first day of school

It's back to school time -- YAY!!! Joel was so excited that he got in the truck without even telling me good-bye :-( I'm glad he likes school, but MAN! He's supposed to at least remember me! He got a mini-lecture -- never leave the house without telling me good-bye and hugging me!!! He went to school with Jason since he's now on the secondary side of the building -- the big junior higher (with the big head full of ideas that he knows everything, certainly more than his mother does). Yep, he was late to his second class because he thought he knew more than dumb ole Mom. I know, it's normal. I can just see my mom's HUGE smile as I receive now what I gave years ago :-)
Makenzie and Luke rode with me, which of course meant that they were almost late. We did make it to the gym before their teachers took the classes up to their classrooms. Makenzie was so excited and nervous about getting back to school that she woke up before 6 a.m.! Luke had no such excitement/nervousness. I had to wake him up a little after 7 and rush him along all morning. He was glad to see his friends, though. And -- miracle!! -- he didn't get in trouble at all today, not even a warning!!
Seth REFUSED to admit that he was going to school. He kept saying, "No school! June!! June, Seth, Mom!!" June is his speech therapist whom he ADORES!!! I reminded him that he loves Gayle, his occupational therapist, as well, so then he added her to the list of people he was willing to spend time with. So when we pulled into his school's parking lot, he was pretty mad at me. He got over the anger, though, when I let him take Mickey Mouse with him :-)
That backpack weighed almost as much as he did!
He wore his glasses pretty much the whole day. His aide is GREAT about getting him to do what he needs to do! Oops -- his name tag was turned the wrong way. The other side had a little picture and his name on it.
For the first time EVER, Seth told us about his day. When Jason asked him how his day went, he answered, "Short, Crystal, Heidi." His teacher's name is Mrs. Short -- we'll work on the respectful titles later when he can talk better. For now, she doesn't mind that he just calls her "Short." She was glad that he remembered any part of her name. We had to have him repeat "Crystal" and "Heidi" (his aide and his special ed. teacher) because his pronunciation didn't sound much at all like their names, but he was definitely trying to say them. AND when Jason asked him if he had fun, Seth said YES. AND when Jason asked him if he wanted to go back to school tomorrow, he said YES!!! FIRST TIME EVER on that one, too!!!

So what in the world did I do with all those free hours while the kids were in school? I ran to Fred Meyer before taking Seth to school, and then I worked for about three hours. And THEN, I went to lunch with some friends from the Down syndrome group!!! I had FUN, ate at a restaurant without having to discipline anyone, and talked to GROWN-UPS!!

WHOO-HOO for school :-)