Friday, November 6, 2015

Still Here, Still Quirky...

A friend asked me about this blog recently and I realized I've completely let it gather dust.

Well, so we are still here.  This year, we are braving 6th and 3rd grades and kindergarten.

First up, the kindergartener....

I hesitate to say this, lest it be taken the wrong way, but I have been ready for this particular school year since J was about six months old. I enjoyed being home with him, and I truly savored the last of the preschool years, but we were ALL ready for that child to start kindergarten.

It has gone both better and worse than expected. Is that possible?

The better - he goes every day and is generally happy to be there. He loves his teacher and he loves all the busy-ness of the day. HATES when he has to miss center time for some reason. Is engaged in class, raises his hand and has made some cute friends. He LOVES the learning. He is also more well-behaved than I expected.

The worse - He hates writing. I thought this would improve with some peer pressure and the higher demands of kindergarten, and to some extent it has, but the progress is slow and it has been a rough road. This is one of the reasons I am incredibly thankful he started the school year with the IEP in place. He gets OT once a week and his teacher knew all about him before school even started. There have been some tears and some defiance, and two days ago, he caused quite a ruckus when he had an epic meltdown over being pushed to write something.

Today he had a freakout because a sticker he got for something ripped. He also hasn't been eating his lunch because he smells peanut butter everywhere. (sigh)

Socially though, which was a big concern, he is doing great! He talks to his friends, he wants to invite them over. Still interacts much better with adults, but he plays with other kids on the playground now, which is HUGE!

I worry a lot about people getting him. His teacher is great, but I worry one of his meltdowns is going to land him in the principal's office. He genuinely needs help calming down when a meltdown happens and I need to figure out how to make sure they understand how to do that. There are a few people who get him and are always helpful and know just what to do. I worry though that one day he's going to end up with someone who doesn't.... then what?

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