Work is great. I am so lucky to have gotten this position and it's going really well. The population that I'm working with is different than most of what I have done before. My school has several special education classes, some with students who are for the most part, not main streamed for the majority of their school day. This is much different than my last school which did not have any special classes. For these groups, I do alot of the therapy in their classrooms. This means planning more thematic lessons, bringing in lots of hands on materials and games and doing many more functional activities. It takes more planning time but I LOVE it and I am getting more and more comfortable doing it each week. I definitely get to be more creative for these lessons-bringing in art activities, books that I made, food, etc. I also get to use lots of toys that my kids no longer use at home. Ironically, having a child who has kind of been through the whole early intervention thing has really helped me feel more comfortable doing this kind of therapy. The kids I'm working with now are older than Mallory, but many of the things they are working on are the same as what she was working on when she was 2. I feel like I have been trained by her therapists and I know so much more than I would have known if I hadn't gone through that. So all that early intervention really helped both of us.
Speaking of Mallory. She is doing AMAZING. Huge language explosions all around. Her new thing is saying "I don't want to _____" in response to pretty much anything. Like..."lets put on your coat"- "No, I don't want to put on my coat". "Do you want to go outside" "No, I don't want to go outside", "its time for bed"-"No I don't want to go to bed". Its hard to convey through writing but its very whiny. Very typical 3 year old girl I guess. And its hard because even though she has had her share of difficulties, she has been very easy as far as dressing, bathing, sleeping, etc. Now all of that has changed and its even harder to get the two of them out of the house or bathed or to sleep. Part of me is glad because it means shes that much more aware and is growing up and doing all the things that she should be doing as she gets older. but part of me misses that cooperative little girl who I could just dress in whatever I wanted and do her hair and just put her in bed and say good night and walk out of her room. While shes not completely caught up in her language skills, she is closer and closer every day. I'm so proud of her. She is having an amazing school year so far too. Her teachers love her and just think she is doing great. Its a huge difference from last year. AND the biggest news with Mallory is.................POTTY TRAINED!! She pretty much went from never having used the potty to being almost completely independent with it in a span of 2 weeks. And she did it at almost exactly the same age Max did, even a little earlier. I still can't believe it. I thought that was going to be much more of an issue than it was. We are not a 100% diaper free house just yet, but we're getting closer to it. I will say I've done ALOT more laundry in the past few weeks since she has been potty trained but we're getting there.
Max is enjoying kindergarten. He has had a few not perfect days but most of it has to do with testing the limits, figuring out what you can/can't get away with and what is/isn't appropriate. He is learning. The material is actually much more difficult than I was ever expecting. Actually I'm shocked at what kindergartners are expected to know now. At my old school, kids started there in first grade and the kindergartners were at a different school so I didn't really get to see what they were expected to do. Many kids in Max's class came in knowing how to read and write. IN KINDERGARTEN. Max is not only one of the youngest kids in the grade (August 1 birthday and the cutoff is September 1) but I also never really pushed any of that and figured he would just learn when he got there. I made fun of my friends (sorry Liz) for being upset that their kids were having trouble writing when they were 4 and thought it was crazy to be worried about a skill that isn't even developmentally appropriate. Well I still kind of feel that way but now I see why some people are worried. Some parents really DO push these things I guess before kindergarten and those of us who don't, end up with kids who seem delayed when really, they are pretty typical for their age. The expectations are way beyond what they were when I was little. The work that Max is doing now is what I did in 1st or even 2nd grade. I am not worried about him because I think he's very smart. But I'm seeing now that he may be one of those kids who needs more of a push to put in the effort it takes to do well in school. His teacher is great and the school is amazing (if I do say so myself) and I know he will get whatever he needs.
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| With "Goldie" the class pet that comes home with a student who had a great week! |
As for working in the same hallway as Max's kindergarten class...It is going well. So far he loves seeing me there and I love seeing him and all of the other little friends that I know. I am trying to not be TOO involved in his daily routine but its hard to see his teacher or someone else who has worked with him and not ask how he did with writing today or how he was in library or if he is doing better with using the mouse in the computer lab (oops forgot to teach him that skills before kindergarten too, terrible mommy!). Sometimes I'll tell someone I'm worried about this or that and they remind me that others are having trouble with the same things its just that their parents don't work in the school so they don't know about every single issue that comes up. It has been working out that Max takes the bus on most mornings, then I drive up the street to school and he gets there a few minutes after me. Same thing in the afternoon, I drive down the street and his bus gets home a few minutes later. It works out better this way because the times that I have had to take him with me or have him hang out after school, its just too hard having him in my office. Even though its only 10 minutes, that's my down time before or after school when I'm either getting myself together, planning for the next day or cleaning up. Having him in there is just an added obstacle. At least at this age when he still needs my attention constantly.
So that's all that's going on. I left out a few things about yelling, screaming, whining, time outs, not sharing, stains in my carpet, laundry, etc but that is all a given right?
It's Daylight Savings today. I feel like I've been awake for 2 days. Good night!
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