where's the beef

I believe it is true that you learn something new every day. Today I learned what bovinophobia is. Not exactly sure how to say it, but who cares. It is a fear of cows. Why the sudden interest in cows you ask? Well, grifin came home from school with another 5. His teacher gives them a number every day depending on their behavior. 1 means your kid did awesome, 7 is a get your butt to the school we are going to have a little private parent/teacher conference. We haven't made it to 7 yet but we sure are seeing a lot of 5's and 6's. Not good. I have received numerous phone calls on grif's misbehavior. He called someone the "B" word (where did he learn that? I have never said a swear word, ever! Or at least that's what I like to tell myself so I feel better). Anyway, we have taken privileges away, made him sit on his bed, rewarded good behavior. Nothing seems to really be working to make him want to do better. He came home with a 5 yesterday, nate was not a happy camper. So today when he got home the first thing out of my mouth was "what number did you get?" It is never a good sign when he takes over a minute to answer. Needless to say, he got another 5. So I said "your dad is going to have a cow". He starts to freak out. I'm talking yelling, kicking, screaming freak out. Finally I asked what the problem is and he says "I DO NOT want dad to bring a cow home". What? He literally thought Nate was coming home with a cow. Who knew the kid hated cows so much. Maybe from now on that can be our leverage. If he gets a good number we won't bring a cow home. So when our backyard looks like a farm in the near future you will know why.