-
Ape Brains and the Middle School Boy
Because we walk after school from the middle school to the high school every day, I’m getting a refresher of what the real middle school population looks like. Not the one that you see in the halls, following school rules, responsibly exchanging books from their lockers to be prepared for the next class. The population who is headed home from a long day of school, letting out that bottled energy, true colors showing. The pushing, shoving, jeering, girl flirting kind of middle school population. More specifically, the ape-brain middle school boy population. Like the kid who pushes 30 miles an hour on his moped, circling the block a few times to impress the girls…
-
Today’s Victory
J has been “shadowing” the high school cross-country team and tonight marks J’s fourth cross-country practice. I can’t shout louder from the rooftops how proud I am of how hard he’s been working. It’s been a hard week. A lot of learning curves. But he keeps going back, and the high school kids are so great with him. The coaches are so willing to work with us. And he ran the best he’s ever had so far today. Today, he actually said, “no breaks now mom, I want to make it to the next (traffic light, stop sign, road sign, etc) without stopping.” Who’d have ever thought that J would love to run? We started…
-
My $64,000 Question
It’s the third day back into school and I’m exhausted. Some of it has to do with my wrestle with the Neti pot and the lack of sleep I got last night due to allergies, but most of it has to do with the emotional up and downs of starting a brand new school year with a middle schooler with autism. You think I’d learn this by now, being a somewhat seasoned adult (right?), but I’m constantly forgetting transitions happen all the time. I think most of us think of the big transitions: weddings, baby births, high school graduation, empty nesting, retirement, etc, but I know I’m forgetting the ones that seem to…
