It's that time again.....

Monday is the 1st day of the 2010 school year. I'm excited, and so is S. He told me he can't wait to see his friends. I went to orientation last night. There have been some changes at his school. The enrollment is down because of the economy. Some of the teachers are gone. The portable building is gone. S.'s class had 25 kids last year. This year, there are 15. Big drop. There 12 in the other room. At the parent/teacher conference in May, S.'s head teacher told us she was retiring. I was so upset. She'd taught S. for 2 years, and I felt like the rug had been yanked from under us. She was familiar with S. and his problems...the ADHD...the auditory processing disorder....the possible bipolar issues. I didn't know what would happen. Well...it's that "when God closes a door, He opens a window" type of a thing. The school had sent out a letter telling us who would be taking Mrs. D.'s place....the second teacher from the other elementary class. I knew of her, but didn't know details. I asked some of my mom friends and they all told me she was awesome. Okay. Last night, after she'd finished her talk, I pulled her aside and told her I wanted to talk about S. I went over the list of issues and let her know that S. isn't taking meds at the moment. She grabbed my hand and told me that her oldest son, who also attends this school, has the SAME problems that S. has!!!!! She told me she understood 100% of what I was saying and that she wasn't worried. She told me we'd work together and make this a great year for S.!!! I almost burst into tears when she told me about her son. Who better to understand than someone who deals with it on a daily basis????? I feel SO hopeful now. I was starting to feel worried and stressed, but now I feel relieved. I'm thinking things may be better this year. I keep thinking about what she talked about in her presentation...some of the things they're going to try and I know they'll be good for S. I know he'll love them and feel positive and encouraged. And she's so positive. That makes for a good atmosphere. So...yeah...I'm excited that S. is returning to school. It'll be nice to have some quiet days where I can actually get some things accomplished. I can't believe my baby is starting the 3rd grade, though. Where does the time go? It's speeding by and that is a bit scary. It's hard to wrap my mind around how quickly he's growing up. (sigh) I'm super excited for him. I think this will be a fantastic year for S. My gut feels good about Ms. H. and her way of doing things. I feel like S.'s self-esteem is going to soar. I feel like he's going to grow in so many ways and I'm tickled. And it feels good to feel this way.