The Case of the Missing Word Ring

One of the things my son's reading teacher does for him is to make a new word card ring. It is basically cards with a hole punched in them on a ring. Each card has a new word on it. He lost it about a month ago and the reading teacher just hadn't gotten around to making a new one. We had some new cards with a hole punched in them, just no ring to add them to. We go over these new words and no mention of the missing ring has taken place.

I don't know if the teacher mentioned something about it today or what made my son focus on the missing cards. All I know is one page into reading, maybe he saw a word that was on the cards, he focused on his ring being missing and was determined to find it. When I saw determined I mean so focused that any attempt to get him back on track was meant with so much resistance and was causing him to panic.

To make it even more chaotic Daddy called home to wish the kids good night. Of course my son was in tears explaining to daddy how he was missing the ring (remember it has been missing for at least a month) and he had to find it. Tears are rolling down my sons face and his voice is cracking from all the crying. He really was very upset about his ring being missing and no matter what we said or did nothing was making it better.

No, my son looks in one more spot, he finds the ring under my bed. This is a scary spot to look. I make no claims to being a neat and tidy mom. Under my bed is not a place I clean up often. I can't really recall when I did it last. Obviously it is due to be cleaned again. But somehow my son reached under the bed at the perfect spot. He found his precious ring and we all were happier than I ever thought we could be about finding a ring with about 10 words hooked onto it.

You would think this is the end of the story and everything was fine then, but unfortunately my tale does not end here. We opened up that ring to put the new cards on and the hole to put them on the ring was punched in the wrong corner. I may not be the best housekeeper but my son and I have to have things line up the same way.

We both were trying to figure out how to put these cards on so the words would all go in the same direction. Finally we had to but the new set of cards on backwards and I must admit that is bothering me more than it should right now. I want to get a hole punch and cards and redo the new cards so they will face the same direction as the other cards. He too was troubled by the cards facing different directions, though I have to say he is handling it much better than I am.

So the case of the missing word ring was solved today. I have no idea why it had to be found today, nor how exactly he did find it. We both are calm and he is supposed to be going to bed. He won't let go of the ring so I hope we don't have to search for it again in the morning. Sweet dreams my love, hold tight to that ring.