Like a Rock

Remember that Peter's new teacher used M&Ms on the first day? Well, Peter had severe anxiety over this. The only way I got him back the next day was to promise to call the school nurse and to talk to the teacher. It's understandable that it caused him so much stress; he recognizes the possible consequence of working with peanut items.

Yesterday I stopped in at the office. The nurse was out, so I left a message. Peter wanted me to talk to his teacher right then and there, but I had the feeling that the nurse should be my first contact. She called me back not long after I got home. I've talked to her so much now that she didn't identify herself as the nurse, only as "Deb."

I began by saying there had been an incident in the class that I wanted to talk to her about. It turns out, she already knew what had happened. After Peter's refusal to participate in an activity and subsequent insistence that the whole class wipe down their desks and wash their hands, his teacher wanted to find out if his concerns were legit. Thankfully, the nurse backed up Peter and praised his ability to hold his ground when the teacher wanted him to do something that was dangerous for him. Well, if there is one thing Peter excels at, it is holding his ground! She told me that she had explained to the teacher what she would need to do in the future when buying edible items for the class. And she invited me to please call her anytime I had a concern.

That afternoon Peter's teacher exited the school shortly after Peter. He saw her and started dragging me toward her. I assured him that I had worked it out with the nurse, but I had promised.

The first thing his teacher said when she saw me was, "I am so sorry!" We went on to have a nice conversation and I was able to give her a lot of important information about working with Peter. When she found out we'd moved from Utah she got really excited and asked if we were Mormon. I said yes, and she said, "Me too!" That was an unexpected discovery. I hope she'll be a good fit for Peter. His success last year was due largely to how much his teacher loved him and wanted to see him succeed. I think that's an important part of the recipe for Peter.

Oh, and Cooper had his Kindergarten assessment today. From what I can tell his teacher only asked about letters and reading related items. What's this thing at the end of the line of words? A period. What does it do? It ends the sentence. Her comment when they emerged was, "Wow, he really knows his letters. I mean, uppercase, lowercase, he really knows them." I said, yes, he does. There were no questions about numbers, nothing about writing. I guess that means that Cooper is well prepared for this class. And that I'll need to keep challenging him with additional activities at home.