Slacker

I have been so slack. I feel disconnected from my blogging world. So here is my attempt to get back into the routine of posting. In the past, when school has started back, I have always felt as if I had tons of time on my hands. For some reason, this year things have changed. Maybe it's because my oldest is in kindergarten and we are all on pretty different schedules. Well, she has adjusted well to life in real school. I am probably going to divulge some information here that lets you know little more about me. You see, my oldest is in kindergarten, but it's a special needs class for children with developmental delay. She will hopefully one day be mainstreamed, but until that time she needs a little more one on one. One of her issues is that she can be very hard to reason with because you're never quite sure what she understands. She doesn't communicate her feelings very well. And by that I mean she is easily frustrated. To the common acquaintance or friend, she appears to be a very sweet and loving child. For the most part, she is sweet and loving. However, for the past couple of years when I would pick her up from school, it was like a switch was flipped as soon as she got in the car. She would be so happy to see me and would be all smalls and then 10 seconds down the road, she'd be screaming at her sister. I have tried everything that I can think of to change this scenario and nothing has worked. This year as I picked her up the first week of school it was the exact same situation. Screaming, yelling, crying the whole way home. Needless to say, it left me very frustrated and I also felt very angry at her. I felt like I was at my wits end. Enter my saving grace...We had decided before the school year started that we would try to let her ride the Special Ed bus home. We weren't sure how this would work out, but we were willing to give it a try. I picked her up the first week of school just so that she wouldn't have too many things to adjust to at one time. When the second week rolled around, she rode the bus. She loved it and hasn't looked back since. She gets home while her sisters are still napping. We walk inside, get a snack and I get to ask her about her day. (Now, let me just say that I have always asked her about her day and have always stressed the importance of her sisters not talking when she is telling me something. It never made a difference.) This bus is the best thing that could have ever happened to the two of us. I have never been a proponent of school buses...until now. I am so glad that when my daughter gets home from school, I can relax with her and enjoy her instead of stressing out and wondering what else I could possible do to make the situation better. I am a mother with a happy heart who is ever so thankful for the small yellow bus!