Dear Family,

Going back to school has been the easy part about going back to school.  The hard part is all the stuff that doesn't get done while I am gone or studying.  I think y'all been spoiled by having a stay at home mother for all these years.  Even when I worked, I made sure I could either bring y'all with me or I worked at home. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of it.  I am grateful I was able to breast feed babies and not have to rely on strangers to raise you.  But y'all aren't babies any more.  Everyone is (finally) in school now and so it is time to hang up my apron.  I have waited a long time for my turn.

In order for this transition to go more smoothly than it has for the past couple of months, let me help you by giving you some useful tips: 

1. If you use a dish, you must wash it afterwards.  And no, this is not suggesting there is an option of eating off the floor or trying to eat spaghetti with your hands.

2. If you are hungry, you know where the kitchen is. 

3. If you tell me one more time there is nothing to eat when in fact there is plenty, we will play a game called "Prison" in which I will serve you only bread and water for a week.

4. Boys: if you "miss" while aiming, there is a handy dandy toilet wand by the toilet.  Work some magic, OK?

5. I know most of you in this family are very short.  If you cannot aim your spit for the hole in the sink, please use the handy dandy step stool so you will not coat the entire counter with slobbery Crest for Kids Bubble Mint toothpaste.

6. Believe it or not, this house has a laundry room.  It is downstairs and there are 2 big machines in there.  One is called a washing machine and the other is a dryer.  I will be teaching a one time only lesson on how to use them tonight so make sure you are there and listening carefully.

7. When you take off your shoes, for the love of god, please make a mental note of where you are in the house so that you will be able to find them the next morning before school.  I know it's incredible, but I actually do not know where your shoes are at any given time. It may seem that I do, but I don't.

8.  I also do not know when your school projects are due.  I know it may seem like I talk to your teachers personally each day, but I don't.  I have no clue what you are supposed to be working on.  Keep up with your own assignments.  Write things down.  There are a gazillion sticky notes in the drawer where the silverware is.  Use them.  And I am warning you:  If you spring some last minute thing on me again and expect me to go out to Walmart in my pajamas to buy you some poster board or modeling clay in the middle of the night when it finally pops in your head that you need to make a brain, a cell, an Indian Mound, a volcano, or some book report presentation, you can just forget it.  I will let you have the experience of failure and you can just grow up living in a van down by the river.

xoxo,
Mom

Autism part 9

The day finally arrived!  Nicholas had his first day of kindergarten a few weeks ago!  This is a huge step and I must admit I was worried to death for the week prior to school beginning and I was a nervous wreck the first day.  Nicholas is riding the little bus home and I was nearly crying waiting for it that first day.  This is my baby, y'all.  He's the last one to leave the nest and go to big school.

He is five and a half  and still only 27 pounds.  He is wearing clothes and shoes from two years ago and is still not potty trained.  That was a bummer.  We worked very hard on potty training at Challenged Child and Friends and over the summer.  I really thought he was "getting it" but he's not quite there yet.  I am really hoping he will be wearing underwear to school by first grade.

But wow, what leaps and bounds he has made in other areas of learning.  This boy is smart.  I am telling you, there is a genius locked away in there.  Nicholas has a beautiful memory.  He remembers everything and it is cool to see some random memory emerge at unexpected times and in unexpected ways.  He remembers all the sounds letters make.  He can read basic sight words.  And he can fix mechanical things.  He's pretty amazing.

Nicholas is handling transitions much, much better.  He seems so mature walking into the school each morning.  No melt downs!  (knock on wood)  He's been a little bit teary now and then, but no freak outs.  Fischer said that Nicholas started crying in the lunch room, missing me one day, and his parapro ran to get Fischer to comfort him.  Is that not the sweetest thing ever?  Fischer picked his little brother up, held him and reassured him everything was going to be OK.  I am glad Mollie and Fischer go to the same school!

One day, Nicholas came home from school with a pink lipstick stain on his head.  This made me so happy.  This meant that some teacher gave him a kiss.  My heart melted and I felt a sense of peace that people at his school are loving my sweet boy.  There have been several times a teacher has stopped me in the store or around town and asked me if I am Nicholas' mommy.  They tell me they just want to scoop him up and take him home with them.  Nicholas does have this affect on people.  He is so cute and sweet.  Who can resist him?

Nicholas loves school so far.  I am grateful for all his teachers.  I am grateful he has the opportunity to learn the best way he can in a special environment with understanding people. This is a great beginning to his educational future.  I see awesome things to come!