My first days in first grade

I know it has been awhile again. Things were going really well last week and I really didn't have a ton to write about because chaos is much more entertaining to read about (unless it is your family). Highlights of the last week included: started our first day (out of 60!!!) of oral antifungal meds, had 2 playdates, and checked out Ajura's school. Playdates went well and I was proud of both boys working on interacting with other children. But the real big deal of the week has been school. Yep, Ajura and I started first grade this week. This is how it is going...

Last Wednesday we gave school a test drive, meaning we went to the school when all the other kids were gone and Karl and I went with Ajura. He met Sparky the fish is what he would probably tell you about that first encounter. We had a really good experience though. We are going to Apple Creek school and for those of you who don't know it is a small country school. Seriously, there are only 4 students in 6th grade and Ajura's class is the largest with 12. Not only are the small class sizes a bonus, but Ajura is the only student that needs an ELL (English Language Learner) teacher and therefore he has a ELL teacher one-on-one in addition to his 1st grade teacher. AWESOME!! Kinda funny thing is his ELL teacher came here from South Korea last year and has a bit of an accent. She is so wonderful with Ajura and the first thing she said to me is, "I remember being scared and overwhelmed coming here, so my first order of business is to get him to feel that I am his safe person and he is safe at school. Then we work on the language portion of things." She deals so gracefully with his breakdowns and doesn't baby him but makes him feel safe. Pretty good for a little country school. This first time in the school he was really excited about his desk and like I said Sparky the fish, but he wasn't too keen on leaving his items from his backpack in his desk.

Day 2 of school: BAD!!!! We arrived at recess time and we were going to give him a test to see if he needed us at school. Well the fact that when he saw Karl start to drive away and FREAKED out would probably point to the fact that we aren't ready for going to school solo. Kind of a set-back but his teacher is ready for day 3 so here we go...

Day 3 of school: Somewhat of success, we actually were able to enter the school for a brief moment but there was no escape for those of us that have passed first grade previously. He watched the other children play at recess but would not participate. Understandable. However, I will mention that he is bigger than even some of the 6th grade girls and it makes me giggle.

Phew the weekend, tough week at school since we put a total of maybe 3 hours in. However, this weekend the boys went to the pool for the first time. Anne was so excited to take them swimming and we were a bit anxious because all other experiences with water have caused them to be nervous (they think crocodiles are going to eat them on the river). The kids literally RAN into the swimming pool. Mind you, neither one can swim or float at all but they LOVED the water and playing around. Too bad the lifeguards were Nazis about everything. I mean really we have 5 people in the pool for 2 kids. One is a anesthesiologist, a nurse anesthetist, two lifeguards, and an engineer (Karl can build a better life jacket or something). I think the children were well guarded to say the least. Sweet, now we have an awesome manipulation tool.

Monday morning Ajura was actually excited for school because Karl promised him a ride on the tractor (which they call a dozer) if he went to school. Perhaps we should have specified that he had to stay there all day and not cry. Minor detail. So I get him into the building without a hassle and he sits in his desk and I learn about homophones. Ajura gets to play with a puzzle. My favorite part of first grade was when a little girl brought her caterpillar to show and tell and the interesting fact was that she thought the caterpillar was dead. My least favorite part was the total meltdown in the middle of the day where Ajura cried for about 1 hour straight. Thankfully, his teacher was great about the whole ordeal and I was eventually able to leave the school for the last part of the day after I ate lunch with him. I did participate in after lunch recess and Ajura was running around and he had a harem of girls following him from place to place. Everyone at school is very interested in him. I find it interesting that due to childhood obesity rates the schools will not provide 2% milk for the kids but they still feed them breaded chicken sandwiches. After school, while I was driving Ajura home, he was just jabbering in the back seat about his day so excitedly. Too bad I couldn't understand even a third of it but is was still so fun to hear him be so animated. Since he stayed at school all day, Karl gave him a ride on the tractor when he got home. Ajura sat on the tractor for an hour waiting for Karl to get home! Fairly good first day.

Tuesday didn't start out well at all. I got up and again we let Ajura pick his outfit to avoid any meltdowns. Then I tried to use the Nudred in his hair (which worked GREAT!) and he got angry and sat down on the step and wouldn't move which makes it very difficult for me to get him into the car and into the school. So we are late for school and I have to literally carry him in. His teacher brings out a stack of pictures that girls in other grades made for him to try to get him to participate. FINALLY he will get up and walk to his desk. After about 30 minutes I am excused and I get NO phone calls! Ajura stayed in school all day without me on the second day! I am very impressed. Therefore, after school we went to the fire station where my friend works. The boys had such a great time! Then when Karl got home it was another ride on the tractor. Anne brought pizza out for us last night which was YUMMY.

Well this whole post is about Ajura but a few things about Ahmi: he currently thinks his name is Amen, he is a disaster at the dinner table, and he told the dogs he loved them yesterday when we were leaving the house (without prompting). He is such a good little guy. He has been able to hang out with our friend Bill the last couple of days while I was experiencing 1st grade and Karl is back at work. He is doing well with this adjustment however he really wants to go to school too with Ajura. No tears but always has the bummed out look when we say we are just dropping Ajura off.