Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: After School

Both kids are back in school. Big changes this year! Big sister is an upper classperson, with a different start schedule and change-ups at recess and lunch. She is in a room with lots of new classmates. Her school changed to a charter, with emphasis on math and science, which is right up her alley. She is going to be a Big Buddy to some lucky little kid, instead of being the Little Buddy.

James is on a campus he's attended before, but for a special day preschool three years ago. At this second grade level, aides are not available before or after school, so we are coping with being more self-directed at these times. Class is much more structured than he's been used to over the past year; it's not the one I advocated for. And its a challenge to have him use his voice appropriately. I have a meeting tomorrow with his services coordinator. Yesterday I got the notification in the mail about his 3-year assessment, and I am contemplating what this means for James. It's hard to play chess when I am not sure of which pieces I have, and the rules are hazy and not fully formed in my brain.

So after yesterday's pickup, we hit the library and then walked across the Green to Yogurt Farms for a frosty treat. James lost his temper and yelled, almost crying, when I told him he needed to wait his turn in line to get his yogurt rung up. He'd held it together all day so well, but that was one thing too much. He howled and melted right before us all. Thank goodness he was able to get to a seat and remain mostly seated, occasionally stating loudly "I am very angry!" and making his dinosaur noises for the two minutes it took to reach our turn. Then we skedaddled across the street to the park, and life took a much calmer, better turn:

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