Malia starts grade one tomorrow. She is still just five at least for another two months. Academically she is ready. Behaviourally it is questionable however it is part of her disability. I really do hate this transition where the babies go from the years of being at home with Mommy to the four walls of big kid school. Right now I know everything that is going on in her day and pretty much in her head. Including transportation time (done by school taxi) she will be away from me for eight hours. I am excited for her as she will gain knowledge and different perspectives on so many things. It is the start of a whole new world for her. At the same time I am scared for her too. As charming as she can be, articulate, precocious, hilarious, she is quirky and at times explosive. You have to know how to approach her and how not to. There are definite dos and don'ts. There are ways to manage her when she does go off the rails. Some of these methods are hard to put into words and you have to have an intuitive nature to work your way through. There will be a lot of staff involved in the specialized program Malia will be attending but their specialty is in vision impairments not so much the quirkiness that is my daughter. Some of you might be thinking that I am over anxious and that the staff will work it all out. I am hopeful...I really am but I also have enough experience with our school board to know that all staff are not made equal especially in the world of classroom assistants of which Malia will spend most of her time with. If we were only dealing with the vision impairment and her mild cerebral palsy my fears would be less. When you have a child who can be difficult the fears are that much greater. Malia's behaviors can present themselves of being that of a spoiled, over indulged child. She is very articulate and she uses her words as weapons even though she doesn't sometimes understand all of what she says just that she knows it's not nice to say. Luckily profanity has not entered her vocabulary!
I will send Malia off in good faith. She has been saying she is excited to go. I have shared that excitement with her. She is so different from my other kids at this age at least academically. If we can harness her behaviour the world really can be her oyster. She has been able to overcome and accomplish so much more than was ever expected when the condition of her brain was discovered. There is no reason to think she won't continue to excel.
I love her beyond measure! I will miss her being one step behind me all day every day but I can hardly wait to see what the future has in store for her. (We have discussed her becoming a lawyer because you can argue for money... Hey it's an honourable profession...for the most part and someone has to have the earning capacity to support me in my fast approaching "golden years"!)
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