First Days

 

Yesterday was the boys first day of school - Liam starting kindergarten and Quinn starting second grade.   The past two weeks have been difficult for me.  I've probably spent too much time thinking about how the start of the school year was supposed to be - how Liam was going to be without the difficulties resulting from his stroke.  I won't go into the details, but he was going to own that place.  His confidence, his personality, his language, his friends...

 

Anyway... I must say that after the first day I felt much relief.  The speech therapist and occupational therapist made sure to touch base with me during the brief 30 minute window given to parents to meet the teachers/drop off supplies.  They also introduced themselves to Liam and the occupational therapist played with him outside for a bit.  His teacher has just been absolutely amazing in her communication with me and gave me a big thumbs up and a smile at the end of his first morning.  Liam also came out with a huge smile on his face.

 

He wasn't worried or nervous at all about starting... it was if he did own that place.  I'm still nervous that he's going to struggle to communicate with his friends, but after watching him play with one of his good buddies yesterday after the PTA sponsored picnic, I felt a bit better.

 

Another bright note - he had a homework assignment to put two things into a small paper bag to help describe him.  He immediately said, "I am strong," and found a 3-pound weight that would fit into the bag.  Then he struggled for what else and I asked him what he likes to play... "Baseball" - so he went into school this morning with those two things and I hope that the words come easily to him while he's describing them to his class.  We also had to decorate a paper-cut-out of a boy and he was able to communicate with me his ideas (with some help).

 

I'm going to try to follow some advice from a good friend and focus on what's in front of me right now and just take very brief glances at the past and the future.  It hasn't been easy for me to imagine what this week would have been like if the stroke never happened.  But, it did happen, and the support I've gotten thus far from the school has been amazing and Liam, so far, seems happy and excited to be going to kindergarten.