After our crazy jam packed weekend, following two crazy jam packed weeks of appointments, we finally reached what we had been working so hard for and Atti had his first day of school on Monday.
In many ways it was a little anti-climactic. Since Atti’s going in as a Special Ed student, there’s a whole different procedure than a typical student. No lists of school supplies to bring, no instructions of school policy, no orientation. Since Atti’s not starting at the beginning of the school year, we’ve just kind of ended up figuring out what we need to know as we need to know it. Including not having the right start time for the first two days.
Bear and I came together his first day to see how things were going to work, and it’s a good thing we did since there was a lot of figuring out we all had to do together. Atti doesn’t have a wheelchair or anything yet, so we had to bring his stroller in from the car so he has a way he can sit up and be transported around. We knew that the class started with breakfast in the morning, but we didn’t think through that we would need to start a tab for him in the cafeteria. There are so many little details that you take for granted when your kid does things the same way as all the others, but when he doesn’t, then every little detail becomes custom. And that’s a lot of planning and negotiations.
After we left breakfast and got back to the classroom, Bear and I didn’t stick around for long. It became obvious that Atti was distracted by having us there so we said goodbye and went home with tears in our eyes.
Atti’s only had two days of school so far. I got a call on Wednesday morning that he had a fever so I raced down to snap him up and he and I have spent the rest of this week drinking gatorade and wiping our noses. But already he’s telling me about the stuff he’s learned. He’ll show you how he washes his hands by rubbing them together, he’s already answering questions easier, and yesterday he named his colors for me.
It’s bittersweet that he’s already saying words I can’t understand because I have no context for them. It won’t be long before I won’t be his best translator anymore. I have so much faith in his teachers and I’m so excited that he’ll open up to more of the world, but it is sad that that means he won’t be exclusively mine anymore.