Back to School

September 07, 2013

Back to School

I am now the very proud mom to a 4th and 1st grade. (How did that happen?!?!) I was able to snap this picture on Tuesday - our first day of school. The kids are still at the same school. Oliver is actually in the same classroom with the same teacher as last year. He has 3 new classmates though. Waverly is in the other IDS classroom with a new teacher and 3 former classmates. Wavey's fantastic aide is with her again this year and for that we are incredibly grateful. I had some very kind emails from their mainstream teachers, welcoming them into their classrooms.

Wavey was all smiles for her first day. Oliver was a bit upset about returning to school, but he will soon settle in once again. He just takes a bit longer to remember the routine and get comfortable. I hope for another great year for all of us.

Comments

kathryn said…

I wore purple the other day, thinking of you guys. Then, proceeded to spill coffee ALL OVER. I still wore the shirt though, and now when I look at coffee I think of you guys!

September 11, 2013 at 3:14 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.