Back To School Night

Tonight was the annual try-to-meet-as-many-teachers-and-see-as-many-classrooms-as-you-can night. I skipped the welcome portion at church, as I've heard that same spiel for the last 9 yrs. I decided that it would be more time effective to go right into school and find SmallBoy's classroom. His desk was all neat and clean and organized; surprising for an AS child, they must have done that today. There was a packet of information from the teacher explaining expectations for the year, books they will be reading, handwriting samples, and a bunch of extraneous stuff. On top of the packet was a note from SmallBoy.

Dear Mom and dad -

I hope you like my classroom. I hope you like my desk. Third grade is great.

SmallBoy (written twice, once in cursive and once printed).

So I left him a note back saying "hi" and how much I liked how neat his desk looked and that I love him. I also came to school prepared. Knowing what I know now about SmallBoy and his AS, I armed myself with a packet of my own with information from various sites about AS. This packet was geared towards teachers and educators to give them a better idea of what to expect from SmallBoy this year and how to make his school year, and theirs, a bit easier. I walked around to each teacher that he has this year and made sure that each one had a copy of this packet. I didn't push it on them or anything, just said "Hi! I've got a SmallBoy packet for you with anything you could ever want to know about him. He was dx with AS just this past June, but you're all familiar with his quirks and differences by now. This will answer your questions and, perhaps create more. I've included my home and work phone numbers on the front, so PLEASE call me if you need any clarification." The teachers were thrilled. I do have to say that there is a wonderful group of teachers at my children's school. They are kind, caring, compassionate, and more than willing to work with parents and families to ensure the success of the students.

After Back-to-School-Night, I helped SmallBoy get packed for his weekend at Ex's and tucked him into bed. It's always hard to tuck him in on Thursday nights if it's an Ex weekend for the kids because they leave with Ex before I get home from work on Friday. But that's for another article. I kissed him goodnight, gave him his allergy meds, scratched his back and gave him our goodnight I love you routine. He, in turn, hugged me as tight as he could and told me that I was a - now hold on, I have to get a big breath here - super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super (inhale) super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super mom. I love my SmallBoy. Of course I reciprocated immediately. I have to say that the lack of showing affection towards others is one of the ASD symptoms that he does NOT display.

This mommy's got to work tomorrow morning, so I'd best get to bed. I'm sure I won't get much sleep tomorrow night after going to the scary scary movie!