Monday, Monday...

So good to me (ba-da ba-da-da-da)
Monday mornin', it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday mornin', Monday mornin' couldn't guarantee (ba-da ba-da-da-da)
~Mamas & The Papas

We survived!!

Yes, I knew we would survive, even if the day had been bleak and horrid we would have survived it, but the day wasn't bleak or horrid or terrible or tear filled or miserable or any of the other things that I nervously waited for...the day was....

"pretty great" according to boy. I was hoping to just get a "good", but instead we got "pretty great", which to me is pretty freaking awesome!

We started the day, "Goodmorning Chart" in hand, with therapeutic listening while he ate breakfast. Usually the therapeutic listening is supposed to go for 30 minutes (I swear I will blog a separate blog about the coolness of this!), but we only got in about 20 minutes, which was perfectly fine with me. He completed his chart and we were off to school.

The office entrance was decorated with balloons, which is apparently exactly what happened last year so the familiarity begin for him. I walked him to his class and he found that the seating chart had him and his cousin together, super bonus! He put away his stuff and got right down to business. I think the fact that yesterday was a 1/2 day was a little awkward to him because after school (and even today) he commented on how tomorrow (Tuesday) they would actually start working.

Last year there were HUGE issues with discipline in the class. Boy is super rule follower guy so I never worried he would get in trouble in class, but he had high anxiety over it. He would obsess over who was getting in trouble and getting their name on the board. The teacher (who I really did like) also did group punishment if one kid misbehaved too much and the anxiety that was created there was unreal. Well the very first thing boy announced to me yesterday upon leaving school was the fact that there is a new procedure when someone gets in trouble. Basically everyone starts with a green card, but as misbehavior happens they flip their cards to various colors indicating varying degrees of "in trouble". Anyone who keeps a green card all week gets put in a drawing for some kind of prize. At the end of each day the kids write their color for the day in their daily folder and the parents are encouraged to check that. It sounds like a very successful process and I think it will really help alleviate his anxiety about getting in trouble.

The teacher also walked the kids around the school and introduced them to the "specials" teachers (art, music, spanish) to help familiarize themselves with those teachers again. I think this will be another huge help to our anxiety issues because last year boy had a lot of stress about transitioning to the various different specials throughout the day/week. Last year the school councelor walked him to each of the specials and introduced him to the teacher (even though he had already been in their classes). It seemed to help and I think that this was also helpful to him in remembering how the routine works.

Kudos to the teacher for having such great ideas for the first day!!

I questioned him about the noise, which was a difficult thing to get past last year, and he stated that it was noisy, but not too bad. That could be because it was just the first day or it could be that the therapeutic listening is helping...we will have to see how that goes throughout the year. He did comment that the other kids must have grown up a lot because they weren't nearly as bad as they were last year...he's such an old soul living in the body if a 7 year old. I love him!

He didn't make any friends or talk to anyone (or so he says), but he did quiz the class to see if anyone remembered how funny he was last year, which no one did so he was determined to come up with some funny jokes to start telling. This morning on the way to school I asked if he had come up with any good jokes to tell today and he said no, but he has some great jokes planned for April Fools day and the last day of school...so I am hoping that doesn't mean he is planning on waiting until April to make some friends! haha.

Overall it was a very great day, he was in high spirits and excited to go back today. Today is the first full day of school, which means he is eating lunch there....hopefully it is just as wonderful a day as yesterday!