So when I took Nathan to school on Wednesday, 1/8, they asked me if we wanted to try out the new class that day. So Nathan started in the 4 year old class. He had been wanting to move to move to the new class ever since we first mentioned it to him as a possibility, but that day when it was actually happening he said he wanted to go back to Ms. Twyla's class. I think he just got scared so I told him to try out this class and if he does not like it than maybe he could go back to the other class. I told him that he will never know if he likes or it not unless he tries and that I thought he was going to like it. He did really good. Ms Monica said that he behaved great. The other kids are really good with him, too. They know that he is a little younger than them so they try to help him and they are patient with him. He had to get used to the fast pace of the class because they quickly move from one thing to another and it is very structured. He did not get a lot of time to play with toys which is one thing that he did not like. She said that she is a little worried that he may get frustrated academically because they are doing stuff that may be over his head right now. She is not too concerned about it on her end because he will be doing it all again next year, but she just does not want him to get frustrated. She said she may even give him different worksheets to do in the class than what the rest of the kids are doing. They do things like recognizing the letters of the alphabet, knowing the sounds of the letters including the short vowels, counting up to 100, writing letters and numbers, reading 2 and 3 letter words, basic math like 1+1 or 1-0, memorizing bible verses, etc... Ms Monica said that she would like 1 or 2 more trial days in the class, but that she would talk to the office about it. Nathan seemed to enjoy himself that day and was pretty talkative and happy all night. Yet a couple of times he still said that he wanted to go back to Ms Twyla's class. I think it is because it is still new to him and he doesn't know the kids very well yet.
Nathan had his 4 year old wellness appointment at the pediatrician's office on 1/9. The time of the appointment was not very good because he did not get to take much of a nap. I think he was pretty tired and so he was not as cooperative as I wanted him to be. But, the doctor does not seem to have any concerns. We discussed the school situation and that he is trying out the 4 year old class. She agreed that it will probably be good for him. We also discussed that we may be starting up speech therapy again and she agreed that may help him, too. He did not talk much that day for her to hear his speech, but he did say at least one sentence so she was pleased to see that he was at least speaking in sentences. She did not seem to be too concerned about the fact that Nathan sleeps in our room most nights. She said it is very common for kids his age to get scared at night and she said this could go on for a couple of years. They tested his hearing, too. He did not do very well distinguishing which ear he heard the beeps is, but that is because he still gets his left and right confused. They said that is common, too and at this age they just want to see if he can hear the beeps at all...some kids won't even sit down for the test. They had me fill out a form while we were there where I basically had to ask Nathan a bunch of questions such as a to draw a circle, draw a person, balance on one foot, what does he do when he is hungry, etc... I had to answer questions like if he dresses himself, brushes his own teeth, etc... I did not complete it until the end of his visit and we never went over it while we were there. They just want to make sure that he can do most of the things that he should be doing as a 4 year old and I think that he can. I guess they will let me know otherwise. He weighed 38 lbs (60%) and is 41" tall (75%).
So on Friday, 1/10, I went to the school office since I had not heard which class he would be going to. Ms Monica happened to be in there. They told me that he would be in there for a month. A month? That seems odd to me. What happens after a month if it does not work out...he is just supposed to go back to Ms Twyla's class and get all acclimated again? Sometimes I do not know about that school. They also asked me if we do play dates or anything like that with Nathan since they know that he is an only child and Ms Monica noticed that he played by himself a lot in her class that first day. I got a little defensive and told them that we do not know many people here in Tucson and our neighbors don't really talk to us so no we do not. They asked what about the kids from his class. I said, well now he is in a new class with all new kids who he does not know yet. I told them that we tried library time when he was younger, but that it would not go well because he was too disruptive and would not sit still. I said we could try it again now that he is younger. I told him the main reason we started him at this school in the first place was to get him more social with other kids. Unfortunately, Nathan's leg was hurting that day because he got shots the day before at the doctor. The school called me that morning to see if I would come give him some Tylenol for the pain. So I did. I guess he did better after that. He had another good day. He did have a little more interaction with the kids that day and I told her that I thought he would be more social as he gets to know the kids better. She actually gave us homework for the weekend (not sure if this will be an every day thing, M-W-F when he goes or a weekly thing). He is supposed to work on writing the letter Q. She said mostly she wants him to hold the pencil correctly. He is also supposed to trace all of the letters and start matching up the capital letters with the small letters. I gave this project to daddy, but they have not worked on it yet and it is now Sunday. Yesterday they went to work for a little while and then to the Desert Museum. I also tried to meet them at the Desert Museum, but we never met up...they did their own thing there and I did mine.
I also met with Debi, the speech therapist on Friday to discuss his evaluation results. His receptive language is great. His expressive language is normal for his age. Thus, the numbers do not indicate that he needs speech therapy. However, she still recommends it only because sometimes his difficulties with his speech frustrate him and cause behavioral problems. So I agreed to start speech therapy. He will start on Monday. She said that he is a very smart boy. He knows it all in his head, but he just has trouble getting it out. I really like her, Nathan likes her and I think this experience will be much better than our experience through the state. I hope that he will benefit from it and that he will not have to do speech therapy for very long.
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