Well today went quite well I think. Beth was on the new middle school campus of her new High School and it’s a fabulous place, all refurbished but looking like brand new. We were shown through the offices and where the art room, cooking room and computers were. I laughed when they showed us the sick bay and told them that Beth LOVES it in there! One of the staff laughed and said that they were getting a bean bag for Beth for the classroom for her slouchy type time. I thought it was terrific that they had picked up so quickly with transition days what Beth needs for wind down time. There was a huge gym where we all sat to wait to see what class the kids would be in. We all met outside and to start with I found it quite emotional. Lots of kids said hi to Beth but she was so nervous and hardly spoke to anybody. Some kids looked so ‘normal’ for want of a better word and I wondered why they were in a special school setting. Some of them gave Beth looks as if to say she was a weirdo when she was jumping around in what was either nerves or excitement. I hate that, I know it’ll settle down as she gets to know them but it’s a stab to the heart each time I see somebody scorning my baby. I look forward to future times when she’ll be one of the ones hugging her friends that she’s missed over the holidays, excited to be back with them. I know it’ll happen but it’s hard to see the beginnings, not only for her but for me. During the night Beth had woken two or three times and told me that she wasn’t feeling well. She seemed much happier this morning though, she chose to wear her school dress and let me take photos.
I had promised her a magazine so Bill, Bridie and I went to the shops on the way home from dropping Beth off. Bill and Bridie don’t start school again until tomorrow. By the time we got home they just had time to watch a dvd and it was time to pick Beth up. All day I found myself thinking about her and really got nothing done. It’s a shorter day than I thought too. It was to be 9am dropoff and 3pm pickup. This meant that I would have to put my other two into before school care. They’ve decided to shorten their lunch time at Beth’s school though so school doesn’t start until 9.15am and finishes at 2.45pm. This means that I can drop Bill and Bridie off at 8.45am which is a supervised time, and still get Beth to school in time. It also means I wont be panicking too much if we’re running late getting Beth out of school. It does mean however that if I get a job close to her school it wont be able to be from 9.30 til 2.30 as first planned unless it’s just around the corner. Still, I’m going to do studying this year to hopefully become an event manager for autism speakers so I can work the hours I want after that.
We picked Beth up this afternoon and the first thing she asked was “Where’s Dad?” He’s taking her to school tomorrow so that I can take the other two for their first day of 2012. She must have gotten it mixed up. She said that she had had a good day and she looked happy but didn’t want to elaborate too much on what she had done. She did tell me that they did lists on what they liked and didn’t like. She had told them that she hated South Park (which must have been on when I fell asleep one night as I don’t like it either.) She told me the other day that she didn’t like it because they said bitch and f&*k all the time. I was impressed that that was her reason for not liking a show. I just hope she didn’t tell them the reason in those words! I think it was too overwhelming with all three of us asking questions so she ended up using her bored voice and kept saying “I dunno.” She just wanted to read her magazine and I’ve let her pop on the ipad for a while before I ask her anything else. As a special treat we got sundaes on the way home.
There’s only one more day this week which I think will be a good thing. I’ll let you know how we go tomorrow. x
