Hope ya know, I had a hard time

(This is a guitar josh created last week, and was so proud of it. Ashley was playing her fancy air guitar.)

Josh had a hard day yesterday. I think he really enjoyed school, but on the bus ride home, he got in trouble.

His morning bus driver the last two years has been extremely serious in her control of the bus. No talking, no moving. But the afternoon bus driver had no control over the kids and was too tolerant of craziness. Well, the morning bus driver is now the afternoon driver, too. This shouldn't be a problem, since my kids have learned to follow her morning rules for two years.

But I guess it was a problem for Josh yesterday. I don't know if it was the excitement of finishing his first day of second grade, but when the bus pulled up, the driver pulled me aside and said Josh wouldn't stay in his seat. Josh's lip quivered, so I think he was sad he was in trouble (although I'm not sure he was sorry he got out of his seat?).

Walking back to our house, I asked him, "What will you do if the bus driver kicks you off because you can't sit still?"

He smiled and said, "You'll just drive me home."

I shook my head. "Does that make sense for me to come pick you up when there's a perfectly good bus that will drive you right to our front door? Just because you wanted to be crazy on the bus."

He shrugged and said, "I'll walk home."

I shook my head. "You can't walk home 2 1/2 miles by yourself on these busy roads."

He was upset that he was in trouble. He refused to tell us about the rest of his day. He refused to stop stomping around. He threw Lego's at Ethan's head. He wanted nothing to do with our Family Home Evening, and he refused to get his back-to-school Father's Blessing. He was having a hard time.

When I went to bed, I felt bad about how I reacted. I'm sure he was overwhelmed by the first day of school. New rules, new friends, new everything. I'm sure all he needed was for me to hug him and snuggle and tell him I loved him still, even if he messed up on the bus. But I didn't. A General Conference talk kept going through my mind all night, Hope Ya Know, We had a Hard Time. You can watch a short video {here}, but I recommend reading the entire talk{here} -- especially the beginning where his little boy says that phrase.

Hopefully he'll have a better day today...