I need a time out

Jake got sent to the principal's office for the first time Monday at school. It seems he was hitting, tackling and growling at his classmates all day long. I couldn't be more proud. I was really hoping the growling thing was something he only does at home. I think I jinxed us last week when I asked his teacher if he had beaten up on any kids lately and she looked at me like I was crazy. She said he was the sweetest little boy and she couldn't imagine him being mean. I told her about him hitting his friends from our play group upside the head every chance he gets and she was shocked. Well, it seems he's taken his street behavior back to the classroom now. Apparently, at one point he tackled two kids simultaneously who were just sitting there reading books. All the while growling at them. I'm pretty sure that's one of the ways to make friends and influence people.

So his teachers reached the point where they couldn't deal with him anymore and they sent him to see Miss Kathy the head of the Mother's Day out program. Now, Ms. Kathy is the sweetest lady in the world unless she's having to deal with unruly kids. I believe she put the fear of the Lord into Mr. Jake because when he went back to his classroom after visiting with her and proceeded to hit another child, all his teacher had to do was say "Do you want to go see Ms. Kathy again?" He stuck out his lower lip and said "No." From that point on, they didn't have another problem with him.

Please understand that this child is the smallest kid in his class. I'm not sure if this is some sort of Napolean complex or what. I'm just really hoping he doesn't turn into that little kid from The Christmas Story who terrorized the entire school along with his braces wearing buddy. I don't know what to do. I didn't even get to shower today so you can see how much time I have to actually spend thinking about parenting. I know from teaching this age group last year that sometimes kids just misbehave. I just never thought it would be MY child. He's supposed to be sweet. Like his mama. Like his mama who growls out of frustration on a daily basis when something doesn't go my way. Oh my. He gets it from me. He gets it from watching me. Except for the tackling part. I swear I've never done that to anybody. And if I did tackle someone, it would be because they stole my chocolate or something. Not because they were sitting innocently reading a book. I mean, that's just unreasonable.