So Far, So Good....

Both kids are into their fourth week of school and so far, all is well.

I was worried with Michaela. On the third
day of school she woke up crying and saying she was done and didn't want to go. She was having SEVERE anxiety over fire drills...long story behind that. It killed me to drag her to school crying and begging to stay home. She managed to make it through the day and the next 5, after we talked and were able to put words to how she was feeling. That 8th day, there was a fire drill! She was great, the school has been amazing and the new guidance councilor has worked hard to come up with a plan to help her. They gave her a "fire drill buddy" and for whatever reason, it's worked. She was so proud of herself that day, and we just kept saying,
"see you made it through, there was a fire drill and you're still OK"
She's been fine since, thank goodness!

Overall, she's loving 5th grade and has been eager and willing to do all her homework. No arguing, for now any way.
We have a wonderful new music teacher at school and he's started a new program of a Recorder Marching Band...more than 85, 3rd, 4th & 5th graders learning to play all same song on the recorder and march. They'll be marching in our local holiday parade in November. Michaela is absolutely loving this! She's also doing chorus.

As a 5th grader, she is able to pick an instrument to learn to play. Ever since she was in 1st grade, she's wanted to play the flute...of all things. Probably one of the hardest instruments she could choose, especially for a kid with WS. But, how can I say "No"? I have to at least let her try and when she's this determined, who knows what she's capable of doing!
So, we picked up her flute last week and she's probably practiced making a sound with it for a good 4-5 hours over the weekend...like I said, determined. It also makes a BIG difference that her music teacher is excited for her and is wanting her to succeed. He even offered to give her private lessons a fews days a week.

Michaela and I also started a Yoga class for special needs kids. Today will be our second class. It was fun and she LOVED it! It will be such a good thing for her.

In the next few weeks, she'll have Bowling Club starting up again and horseback riding lessons. This kid has a full plate and she's as happy as can be!


Aaron has adjusted just fine to high school. In fact, he loves it. I figured he'd probably be fine, but when you're coming in to a school as one of 850 incoming Freshman, it might be a little overwhelming. He's going to a big private school, Pinkerton Academy, it has almost 4,000 students! He says he finally feels like he's having to actually think....that's good, I guess. He's in all high level courses and they even allowed him to take a Sophmore level engineering class....he's loving that!
He joined the Robotics competition team and has a list of all the other clubs he wants to join.

As you can imagine, these two keep me busy!