Normal

It has been such a stressful 6 months for our family. In the Spring Brady's preschool teacher wrote us an email with some concerns she had about Brady's development. The things that she was telling us were not things that we had noticed about him. She told us that Brady was just so far behind the other kids in the class. Wow. What a slap in the face of reality. All of the concerns that his teacher had for Brady pointed toward Autism.

After many sleepless nights we put Brady on the schedule to be evaluated through the school system. I filled out dozens of pages of forms and behavior surveys we finally had his evaluation in August. It was an hour long evaluation on his development and speech. Yesterday, the school psychologist did the classroom evaluation to see how Brady followed direction and interacted with other kids.

Today I get the phone call. The phone call to tell me what her findings are about Brady. The phone call that could take our family in a different direction. The phone call that I have worried about for months. I listened carefully and took notes so I could relay all information to Tod. Then she said the most fantastic words a I could ever imagine..."Brady is a normal three year old little boy." Aaahhh. I think she could tell that I was teary and trying to hold it together. I was just so relieved.

I told myself that I would be thankful either way. I would be thankful if there was something wrong and we were able to catch it early to help him. I would also be thankful if there wasn't something wrong and be happy to have a normal little boy. I can't help but feel angry. Angry that we had all of this useless worry, sleepless nights, and unlimited tears shed because of what his previous teacher thought she so expertly saw as developmental problems. I also can't help but feel grateful. Grateful that we have proof that we have a normal little boy. Grateful that he is in our lives. Grateful that he is loved and healthy.

I cannot express how relieved I am. I can guarantee that we will all sleep better tonight.

Miss Understood

I will probably offend some of you with this post...but I have to get it off my chest. I cannot stand being called Miss Kathryn. There. I said it. Whew, I feel better.

Growing up I always called my friends parents by their last name, i.e. Mr. Williams, Mrs. Hughes. We had very close family friends that we called them Miss Peggy and Mr. Todd, but that was an exception.

I heard the other day from a New Yorker that it must be a "Southern Thing" that kids these days call adults Miss/Mr. First Name. Well, it isn't. I was born and raised in the south, with a brief and unfortunate spell in Cincinnati, and this was not a practice in any city or small town that I lived in.

I must confess that I don't like being called Mrs. O'Donnell either. Not that I don't enjoy being Mrs. O'Donnell. It's just that whenever I hear it I expect to see Tod's Grandmother pop up with salami and cream cheese roll ups. And the only time I ever hear "Mrs. O'Donnell" is at the DMV.

One thing I do believe is that Miss First Name should be reserved for preschool and Sunday school teachers. It's appropriate.

So, in the event that I still have friends... it's Kathryn, Kat, or just Hey You will do!

Brady's first day

Today is Brady's first day of preschool in his new school. We feel like we made the right decision by switching schools. Brady was so excited this morning. I think he would have left the house at 7am if he could.

The school provided each kid with backpacks and Brady LOVES his. He wore it all morning. When I put his lunch in it he said it was "Too heavy!" and decided he didn't want to wear it anymore.

He waltzed right into his classroom and sat down to work on a new puzzle. I told him that I loved him and would see him after lunch. He said, without looking up, "Bye bye, Mommy. I eat lunch with my friends." My heart sank thinking about him eating lunch with his class and me eating lunch by myself. Sigh. I know he is going to have such a good time today. I can't wait to see how he did at school!