Got O settled into Kindergarten. He is in the same K-1 split class. 9 boys all with a variety of developmental delays; all perfectly lovely. Same 3 wonderful teachers. Different classroom. Uh-oh…something different. That threw our friend, O for a loop. He has been doing a wonderful job of self-soothing talk lately. When we walked in the classroom he said, ‘Well, this is different. (l o n g  pause) BUT, I think that it could be okay’. Major relief washed over me. Okay, crisis averted there. Pretty much, he’s been doing great lately. I left the room with him delightfully happy and participating in a drawing activity.

I returned to the classroom at 3 to pick him up. He couldn’t answer a question. He was so spaced out. The look in his eyes told me that he had had too much and just needed to leave. We left. A meltdown was eminent. Just a matter of time. I told him that we could get an ice cream cone to celebrate his first day. He only wanted to go to the candy shop and get candy there. Once I gave in and said, ‘ok’, he kinda switched gears and was on board. He still couldn’t make eye contact and was spacing out, but I thought, ‘maybe he’ll come around’. Spoke too soon…major meltdown…couldn’t get him out of the car at home. Ugg.

There were only 3 days the first week. They all kinda went the same. It’s hard to see him struggling when he was doing so well.

Today I picked him up. I met one of the specialists in the hall who was telling me how well O was doing this week and just this morning what a great job he did participating in the classroom activity. But, then his main teacher came down the hall and said that O was in the classroom and wasn’t very happy. As soon as I saw him my heart melted. He was so spaced out, laying on the floor, kicking the cabinet. His eyes were overflowing with tears as he stared straight ahead. Without even blinking, the tears were flowing. His eyes look more bluish than green when he is crying. I looked away because my eyes began swelling with tears as well. I managed to pull him out of it a bit by having him show me around the classroom. We sharpened pencils together in the new pencil sharpener.

He came home and just wanted to go downstairs and play legos. He’s really been enjoying that lately.

Tomorrow’s a new day. Lets hope that it goes more smoothly.