Two Days in a Row??!!!

Hooray, hooray! Another good morning for R. today! We're 2 for 3 this week...

A Very Good Day

R. had a very good morning today...he went into the school building without his headphones and with minimum fuss (albeit with no jacket on and it's cold here today...brrr!), walked right into his classroom, put his homework in the basket, said hello to his teacher, and sat down at his desk and got to work. Hallelujah. An everyday occurance for some kids is a day of celebration for R.

Big IEP meeting on Friday and R's tonsillectomy on the following Monday. Keep your fingers crossed for all of us!

Principal Jekyll, Principal Hyde

Recently, the principal seems to have had an about-face regarding R. She has been sending me emails of apology (!) for not having a plan in place for dealing with substitutes (when R. has a sub in his regular class) and she sent me an email yesterday talking about how she thinks she and R. are bonding! Obviously, I am pleased with this turnaround...D. thinks that she finally listened to the tape of our last meeting, and decided that she needed to have a change of attitude. All I can say is that I am pleased and happy at the change, but remain cautious as I have been there before with this principal. Our IEP meeting is next Friday, so wish us all luck.

R.'s tonsillectomy has been scheduled for October 30 (the day before Halloween!). He is happy because he will get to miss an entire week of school. I am happy because this may finally help us out with his sleep apnea, bedwetting, and generally-waking-up-tired problems. It worked for his sister and I'm hoping it will work for him, too. Of course, I get to take off a week from work, also, but will spend most of the time making sure R. is comfortable and has a ready supply of popsicles, jello, and ice cream!

Update

Life has been so busy that I haven't been able to write a proper post about our meeting last Friday. Needless to say, it was both good and bad (the good: the experts were all there and shared their observations and recommendations for R.; the bad: the principal's attitude). But, now, a week later, I have hope that our official IEP meeting later this month will produce some good results. The classroom teacher and resource teacher are already implementing some changes and I think we are on the way towards getting R what he needs in order to be successful in the classroom. It's such a frustrating and overwhelming process at times, but I know that all of this will be worth it in the end.

Going away for the weekend to our church retreat...looking forward to some R&R!

R-ism

Today: phone call from school (of course, I'm freaking out as soon as I see the prefix on the caller ID, hoping that R. is not in trouble)

School secretary: Hi, this is R's school. R has had a small accident in the bathroom and is a little wet. The principal said that it was nothing much, but R wants a change of clothes.

Me: Is he there? Put him on the phone.

R: Hi, mommy.

Me: Are you just a little wet? Can you make it through the day?

R: No, I have pee on my underwear AND my pants.

Me: Well, it sounds like just a little...it's like water and it will dry.

R: It's not like water! You can't drink it!

Me: (big sigh)

I finally convinced him that he could make it through the day and didn't need to change his clothes. Note to self: make sure he has an extra change of clothes in his backpack tomorrow!

Better days?

I received a call (FINALLY!) from the autism teacher for the school district on Friday. She was amazingly helpful and seemed to be the missing puzzle piece I'd been looking for in all of this. We are meeting with her, the classroom teacher, and the resource teacher on Friday, and I am hopeful that we will get everyone on the same page about what R. needs in order to have a successful year. We are meeting with the classroom teacher today to go over where he currently stands in terms of his academics, behavior, etc., in advance of Friday's meeting. Wish us luck!

We spent the weekend in my home state visiting my 90 year old grandfather for his birthday celebration (his birthday was last week). R. behaved incredibly well at the nursing home...he was very patient and even gave his great-grandfather a hug before we left. We had a funny moment, though...since my grandfather's short-term memory is not good, when I asked him what he'd had for breakfast that day, he said he hadn't had any (even though he had). Well, R. heard this and at the end of our visit, he didn't want to leave until "someone had given Papaw his breakfast!" It was really cute...