School

Today is (dun dun dun!) school picture day. This will be his 4th school picture day and he’s only managed to sit for one photo out of four attempts. The instructions this year were the same as always, “Here’s the check ((WAY TOO LARGE….really???? There is a new company this year. They offer “retouching” (oh la la) and the packages were ridiculous. Ridiculous! Given the fact that a large number of kids in this district are on free and reduced lunch, it is an urban area, I was really taken aback by the costs.)). Don’t torture him over it though.”

Last year he went first in his class which eliminated the waiting and his teacher stood with the photographer so Monkey would look in the general direction of the camera. It went well. The photographer will have a 30 second window for the perfect shot. I feel like I should have sent him in with a flask for the photographer as a thank you, lol.

Will we be greeted with a “He did great!” or a “Here’s your check back?” The suspense is killing me 😉

FYI, I totally cheesed him off this AM when I made him wear a collared shirt ((Never fear, it’s one he normally loves, I suspect he was just being difficult…shocker)).  He kept asking Duhdee “T-shirt?” as Duhdee was helping him get dressed and he *threw* the shirt at Duhdee when he finally realized I was not budging.  He’s so cute when he’s mad!

This time it is not Duhdee and I learning a lesson, how novel!

It seems that one of the classroom assistants brings a coffee from Dunkin Donuts with her each morning.  It seems that each day, for the last two days, her coffee was going missing before she was able to finish it.  It seems like our little Monkey has been missing his morning sips of coffee with Duhdee.  It seems like he’s found his daily fix despite the new school year schedule.

My only question, when asked if Monkey is a coffee drinker was, “Did he say, ‘Mmm, good!’ when you caught him?”

*Snicker*

I guess we need to teach them to reinforce the rule that Monkey only drinks out of his own water bottle or out of cups with his name written on them.

We realized, last week, that none of the tabletop activities to choose from in the mornings qualified as a “sensory” activity. They have been putting out coloring activities, matching activities, puzzles, etc. These are all things that require focus and regulation. These are not good activities for a child who is struggling with the transition into the classroom. He needs something to bring his arousal level back down after that stress.

The teacher, who is amazing, added a sensory option to the tabletop activities at our request. There is now a table with little bins of colored sand available each morning. There are “treasures” buried in the sand for the kids to dig out. It’s amazing what a difference this one little change has made and it’s an activity that all of the kids in this classroom choose whenever there’s an open seat at that station! 

Yesterday morning, after we finished the “check-in” routine, Monkey’s teacher approached. This is when we make the final switch from Money and Honey to school. Monkey had been clinging to Duhdee for “one more hug” each morning but yesterday, as the teacher approached, he smiled one of his huge, contagious smiles and reached out for her. He took her hand, they walked to the table with the sand and then he couldn’t even bother with a “good-bye” for his beloved parents!  

There are some times when I am annoyed that he ignores me.  This is not one of those times!  Go Monkey!

M&Ms will convince Monkey to rocket straight into his classroom but goooooood luck getting that little baggy out of his hands and getting him to check into class for the day once you hand it over. 

Goodness gracious that boy is strong ((But I still won in the end, lol.))!

What do we know two days into the year?

1. Monkey is going to really like his teacher, he already likes her well enough but given time he is going to love her.  I can already see it in how he reacts to her.  Yay!
2. Monkey’s teacher “gets” him already and she is working so hard and actually listening to us when we talk about ways to improve his transitions.
3. Monkey enjoys school, he’s having fun during the day, he’s working hard.
4. The morning transition, despite the preparation is a potential disaster.  Transitions are just hard in general and this is a really big one.  He is not walking into class easily.  It’s taking a lot of cajoling and deep pressure. 

What do we need need to work really hard on again?

1. The morning transition.  I realized this AM that there is just too much talking and there are too many people involved. 

Yesterday, Duhdee asked the teacher when during that process she wanted to be involved because yesterday morning she jumped in too soon.  We’ve got that established.  Now Duhdee and I need to work out between us what we’re going to say and do at each step.  I want both of us to be able to do this but it will mean we both have to be following the same script (an actual, literal script I will write.)

I think the two biggest keys are getting there early (we were on time today and the check-in area was crowded) and M&Ms.  Fortunately, both of those things are within our control, lol.

Oh, and guess who gets to start asking about an integrated first grade classroom already?  The only way to have one for next fall is to get it in the budget.  All budget items need to be in front of the administration by Christmas break because they begin their budget process in January.  Awesome.

Yesterday was Monkey’s very first day of kindergarten.  In some ways this was not a big deal because, really?  We’ve put our precious boy into the hands of total strangers twice before ((The third year of pre-school he had the same teacher and therapists as his second year which was nice.)).  I’m an old pro at sending my child off into a feared nest of vipers only to learn that my fears were out-sized and overwrought.  I’m an old pro at overwrought.

In other ways this was very, very new and scary.  I doubt I’ll ever get over that ache in my heart and that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I take his little hand from mine and press it into his teacher’s hand.  I doubt I’ll ever be able to turn and walk away from him, leaving him uncertain, worried and in the care of people I haven’t yet learned to trust, without my throat tightening and my eyes burning.  I doubt I will ever be able to get in my truck and drive away feeling anything less than dread.

Fortunately, yesterday, I had a fantastic distraction in the form of a friend and her mom.  We toured the city, talked and laughed which spared me a day of hand-wringing and aborted calls to the school to check on him.  A while after lunch I finally got the call from Duhdee that Monkey had had an awesome day.  He even brought home a couple tentative art projects which showed he wasn’t completely shut down.  We have a weekend to recoup now and we’ll get started on all the real work on Monday.  We can do this.

Who am I kidding?  HE can do this.  I just need to stand next to him and keep knocking down the roadblocks so he can.

After a brief flirtation with Chuggington, Monkey is, once again, obsessed with the Penguins of Madagascar.   This makes me very happy because those pen-gu-ins ((in my best Dr. Blowhole voice)) are hysterical.  Duhdee and I quote them.  A lot.

Monkey also quotes them.  A lot.  Right now his favorite episode is “Hard Boiled Eggy.”  We hear a lot of “Mort!” and “My eyes!”  Personally, I can’t wait for him to break out the “I want to fight some Ninjas in a chain saw factory!” 

We’ve all heard about turning the child’s interests into a strength, that we should find ways to incorporate their interests into educational opportunities.  Here’s the problem…I’m not that smaht.  OK, I am that smart, I’m just not that CREATIVE. 

I’d love to hear ways people have used this sort of thing to create learning opportunities.  Right now I’m just grateful for all the vocabulary he’s learning but it would be nice to find ways to use it for other things too.  Exactly “what” those other things are is my problem and so I throw it at the feet of my internet peeps and hope ya’ll are more creative than I. 

Not that thatis such a great feat, lol.