First week of 4th Grade, He's Catching On

D.C. shoes are IN for both kids. They look like giant puffy clown shoes to me, but I guess I'm not the one wearing them!

Leo and Sydney got on the bus the first day of school like it was a normal day from the spring. No real excitement or anticipation, just business as usual. I, on the other hand, was fine until the bus appeared over the little hill, and my eyes started to well up. Sydney, now in 2nd grade, looks at me while reaching out to touch my shoulder, and says"It'll be okay, Mom." Leo, now in 4th grade, dutifully leaned over for an A frame and off they went, leaving me confused as to where all the time went. I logically know, but man, it's still tough for me.

Sydney and Leo are in the mediocre grades at our schools, they are both considered repeat/reinforcer years. 1st, 3rd, and 5th are challenging and demanding, they throw all the new stuff at them in these grades and let the dust settle in between. I kind of like this strategy, should be a fairly easy year with not very much homework.

But back to the first week, Leo HATES school. Each day he says how absolutely boring it is, and honestly I can't blame him. Now that he's older, they go to lunch later, and they have their specials first thing in the morning, so the day isn't broken up much. He tells me that he tries not to look at the clock, and when he finally does, only 5 or 10 minutes have passed and it "just sucks, Mom." I've been there, and he's finally catching on to the rest of his life. The cheerleading cushy fun energetic times are over I think. But I do like his teacher, a sweet older man, his first male teacher. He's very old school, very ernest, a sports fan, and has a dry sense of humor. It's probably a good fit even though he's not that exciting.

Leo learned that an instrument was optional this year and they do weekly pullouts, he signed up for violin just to escape! I rented the instrument, so hopefully he'll actually enjoy but either way I'm covered. I can already hear the violin practice....

The social makeup looks very good this year. A nice group of boys in Leo's class, including his BFF. We are thrilled because this boy is a great friend in every way, they learn from each other, and we like the parents. Leo is playing AAA fall ball and is loving it per usual. Most of the same kids, some a blast from the past, really fun. He's learning to pitch now, I really like how they take turns playing ALL the positions. I still can't believe he can catch a ball let alone play organized ball sports by choice. Leo takes his football to school every day, and they play touch football games at recess. A nice group of boys that broke off from a large group that are more competitive and aggressive. A turnoff for Leo, but the good news is that he isn't alone with these sentiments. He's happy with his friends, I am estatic about this.

Sydney had a good start, then got a flu that had her miss an entire week of school. She was so sick, I thought for a while she may have had strep or even Lyme. I still think both my kids have some sort of suppressed Lyme based on their makeup of face tics and environmental sensitivities. Her tests came back negative, but they wouldn't test her for blood, which is what I really wanted to see about Lyme. But they wouldn't because she had abdominal symptoms which in theory are not Lyme. Such a hotly debated topic that I need to learn more about. The silver lining was this flu caused her chronic symptoms to get better. After 5 months of chronic tics that kept changing and coming back, she has been tic free for a week. In this house, we have bouts of wellness, so I can say she is now well, no chronic or acute illness!

I'm still working on Leo, he has a minor cold that's almost better, and his tics are minor, about 85% better. We are on our way, a remedy that in theory addressed his underlying root illness seems to be helping. I can put him back on his regular remedy soon and see what happens.

So far so good. I'm still waiting for two big things - the Yale writeup and the standardized testing results that should be mailed to us over the next couple of weeks. With these two instruments I should have something to go on to plan for Leo's future support.

As far as I go, I'm busy studying for my homeopathy degree and slowly updating my main website, www.hiddenrecovery.com, in hopes I can finally publish an article I've ignored for a very long time. I just need to do it. I am feeling pretty good about things these days, the kids seem happy which makes mom happy. I can't complain (well, other than about Sarah Palin or the economy crisis).