Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Third time's a charm.

This is my third attempt to publish this post, but Blogger has been uncooperative with me thus far. Darn error messages. Frustrating.

Rylan was up all night battling the snot demons which invaded his little body. He was miserable. We took him to a professional exorcist, in the form of a pediatrician, because face it- I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Turns out the poor lil' guy has an eye infection (and possibly an ear infection as well, but the doc was unable to tell if his ears were red due to infection or him screaming so much). Amoxicillin and eyedrops 3 times a day. That'll be fun.

Oh! School! The day started out rough, Jaysen was mad at me because I was rushing him, thus he couldn't finish watching his TV program. We went outside to wait for the bus. As the bus pulled up, Jaysen started down the driveway and turned to inform me that he was NOT waving goodbye to me. Ouch.

I e-mailed his teachers as soon as I got to work, to give them a heads up about the situation. I immediately got a response from Sp.Ed. He was fine, lined up and went into class with the rest of the class. They were in the resource room taking a sensory break.

About two minutes later, Gen.Ed also responded. Jaysen entered the classroom in a good mood, sat at his desk, and followed directions. It's a good day so far.

Erp? Sat at his desk? Followed directions?
This school isn't a school...it's a magical learning emporium.

The teachers are faerie folk, and the principal rides around on a big white unicorn. The librarians are book sprites, and the cafeteria is covered in glittery pixie dust.
That's the only explanation I can muster.

Later in the afternoon, I received a phone call from Sp.Ed. I'm silent as my heart thumps its way down to the floor. Ohmigod...darkness falls over the magical school...hostile takeover...Lord of the Flies... However, she assures me that everything is fine- there was one incident, but it was their fault, not his. There was an assembly at the end of the day, and the teachers had the kids pack their backpacks and take them to the assembly- Jaysen was under the impression it was time to go home. Yeah- that's typical Jaysen. The important thing here, is that they were able to redirect him, and he calmed quickly. And joined the assembly! And they documented everything in writing. And they called me!
The pixie dust has been restored to the magical faerie school.

Sp.Ed said she would probably call me a lot during the first few weeks, while they get to know Jaysen and how he responds to things. Awesome! I welcome all the calls your little fingers can make! I am thrilled with the communication thus far. Yes, I know it's the first day...

Fast forward to this morning (remember, this post was originally written last night). Jaysen is not happy he has school today. I begin to feel that familiar heaviness in my chest. He tells me that this is a bad school, but is unable to tell me why.

I talk with (to?) him with brutal honesty. I explain that he may just not like school, but this is a very good school for him, and they are very happy to have him there. Everything is new, so it may be scary at first, but this really is a nice place to be. I let him escape from the conversation because if he is to remain positive, you just don't push such things.

Breakfast done. Vitamins done. Juice (meds) done. Brush teeth done.
Holy crap! What the heck is up with that hair, and why didn't I notice it before just now!?!?!
My son has terrible "morning hair" every day, but some days are worse than others, and this was one of those days where keeping him home from school actually crossed my mind. How do you slick a kid's hair down when they have an aversion to the droplets of water that fly off the brush? *ahem* baby wipes. Yes I did, so shut up.

He let me kiss him goodbye when the bus came, and off to school it was. That was the first installment of the new and improved schooling experience. It's going to be tough to get him to want to go to school, and there may be some sort of incentive plan needed here, so I'll be thinking on that one.

So far, I am feeling really good about my decision on this school.

8 comments:

kristi said...

My son has bad hair too. And this year is turning out well so far. This is his first year in a special needs classroom.

Mary P Jones (MPJ) said...

The school sounds great! I think someone sprinkled magical pixie dust on my son's school this year too. It's going suspiciously well so far.

Anonymous said...

Baby wipes - genius! Wish I had thought of that for my sons years ago!

And that's great that the school is living up to your expectations. Worth its weight in gold!

Anonymous said...

There are always going to be little problems that pop up but wow does this school ever sound like they are great at communicating with you. That makes all the difference in the world.

Anonymous said...

More happiness coming to me, like fairy dust!

Also, I couldn't not give you an award back. It will be posted later today. come on over and pick it up. Barbara

CC said...

Wow! Sounds way better than you could have hoped for! I want some of those faeries around here!

mama edge said...

The fact that you even notice the state of his 'do astounds me. I constantly await arrest by the child hair abuse squad.

Anonymous said...

"magical learning emporium"

I love this! lol Thanks for visiting my blog, I'm really enjoying yours. Glad to find it!