First Grade, Riding the Bus and Goodnight Butterflies

Monday was Russell's first day of First Grade! It was pretty uneventful and no tears from the hormonal, pregnant mother. Here is the obligatory first day of school picture. I think he wore the same thing for the first day of Kindergarten!! He had to button the top button of his polo shirt and I have no clue why. This year we had to upgrade our lunchbox - we are so over Darth Vader and absolutely had to have a Pirates of the Caribbean lunchbox.

So far school is going well. Yesterday he came home and had to tell me all the kids he saw from his Kindergarten class and who he didn't find. He has 2 friends from K in his class this year, so he was really excited to see his friends and find the rest at lunch, PE, etc. Today he came home and said "I found Will!! But I still haven't found Dylan." He has also been looking a lot at his yearbook from last year, finding new and old friends' pictures.

Something new this year for him is to ride the bus home. For the past couple of years I have picked him up form school. It was getting to the point where we were only beating the bus by 5 or 6 minutes and Rachel wasn't getting a good nap. I am not ready for her to stop napping!! So, with the baby coming and all that, we thought we'd try the bus in the afternoon.

There was a little concern over where the bus stopped - I could just see myself waiting for him and the bus drives by, AH!!! But, it stops exactly where I thought it did, around the corner from our house, just a minute or two to walk, perfect! I gave his driver a little gift of just a baggy of some candies and tied a nice bow on it. She was thrilled. I just figure being a school bus driver is a thankless job, but when you think about it, it is one of those jobs that helps make the world go around, you know?

Okay, Miss Rachel. Let me just write that yesterday was the biggest public temper tantrum she has ever had. What, Rachel??? Shocking!!! Ha! It happened at school in the PTO room because she didn't want to leave. Ugh. We spent some time in our room when we got home.

She has this new way of going to bed that I also want to share : ) We both lay in her bed here is what we say:

R-Good night butterflies (she has butterflies that hang from her ceiling) Me- I repeat what she says

R- Good night bunnies (an iron bunny decoration hanging on her wall) and again, I repeat

R- Good night red wall (she has one red wall) I repeat

She turns to me and whispers - Good night Mom, I whisper good night to her

Then she asks for a hug and kiss (like she wouldn't get one!!) and she whispers I love you, of course, I repeat, and off to dreamland she goes. It is so cute.

'Tis the Season!

Prepare yourselves, the NFL season is quickly approaching. For us, this is right up there with Christmas. And when the two coincide, it truly is the season!!! We actually considered going to the Superbowl in Miami last year, a dream of ours, but quickly changed our minds when we saw the worst seats cost a small fortune. We'll get there one of these days, but until then, we will continue our worship at the house of NFL.

Adam and I both play Fantasy Football and we both have several teams. So, we have been reading our fantasy mags, Internet reports, setting up leagues and teams, exchanging the usual smack talk - a busy time of year! I know, we are total dorks, but happy dorks nonetheless! I am usually the only woman in our leagues and it is always such a thrill beat some dude with a huge ego and thinks he can play better than I. Adam loves to go work on Mondays when I hand it to one of his colleagues and they've got their tail between their legs. Now, don't get me wrong, I lose too, but unless one of my players is injured, it usually very close.

If you haven't discovered to joy of fantasy ball, or want to know more about it, we love to share! It is so much fun and changes the way you watch football. The kids live the excitement. One year I had Tiki Barber on my team and we were watching him play on TV. Russ was INTO IT. We were cheering for Tiki, heckling the other team, Russ was pretending to run like Tiki - a great Sunday afternoon!

Of course, the start of football also marks the start of the school year. Russ will start 1st grade on August 20th. Since I'm on the Board of the PTO and in the office about once a week, I snuck a peek at his teacher for next year and he is with the teacher I wanted for him. You may remember that they have him placed in an 'inclusion' class for the students with language delays. He has both speech and language delays, but the language is more severe.

When I was presented with this class placement at the last IEP, they kept talking about him being grouped with his 'like-abled' students (meaning all the kids with delays) in reading and math groups since they typically all function at the same level. The principal even told me this (btw, he retired this summer, no huge loss in my mind). Last year Russ was in flat out regular ed Kindergarten, he was in the highest reading and math group all year long. He started in the highest group and was never switched to the lower groups and was one of the best readers in his class.

So, obviously, my concern is that he'll get grouped with all the other students with delays which won't benefit him - he'd have even less exposure to 'normal-abled' peers, which defeats the whole purpose of mainstreaming children with disabilities into the regular ed classrooms. We want him to maintain his level of learning and continue to challenge him so he stays on that track. A soap box that I proudly stand upon. Anyway, the light at the end of the tunnel is that I have heard such good things about Russell's new teacher from many reliable sources, so I am hoping that she and I see eye to eye on the issue. I have a good feeling that we will.