Miss Janet told Cindy today that Kenzie had a baaaad day at school today. She hit three kids. This is frustrating because she has been so good for many months now. We thought the hitting phase was behind us.

When I asked Kenzie to tell me about it, here was her account:

Kenzie: I don't really remember what happened.

Me: We can wait as long as we need to because I need to hear it [as we were sitting in the car parked in the front yard]

Kenzie: Well, I hit three kids. I hit Riley, Niko and Christa.

Me: Oh boy, that's really disappointing because I thought we didn't hit our friends. Why did you hit them? Why did you hit Riley?

Kenzie: I don't really remember. Mom, really I don't remember. Let's go on to Christa. She had a tape measure, I asked her for it, well, I took it from her, then she took it back and I hit her. Like this [as she hits herself on the shoulder]. Bam! I just hit her. Then Miss Janet said, "That's enough! No more hitting!" Then I hit Niko. He had a [?] and he told Miss Janet that I was trying to take it from him so I just hit him. Then Miss Janet said, "MacKenzie, NO HITTING!" Then I hit Riley and Miss Janet said, "You're THIS close [showing an inch] to going to the principals office."

And so the story went. We talked about it until she had tears in her eyes and I could see at least a sign of remorse. But she said, "Mom, it's okay because I wrote them a note to tell them I'm sorry." I asked her if I hit her and then wrote her a note if it would be okay. No, she didn't think that logic held.

I then asked her what her Grampy was going to think when she told him. "Oh Mom, I don't think I'm going to tell him." I told her that I thought she probably was. She said, trying the deferral tactic, "okay, but we'll just do that later."

So, we went into the house, I dialed the number and handed her the phone. I don't know what she said because she took the phone into her room, closed the door, and came out with crocodile tears streaming down her face. According to Grammy, Grampy was extremely supportive and told her that she would do better next time. It seemed to be most effective.

Here's the note I got from Grampy regarding the matter. (Grammy & Grampy had visited her school today for a "special friends" lunch, but left before the aggression began.

We had delightful time as MacKenzie’s “special friends” at her school today. She introduced us to her teacher and as we ate our delicious lunch with some of her school friends and their special friends she declared in a loud voice, “This is the funnest picnic!”

She was holding back tears the entire time I pushed her through the episode of telling me her story [on the phone]. She tried to explain to me why, but there is no why because she really doesn’t plan on doing it—she just vents. I think she is truly sorry.

She is progressing—she went from two to three—in a little over two months. How many are in that class? Is there enough time left to complete the task? It must have been the peanut butter in the sandwiches.

She was really sweet but her attention does wander when Aiden makes an appearance. After we had basically finished lunch and we were all chatting at her table, she noticed that several, mostly boys, had gathered on the stage and were free-wheeling around the stage. It didn’t take but a second for her to join the fray. By the time we were ready to leave there were about 15 on stage. They were mild by most standards.

Cindy had her write a custom note to each kid. We got a kick out of the detail that she put into the letters. "Sorry I hit you today" -- with her little curly swirled letters. Do you think the three bees on each note were symbolic, perhaps of Niko, Christa and Riley who she stung?