I am very superstitious about jinxing things, so knock on some wood as you read this. But I think we are finally coming out from under the cootie cloud. Everyone but me slept straight through last night.
Henry went back to school on Thursday (no more barfing after Tuesday afternoon). His teacher called around 9:45 and said that he had been in "quiet" area all morning. I asked if he was talking much, and she said "no, he's been sleeping since he got here at 8." They were taking a class trip to the pet store that day, to get tadpoles for their classroom. And neither his teacher nor I wanted him to miss it. So they brought a wagon and wheeled him around in it!! I bet that group was an odd sight in the pet store: a couple of the kids are pretty non-verbal, a couple others are sort of TOO verbal, and then there's Henry, riding around in a wagon.
Anyway, I was talking with a friend about how really special Henry's classroom situation is, and how very, very lucky I feel. Not just that they would keep my child there when he's not 100%, but more the fact that they are able, because they have such a small group, and deal with such atypical children, to think outside the teacher box. In a regular class, he would have been sent home, no question.
This experience, and many others this year, leave me wondering what my long-term goals for Henry are. It seems expected that we parents will say our goal is for our child to be "indistinguishable from his peers" and mainstreamed by X date or age. But I just don't know. What if Henry could keep receiving this superior teaching, practically at a one-on-one level, from teachers who really "get" him?! To me it sounds like home-schooling, except with all the resources of the school, the potential to connect with some peers, and superior teaching to what I could provide!
Now a few nuts and bolts of the past few days: I caught a head cold, but it seems to be going away. I just have those choking coughing spurts once in awhile. Tommy's babysitter called Friday morning- she was sick and needed to take the day off. Tommy hadn't been sleeping well, so I took him in to the pediatrician Friday (I've paid them about $75 in co-pays in the past 6 weeks) and he has an ear infection.
Last night we took down the crib and set up the "big boy bed." Another bittersweet moment for me. Thomas was really excited, and slept well all night. But it made me a little sad to fold up all those really soft little baby blankets for the last time.
Instead of always reading Henry whatever Disney story book he requests, I've bought a few of the "easy reader" books. Tonight I read one to him (actually this was a Disney story- Chicken Little), pointing to the words and pausing once in awhile to let him fill one in. He used to protest about that, and say "you don't want me to point to the words." But now he eagerly watches, and always fills in the right word when I pause to let him. What a great feeling, for both of us.
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3 comments:
I think the only goal I can imagine to set for India right now is to keep the momentum on all that improving she's been doing.
Now, a group of teachers and aides that will whip out a wagon to make sure your child gets to go on a class trip? THAT is the kind of of wonderful, amazing people our kids need and deserve.
I love those easy reader books! Gabe likes the ones where a word is replaced with a picture. His favorite one is about Dora going on a picnic. I think it's great that he is filling in the words :o)
Kristin
That must have been quite a parade in the pet store... For us, one-on-one teaching has had so many more benefits for Charlie than his mainstreaming experiences, in which so much must have gone over his head when he might have been directly learning. keep knocking on that wood and questioning and thinking about what Henry himself needs! His whole future---and so many books--and so many "I don't know" 's that you will figure out---all lie ahead.
We'll all get there and the only goal is to get through the race at the pace we know we can do.
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