this has been a difficult concept, but he’s adjusting. We also went to the local skate shop, where he bought himself some grip tape with allowance (he’s now tapped out.)

We’ve been cautiously optimistic, and very skeptical, of his actions of late. Historically, every time things have been going well, he’s been breaking the rules or doing something he shouldn’t be. Suspicion was high when he suddenly decided to not buy his friend grip tape for his birthday, and instead spend the money on himself (even though he didn’t have “money” per se, but the right to buy his friend some grip tape after failing to do all of his chores and complaining that he needed to buy his friend some grip tape for his birthday.)

So, whatever. He did an OK job one week, and a better job the next. The grip tape was 160% of one week’s allowance. I wasn’t going to gripe too much.

And there was Friday’s incident where he hopped online and said “F school” on Fb and Twitter. From his first period class. We hadn’t given permission for him to be on the Internet, so we had to call and chat with the school. The school is now saying because the software for his class resides on their network, he MUST have Internet access to take the class. (I call BS.) I am reluctantly going to cave in and give him permission, since the teachers have reassured me that they will be checking on him more, now that they know he has some bad habits.

And yesterday’s incident, where I found out his profile picture was taken < 2 weeks ago (I can tell by the new clothes) at a school that is 3.7 miles away. I called him out on it, in a message, and he said it was a different school, also out of bounds for him. He acknowledged the mistake, and I signed offline, so we couldn’t argue. I wasn’t going to be home for a while, and had a meeting until 8. He showed up at home for dinner and handed over his skateboard to T, saying “I know I’m in trouble, so, here.” (T had no clue. I filled him in later.)

I am frustrated and proud in the same moment.

Another positive call from the school: M’s doing fine in his academic classes, and we have yet to hear about his electives. His main teacher says he’s even making friends in class (good friends). Next week is curriculum night, and the first PTA meeting. I think we’re going to try to get involved again.