Melt Down about "Boy"

Whew, that was a long day. Mostly from 2:45 onward...

I was SO happy to get the kids back to school yesterday. And it's sort of scary how much delight David and I took in having to wake Sofia up both mornings: "Sofia! Wake Up! Morning Coming!" Payback...

It also felt good to get back to being "Hamorah Francine", the teacher. I got to work with my Torah students yesterday and today - very rewarding. Especially because I just love all the kids at this school!

So today: it took a bit to get us all out of the house, since they are still on "waking up late" time. Dropped Sofia at Breakfast Bunch, got the boys and myself to the day school. Worked with a new Torah reader, with lots of sweet giggles. Had a couple of quick check-ins with various folk.

Spent an hour running errands - FINALLY mailed out our 2011 Holiday Cards - then went to my favorite bagel place (Cafe Bagel) for some delayed breakfast and a lovely chat with the wonderful owner. Went home and sorted out some stuff, then had a very long and fruitful phone conversation with the rabbi of the synagogue where we will be holding our school Shabbaton in a few weeks.

Got Sofia, brought her back to the day school, reviewed Torah readings with Micah's class, had a very productive meeting with the school psychologist. We are coming up on Sofia's IEP, and it was useful to review with P (who is also the IEP coordinator for the day school) what some of our concerns and questions are for the public school. The nice thing is that, in December, the staff from the day school spent some time observing at the public school, and they now have much more information for me - most of it really good, positive news.

I've been feeling very out-of-the-loop about how Sofia is doing at the public school, because we get almost no written feedback, and of course Sofia is not telling us anything. So it's good to know things are going well.

My own biggest concern is the potty. They are still insisting on taking her to the nurse's office to use the potty, and at least once a week, she comes home in a change of outfit. She does NOT have accidents at home or at the other school, so I'm not sure what the heck is going on. And I've been stonewalled every time I ask. No one seems to "own" the decision. So that will be my own major issue for discussion at the IEP meeting. Besides academics, of course.

Anyway, after I met with P, I got to be Hamorah Francine again, this time by bringing the Torah itself down to the Kindergarten room (I was going to bring them to see it in theCafetorium, but there was a music class going on).

It was SO much fun to be able to show the students the Torah. Most of them had never been "up close" to see the scroll. I pointed out the words of the Shema, which they know by heart (and which has some unusually-sized letters). Sofia was thrilled ot have both Mama and Torah at the same time, and she was very definite about dismissing Hamorah A, her aide, when I appeared! (Although A stayed until I put my Mama hat back on again).

No, the big exhaustion came at the end of school. Samuel started his snowboard lessons today, along with one of his friends. So he was staying in the aftercare program until his friend's dad, came to get them. I collected Sofia, Micah and two children who usually walk (but it was way too cold, so I was driving them). But Sofia refused to budge without "Boy". She was laying on the ground in front of the door, screaming for Boy. She got so very upset. Shouting "Boy" and demanding we get him. We had to go back in to school and get a hug from him, and even then, it was difficult to get her in the car.

Dropped the other kids at their house, took Micah to Old Navy for some jeans. Sofia was VERY vocal about not liking the design of the new shopping carts, and then even more vocal about "HUNGRY!" Thank heavens they now have snacks in the check out line, although she ate half and then tossed it on the ground.

Took Micah to gymnastics, took Sofia to Starbucks, then sat in the car with her for 45 minutes waiting for Micah. She watched her Signing Times video on my phone while I napped ;)

Treated the two kids to sushi (takeout), and got her to bed a little earlier tonight. Before she fell asleep, we were practicing her reading lesson for the weekend reading group. And I discovered something amazing about my daughter:

SHE CAN READ!!!!!!

Not every word, but most of them. She can actually read the WORDS, not just identify them because of the pictures on the page. 'Cause she can read them without the pictures on the page!

She can also count to 10, and identify almost immediately how many items are on a given page.

I am SO proud of that little girl!