A whole lotta something going on

Sitting on the train, which is running late because of signal problems. Heading to work, will be a short day because I have a meeting, along with two other moms, with one of the SPED heads. Could be a game-changer, could be status quo.

The optimist in me has been sufficiently beaten into submission this week.

A couple factors running on here. G graduated from Pre-K on Monday, even though he'll be there for the summer. He did much better during the ceremony than Nic ever did. Even so, seeing how much beyond the pale he is can be hard to watch.

Likewise tee-ball last night, and last night he was even more off than usual. "Disheartening, isn't it?" Dh asked me. It is.

And Nic hasn't been setting the world on fire, either. Although he got an 88 in the science test that he and DH constructed a hands on study for, he peed against the wall in the boys' room at lunch time yesterday. He told me R dared him, and that Nic did it to 'take the tease out of him.'

(He's paraphrasing Rabbit's plan to take the bounce out of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh)

Oh, and G has taken to making a Pooh Shrine on his bed every night with his Pooh and my A.A. Milne hard cover copy of Winnie-The-Pooh. Then he cuddles up with Pooh and I read him a chapter before we shut off the light and say good night.

So I awakened to a storm last night, or early this am. Amazingly, it did not wake DH or either of the boys, because lightning hit pretty close and it was hitting pretty furiously. Thunderstorms have always been vaguely comforting to me--I remember when we were all small and dad telling us the angels were bowling.

We knew mom bowled in the parish league, so this sounded good. Lightning flashed when some one up there bowled a strike.

Funny, I had all but forgotten that until just now.

Anyway, heading into town, don't really want to see anyone or meet with anyone right now, although I will because I have to. Some recent reading is haunting me, too. I read Nineteen Minutes in 3 or 4 sittings over the last few days. I couldn't put it down. It was a compelling read, but the protagonist was what had me paying attention. I remember the debate raging over whether this kid had Aspergers and the autism community was up in arms and defensive about it--caused a huge uproar.

Here's my thought. Aspergers is never mentioned, but that's what it is.

I totally understand why people got bent up over this, but reading this is making me re-think some of my own tactics (tactics, like integrating my kids is war. But you know what, it is.).

I asked DH last night when we were talking about the little one and tee-ball. "Why do I even bother?" He answered "because it's good for them."

I think of all the things the mom did in the book--for the same reasons. I think of all the things my own mom did--for the same reasons.

The common denominator between me and the protagonist was that we lived it. Where we separated was how we responded to it.

But I have boys. My younger one has a temper and holds a grudge.

Is the big bus really a good idea? Do I need to back off doing the township sports? If I respected Nic's 'no' every time he said it, he'd never do anything but YouTube elevators--so I know I need to push.

BUT. How hard? How far?

Was what happened in the bathroom an isolated incident? Or is it the start of a forced move to a segregated classroom?

If it comes to that, I'd pull him out of that district and take them to DP so fast their heads would spin.

I thought I was into these battles already? What's gone before was just a warm up. The real fights start late next week.

(sarcasm on) Can't wait.