And I barely had my act together. Thank goodness he is still too little to know how disorganized his mom is.
First, more about my little guy. This time a year ago, things were challenging.
We had transitioned him to a Chicago Public Schools preschool after his private preschool threw him out. Though the school choice was a big improvement in their attitude toward M-man, we were still wrestling with pretty major behavioral issues.
We had the former school's aching criticisms and demands weighing on us, like get a psychiatric evaluation done. (Ps they don't do those on 3-year-old kids. We checked.) We had behavioral advice from experts.
But we still felt like we were flying blind.
CPS gets a lot of knocks in this town.
But public school has been a godsend. His uber-kind teachers last year worked with us to get M-man an IEP evaluation. They did their best with him and were so nice and patient.
As I've written about here before, he ultimately got one by the end of the last school year, with a "developmentally delayed" diagnosis that meant he was entitled to extra support in the classroom.
We got him into his current school, with a blended program of half IEP kids and half "regular" kids, and hoped for the best.
We got him into his current school, with a blended program of half IEP kids and half "regular" kids, and hoped for the best.
Fast forward to now, just a few months till the end of pre-k and the school year.
I wouldn't say he's like a different kid. But definitely a lot has changed, for the better.
M-man was born somewhat of a little old man, my husband and I like to joke. He is very serious and skeptical. He still has quite the temper.
But, he's more, I don't know, "normal" for the lack of a better word. His outbursts are far more manageable. He is able to articulate his feelings in his big boy words. He's a lot of fun.
Today we held his birthday party. Friends came to the house and it was a gorgeous, fun day.
Last weekend, at a classmate's party, and again this weekend, we got to see some other IEP kids in his class for the first time.
You can just tell. The kid who is playing along like any other kid, and suddenly it's time for cake, or something else, and they flip out. I saw it at the birthday party we were at last weekend, when the adorable birthday boy suddenly ran away from the cake, freaked out, and I talked to another mom today about her son, another classmate of M-man's.
She, too, never got an exact diagnosis of what "it" was with her son, just like M-man. She said that her son had matured so much in preschool and was doing so much better than a year ago. Again, just like M-man.
I didn't know any IEP kids/families before. I just knew M-man and his story.
But it was really comforting to know that these people I don't know have probably lived thru very similar challenges. It was comforting to know that M-man was not alone, that he wasn't the only kid who struggled the way he did.
And it was also comforting to once again realize just how far he's come.
Sometimes I feel like I'm regressing into this incredibly, uncharacteristically disorganized, slightly crazed mom.
The night before M-man's birthday, I bought all of his presents. I got up at 5 a.m. the day of his birthday and baked cupcakes and wrapped presents.
I'm never this behind the ball. I fret about it, and then talk to my mom friends and am reminded we're all crazed. And it's OK.
It's nice to know we're not alone, no matter what age or stage of life we're in.
Today and again tonight at bedtime, he told me "I really liked my party, mommy." He probably wouldn't have done that a year ago.
I'm still smiling.
But, he's more, I don't know, "normal" for the lack of a better word. His outbursts are far more manageable. He is able to articulate his feelings in his big boy words. He's a lot of fun.
Today we held his birthday party. Friends came to the house and it was a gorgeous, fun day.
Last weekend, at a classmate's party, and again this weekend, we got to see some other IEP kids in his class for the first time.
You can just tell. The kid who is playing along like any other kid, and suddenly it's time for cake, or something else, and they flip out. I saw it at the birthday party we were at last weekend, when the adorable birthday boy suddenly ran away from the cake, freaked out, and I talked to another mom today about her son, another classmate of M-man's.
She, too, never got an exact diagnosis of what "it" was with her son, just like M-man. She said that her son had matured so much in preschool and was doing so much better than a year ago. Again, just like M-man.
I didn't know any IEP kids/families before. I just knew M-man and his story.
But it was really comforting to know that these people I don't know have probably lived thru very similar challenges. It was comforting to know that M-man was not alone, that he wasn't the only kid who struggled the way he did.
And it was also comforting to once again realize just how far he's come.
Sometimes I feel like I'm regressing into this incredibly, uncharacteristically disorganized, slightly crazed mom.
The night before M-man's birthday, I bought all of his presents. I got up at 5 a.m. the day of his birthday and baked cupcakes and wrapped presents.
I'm never this behind the ball. I fret about it, and then talk to my mom friends and am reminded we're all crazed. And it's OK.
It's nice to know we're not alone, no matter what age or stage of life we're in.
Today and again tonight at bedtime, he told me "I really liked my party, mommy." He probably wouldn't have done that a year ago.
I'm still smiling.
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