With his backpack and jacket on for the first time in three months, Alex knew it was time to go back to school. He bounced around the living room excitedly and would take me by the hand every now and then to lead me to the door as if to say, “Let’s go already!” I let him lead me until we had a good view of the street and would say, “The bus isn’t here yet, so we’re still waiting.” Alex accepted this answer. He waited for about five minutes, and then he’d take me by the hand once again. When the bus finally arrived, he skipped merrily outside to the bus.
Ben was a little less enthusiastic. Alex got used to the early bus rides. His bus usually comes between 7:15 and 7:30. For the last few years, Ben rode a different bus which took him to a different school. He rode out in the afternoons, not the mornings. Yesterday was his first full day of school. Ben went off to school willingly, but cautiously. For Ben, everything was new. Riding the bus in the morning was new. Riding to school with Alex was new. The bus driver was new. The aide was new. The school was new. The teacher was new. His schedule was new. All this newness must have caught up with him. About 2pm he threw up at school. He isn’t sick – at least he’s not acting sick. Still, he threw up. Perhaps this was his only way to communicate his distress. Perhaps the distress itself caused the vomiting. Both Alex and Ben (Alex more so) have tender tummies. We’ve never really figured out why they throw up in certain situations. There’s no medical reason that we know of most of the time. Often it seems to be a sensory processing thing. But, without the details of what was going on, it’s impossible to know what happened at school. When he got home, he was fine.
Willy’s day at Roosevelt was a bit more confusing. Unlike his brothers, Willy didn’t have a full day of school. Different school, different schedule. Yesterday, Willy and I went to Roosevelt to register. There was a lot of sitting and listening and standing and waiting. Both listening and waiting are difficult for Willy. He came away with two salient points from the first talk. First, he has a new principal. Second, he’s going to be learning some Chinese this year. So, while we were waiting for the second talk, he recited what little Chinese he’d picked up from the new Dora copycat, Kai-Lan. That didn’t take long, so then we switched to Spanish (which I know a little of, but not much after years on non-use).
Willy knew the fifth grade teachers, which was good to see. He was excited about the teacher he was placed with and the teacher seemed prepared to have Willy in his class. Though, I’m not sure if Willy got much out of the talk. I learned a few important things that are good to know, like I’m supposed to sign his assignment book each day and that they prefer parents to pick up the homework the day kids are sick, not when they return to school. By the time, Willy was too wiggly to concentrate.
When we finally got to go up to the classroom and unload the heavy backpack, Willy was able to find his desk immediately. It probably helped that his was the only desk with a weighted vest hanging off the back and a textured “cushion” on the chair – two tools that help Willy concentrate. Inside the desk we found a copy of Willy’s schedule, and another hanging in his locker.
Overall, I would say it was a smooth transition. As excited as they were for school to be over, they were all excited to start back up again. Major transitions like this are rarely this easy for us. Only time will tell if we’re sailing smoothly or if Ben’s incident hints at some rougher waters to come.
