Seriously?

Between his teacher's behavior tracking sheets and simple at-home rewards (a cookie) Trevor's school behavior has become greatly improved over the last few months. Originally he only got a frowny face if he did something physical, like poking or kicking another student. Once that was under control, his teacher upgraded to tracking whether he was compliant vs. talking back. It is no longer uncommon for him to bring home a behavior sheet showing a day's worth of smiles. This is good, although he can still have a bad day.

Like today.

Call me calloused, but now I mostly roll my eyes (child not present) when he brings home another office referral. Today's offense? Putting his mouth on another child's arm. That's it. No, no biting. What gets me is the tone of the office administrator's comments, which I'll quote "Trevor intentionally put body fluids on another person. That is a serious health issue for both children. Another incident may result in suspension" (emphasis added).

Seriously?

The Magic of Glasses

Kaith's glasses came in Tuesday. I took him after school to get them fitted. With such a strong prescription, I was expecting a clever comment about how things looked different. He wouldn't even answer questions about how things looked. He was much too busy wrinkling his nose, over and over again.

We drove home. Getting out of the van, he stared at our lawn, then exclaimed "The grass looks a little like pasta with these on!"

All concerns about a difficult few weeks of training him to keep his glasses on has vanished. He put them on first thing this morning, before getting dressed. He doesn't take them off until he goes to bed. It may help that I've been playing up the awesome similarities between himself and Harry Potter: glasses with black frames, yes indeed.

He was so in Harry Potter mode yesterday after school that, after making a k'nex wand, he found book 1 and made a valiant attempt at sounding out the first few pages. He can do it, but it's a huge exercise for him. Here he is photographed with the glasses, wand and Harry Potter book, reading in the kitchen.

Seeing Double

Cory has had suspicions for years. Perhaps I blew them off too easily. In Kaith's school folder was a paper from the nurse's office, and suddenly, I see clearly: why he can't copy the spelling of words on the board; why he gets in people's faces; why he can't color inside the lines; why he may seem clueless about things right in front of his face: Kaith has 20/70 vision. In both eyes. I think I see glasses in the near future.