What a Whirlwind Week(s)

Well Hello!
So if you've read any of my most recent Facebook statuses, you've seen that Jonathan and I were a bit under the weather last week. He had a high fever from Monday through Saturday.  I had one from Wednesday through Friday.  Official diagnosis is unknown.  Mine may have been strep.  His may have been pneumonia.  Same antibiotics prescribed.  Regardless, we are fine now.  Hooray!

But it was a rough week for my buddy to get back into his routine and schedule.  We've started writing down lists for him, and he has discovered how much he loves to cross off accomplished items.  We make a list in the morning, the school makes a list for him while he is there, afternoon therapy makes a list, and we have a list for our bedtime routine.  If it helps, we'll take it!

We also had his IEP meeting today for his 4K school year.  This morning, we had 7 educators at our house at 7:45am, plus Mike and me (and guest appearance from Aunt Kathy and cousin Kristin...they stopped on their way through Madison on the way to Seattle!).  We set up some really great goals for Jonathan for the next school year.  And his teacher that he will have next year was able to join us too.  We were happy she was here so we could get to know her better and for her to be able to get up to speed with the amazing team we have. 

I think our most touchy part was that our school district has been pushing Jonathan's eligibility to regular Kindergarten.  Jonathan's birthday falls eight days before the cut-off date.  So he is eligible for Kindergarten, however we elected to keep him a year back.  The district calls it retention.  I call it crazy.  EIGHT DAYS!  If he was born one week later, this would be a non-issue!  But no.  We had to gain special permission, read a letter telling us how detrimental retention is to children in later grades, a visit to the elementary school to view classrooms, and the written explanation as to why we made the decision that what we made.  And really, this issue has been following us for over three months. 

I told Mike, when we received Jonathan's diagnosis, of all the battles I knew we would have to fight on behalf of our son, kindergarten placement was not one of them. 

But our team seemed to be in agreement that our plan (keeping him in his current Preschool for 4K next year) is the best plan for him.  And I have never felt so confident going into a school year as I do with our plan and team.  We plan on working on a lot of social skills with Jonathan.  And I think we will really be able to incorporate some of the amazing things he is doing in his one-on-one therapy into the classroom. 

So it is a sigh of relief that we are healthy, the IEP is done, the 4K placement is complete, and we now get to keep moving forward.

And I write all this without having to "lay down under tent" until someone fell asleep.  Small victories.  Hooray for that!