First Day of Second Grade!

I can't believe that I have a second grader. I mean, I remember my second grade year, my teacher, projects we did, things we learned. And now I have a 2nd grader. Weird.

Justin woke up very excited and we had a great morning. Adam went out and bought donuts, which both boys were quite excited about. At one point Justin said to me "Mom, you know....I'm really excited to go to school today." It made me feel good. I've been a little apprehensive about sending him. Every year is "new" and every year it seems I have to re-explain Justin's special needs and well, it just gives me anxiety. Yesterday I was able to have a short meeting with Justin's case worker, his speech teacher, his new teacher, and the principal. It went very well, his case worker did a great job at explaining what all Justin needs as special help and encouragement and it gave me some peace--I was glad not to have to be doing the bulk of the explaining. His teacher was specifically picked by his team because they think she'll be a good fit for his needs and I'm hopeful. She seems very calm and kind. She took lots of notes yesterday while we talked and I'm hopeful that things will go as they should. I plan to work in the class once a week again this year. It sure helps the school-home connection of things so I know what Justin is talking about, and also so I know what's going on!

When we got to school this morning, there was the cutest "party" going on. All the teachers were dressed in their pink and red tie-dyed Sandoz shirts and dancing in front of the school. They had this long red carpet runners that lead to the front doors of the school. They had Cool and the Gangs "Celebration" song blaring from a big boom box. And then each teacher had a big sign with his/her name on it and the kids were to go find their teacher and line up next to each one. While we were finding his teacher, it was so fun because both his Kindergarden and 1st grade teachers saw Justin and yelled and waved to him. His first grade teacher, Mrs. Noel, ran right over and gave him a big hug and wished him a good first day. It was really sweet. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the "party" but it was pretty chaotic with all the kids and parents everywhere. We ran inside and took our quick traditional picture under the Sandoz Tiger mozaic.

Spencer has been chanting "Justin" all morning since we dropped him off to school. I think he's quite confused to be alone at home. It's amazing how quiet it seems in our house. But it'll be plenty loud I'm sure!:)