Second week of school

The pictures today are from the first day of school last week. They were taken as we left for school and I was still hopeful that the morning would go smoothly. I didn’t feel like putting them up last week as I was feeling that our progress was so little from where we had left off in May. I am feeling better about where we are now.

This week has come and gone with small progresses and advances. Julia is almost enjoying school. Each morning still begins with an "I don’t want to go school-o," but she is quite happy to get dressed, have breakfast, brush teeth, comb the bed head and get some of her hair out of her eyes, ride to school, and swing on the swings before the bell rings to get on line. Julia is learning to put her backpack on her teachers line-up dot, and to line up when the bell rings. She has an aide right now, Amy, who is helping her and who is also in the classroom in the mornings.

We received word today that Julia qualifies for language training at the school. Hard to imagine that she wouldn’t but still very happy they have done all the paper work to get that going.

Julia has been coming home with some of her work – She painted a big J and S in the lines. Dotted a line drawn J and U, but just went crazy with the rest of her name. She copied her numbers from 1 to 10 and I think she tried to write a few more. I don’t know if she has done this during a free work time or when Amy is sitting down with her, but it does seem that she is doing more than just playing. I say just playing, however, I was pleased to see her playing with two boys building with legos when I went to pick her up for the docs on Wednesday.

Julia is so happy to see me when I come to get her. Sometimes, a bit too happy – something that I will talk to the therapist about.

I have been packing lunch for her. At least for now, I am trying to give her food that she really likes – usually noodles or rice as part of her lunch – in the hope that it makes school feel more familiar.

She is still doing some pushing and hitting, and I hope that our appointment with a behavioral therapist helps us some with that. We will be talking about her attachment and aggression. I am hoping to get a few answers, or at least a few things to try to move us along some. I am at such a plateau with her behavior. I have no idea how to cope with what is left of the bad stuff – not often, but when she tantrums or melts down. She is listening in general much more. Julia has begun answering questions about school as well – okay, mostly about whether or not she has eaten her lunch, but I think it is important to get a dialogue going.

I have been awfully lazy and a little blue this week this week. I have done my tasks, what I set out to do to keep the house and move a few projects along but I putter along without enthusiasm. This is not the behavior that I had planned for this time. I want to pull out of this, take possession of the lovely fall days.
It turned cold today -- cooling off all week, but tonight I was cold walking the dog. I had my tee shirt and a fleece jacket on, but I really could have used something that the wind couldn't invade. The children go to school in sweaters and jackets and up until today the outer wear was shoved into backpacks at the end of th day, but today, those kids came out of school with jackets on and buttoned. We are expecting a light freeze tonight -- if I had tomatoes planted, I'd be taking off all the tomatoes that I could this evening. We have moved north.