I wrote this whole long post last night about my awful day and it disappeared. Why don't I remember to select all + copy before I click "Publish?"

Okay, Sunday the vacuum broke. DH took it apart and fixed it. The rugs still got shampooed, everything's fine.

Monday, the car went gaflooey. I didn't get stranded anywhere scary and the mechanic was able to fix it the same day. We had enough money to cover the repair (barely). Everything's fine.

Tuesday, I come home to find the apartment flooded with cat vomit. Not a great situation, as you all know. So we thought for a day or two we were going to be Scuzzless, and luckily he's getting better. We're going to be paying the vet bill for four months, but everything's going to be fine.

Yesterday, Jacob's teacher calls. He had a tantrum at school and hit her, and when two other teachers took him away to another room, he got so out of control that he picked up a chair and threw it at a teacher. My son -- my five-year-old son -- threw a fucking chair at someone. I got off the phone with the teacher, called DH, had my hysterics, called my mom, paged the child psychologist. Everyone agrees that this is a serious offense but an isolated incident as far as we can tell. Jake is not the easiest kid in the world, but he's very bright and affectionate and gets frustrated a little easily.

I brought the kids home from preschool and had a talk with Jacob over dinner since DH couldn't get home early. In the lowest, most serious but calmest voi ce possible, I stressed the following:

1. Hitting of any kind is unacceptable behavior.
2. Throwing a chair at anyone is absolutely wrong.
3. It's okay to be angry. It's not okay to hurt people, even if you're angry.
4. Saying sorry is important, but not as important as not repeating the thing you did wrong.
5. We love him all the time. We're extremely disappointed in his behavior, but we still love him and want to help him.
6. There would be no TV, no computer, no games, no stories. He was to eat dinner, brush his teeth, say his prayers and go to bed. Daddy and I would decide if he could do those things after school the next day, depending on his behavior.
7. TV, games, computers, etc are privileges that you get because you do what you're supposed to; ie put toys away, be nice, be polite.
8. Losing his privileges are a consequence of his behavior. If his behavior is better, he will regain privileges. He will need to start thinking of what he does having consequences.
9. If he continues to hit at school, they will not allow him to keep going there.

He turned to me at this last thing, shocked. "If I can't go to school, I won't learn anything!" He was appalled and horrified -- almost as upset as when I told him no TV, etc. After all that discussion, he finished eating, brushed his teeth and came to his room.

"Story?" Danny asked.
"No, honey," I replied. "No story tonight, because Jacob can't have one. We'll have story tomorrow night." At this, Jake started to get upset ("I never get to do anything!"), but I stayed calm and told him again that he was going to bed early, to get a good night's sleep and have a good day on Friday, and then we could have stories.

My boy bit his lip and narrowed his eyes, not quite looking at me. I could sense the gears turning in his head as he tried to decide whether to have a tantrum.

"Come here, Jake. Let's have a hug and kiss and go to sleep." At this, he started to cry a little -- just letting it all go, I guess. I settled them into bed, led them in the Shm'a and V'Ahavta, and put their lullabye CD on.

Then I crept out of the room and poured myself a big-ass drink.

["Walls Scream," Rex Daisy]