Cracks

Caden left bright and early for his first day of school...pretty much all year!  It was a bittersweet thing.  It was fun seeing his excitement at going, but felt like something was taken from me, too.  He has been near my side since January, so it feels weird to be away from him for so long.  I have thought about him often, hoping he's having a great time, and hoping he misses me too.  I'm lame, I know, but I just don't care.

Since getting all of the kids registered for their new schools on August 16, we have waited for any news from Keilie's new Middle School.  I got letters in the mail the very next week, letting me know the names of the teachers for Shelby, Brennon, and Tyson.  Caden and I had an appointment on August 17 to make his schedule, so we've known since then all that needs to happen for Caden.  However, we have heard nothing regarding Keilie.  She came to us last night in a panic.  Not knowing what's going on has really added to her stress of starting a new school.  So, we packed in the car and drove over there today.

It was lucky that we got to talk to a Vice Principal that was walking the halls, since I didn't know whom to really talk to about anything.  The registrar was not at her desk, and the line to pay fees was mega long, so I wasn't really wanting to wait in that line just to be moved to another one.  With our luck, the second line would have been a mile long.  However, this woman saw me looking around, probably looking like a lost pound puppy, and asked how she could help.  When I told her that I had filled out the paperwork on the first day I could have, and yet had heard nothing, she agreed that there was a problem.  She found the registrar, who recognized us right away.  With one word, my stomach dropped, but explained everything perfectly for the VP: IEP.

Apparently, since we are transferring to a new school, the school psychologist (who returned to school from vacation this very day) needs to look at Keilie's file specifically, making sure that he puts her in all of the right classes and extra help stuff.  Where I was afraid that they had already labeled Keilie as "one of those children," it just meant that there was still work to be done.  It seemed a bit odd that the VP would say she was glad that Keilie hadn't fallen through the cracks, since we hadn't heard a single thing from the school, but I'm glad that they knew exactly what needed to happen.  I was also there when the psychologist walked over to get the VP and registrar for their meeting, since I was a bit skeptical that they really had a meeting for my own child at the very minute she said she did-- I kind of thought she said that, sending us on our way, and then would scramble to get Keilie a schedule as soon as we left.  Not the case-- thank goodness.

So, now we're waiting to see if Keilie starts school tomorrow.  She said that their meeting would take a few hours, since there was more than one child in Keilie's same situation, but that we'd know tonight if she begins tomorrow, or another day.  I guess I should put away my negative thoughts about it all, just grateful that we know what's going on now.  I should be grateful that we went at the exact moment we needed to be there to actually see that things were already in motion.

(Mentally berating myself) "Calm down, your child will be taken care of, actually getting the best care possible.  Stop being a priss!"

It's hard to think clearly when you've had just four hours of sleep the night before due to a seriously rough time with anxiety over sending kids to school.  I know the end of summer didn't sneak up on me, I've know this day would come, but I feel blindsided just the same.  I'm seriously not ready to send them!!!  I'm truly going to miss my babies!!!