Day One

Those of you who have been here a while know about Sean's speech delay. Last year at this time I was involved in figuring out what was going on, what we could do about it. Over the summer we had tests, tubes put in his ear, meetings. He has had private speech and occupational therapy since mid-August, and it IS working.

But not really fast enough. Not that I want him to be perfect or anything, but he's still testing as about a two year old on his language skills. Since he'll be four in June, that's pretty delayed.

He can talk. He'll sometimes surprise you and come out with a whole sentence, perfectly logical, communication of his desire or need. But most of the time I prefers, like Bartleby the Scrivener, to not.

So, we finally agreed to put him in the "Special needs" class at one of the local elementary schools. He was qualified to do this before but I was afraid of what he might pick up from kids with more severe problems than his. He is such a sweet kid-- I don't want him learning temper tantrums & violent behavior. Many of us probably felt that way in elementary school, ourselves, but just had the ability to control it. :)

Anyway. Yesterday we set him up to go and today was his first day. I have to go pick him up in about two hours and he was pretty good when I dropped him off this morning.

There are all kinds of things to be anxious about. As a twin, he (or his sister, for that matter) have never really been on their own totally. Oh, sometimes, to a doctor's appointment or something. But they hold hands. They play with each other well. They are with each other almost constantly. Maia is mad because she wants to start a new school, too.

I'll have a shorter day of freedom/work ability, myself. I could put him in after school daycare, but why spend a lot of money when I can pick him up and he'll be so happy to get some "private time" with mom? But I think it will be good for him.

Anyway. This has been a big transition. Admitting that your kid needs help, that he get to ride "the short bus" at least for a while, overcoming your fears about how other people will treat him because of that above. Knowing that he'll be exposed to new things that you can't control. But wanting, so badly, for him to say "I love you mom" or "I'd like some ice cream"-- simple things most parents get way before now. Knowing that it will be worth it when he communicates better than he does. Being a little afraid that he never really will, in spite of all evidence that he OUGHT to be able to. That he has the lights on upstairs just fine, just doesn't choose to answer the buzzer when you call.

That, and Andrew probably found us another rental property, also in the local historic "Highland" district. This one will take A LOT of work, and it will be a duplex apartment. But it could be SO cool if restored, and if it doesn't have any major structural problems our inspector will go look for, then it could be a fun but very, very busy summer for me working on the restoration.

We call ourselves slum lords but really, if we really were, we wouldn't be restoring these places and doing all this work; we'd leave them the way they are. But it's super cool. We're going to post some "after" pictures of the place I've been working on the last few weeks soon. So there. Day one of two things. Sean + possible rental property project.

And life goes on, and there is so much more to think about.