First Week of School - The Ups and Downs

Our daughter left for school a few weeks ago and is doing well. But this week, our two sons started public school and there have been a few memorable moments. Ben, the oldest, went to Kindergarten in Wheaton, Illinois, and did 2nd grade in French public school in Quebec, Canada, but otherwise, he's been home-schooled. He started this week in Middle School - 7th grade, and is learning quickly about staying organized and lugging a huge backpack back and forth to school on his bike.

He started the first day on the school bus, but we discovered that he should have taken a different bus at a different stop; and getting home he got confused, so he ended up at one of the elementary schools and called us to come and pick him up. After that, he said he'd ride his bike for now. He forgot to make a sandwich for his lunch, so he came home starved. The second day he decided he'd try the school's hot lunch program, so I gave him $3 to pay in cash, since we hadn't yet gotten onto the on-line Lunchdeposit.com to fill up his Meal Magic account. It's like a pre-paid credit system in the lunchroom where you can make deposits from your credit card. Ben hadn't memorized his Meal Magic # yet and was too scared to ask about it all, so he skipped eating on the 2nd day. The third day he got his lock and locker assignment, but when he came home that afternoon, Tom had to go back over to the school to help him figure out why he couldn't work the lock. I laugh because this is all the stuff of future bad dreams, for the rest of his life. Do you still have dreams about not finding your classroom, or forgetting you had a test that day, or losing your class schedule? I do.

Caleb, our youngest, started 3rd grade this week. He's only been home-schooled in Africa, so this was big stuff for him. He was very upset about the whole bus situation the night before school started because we could see by the published schedule that he'd take one bus to Murphy School in the morning and then transfer to the bus that would take him to his school, Ralya. In the afternoon, he'd take a different number bus to Wilkshire School and transfer to the bus that would bring him home. Two transers, three different locations, for a kid who hadn't yet memorized his address or phone number, and didn't know anyone in the system.

I walked him out to the bus, loaded with a card to read for all his connections as I understood them, but also with his vital information in case someone needed to know where he lived to direct him properly. Tom and I "stalked" his busses all the way to Ralya that first day to make sure he made the transfer okay. On the way home, someone directed him to the wrong transfer bus and he rode all over town on the wrong bus. When it was nearly an hour and a half after I knew his school let out, I told my husband that we needed to go find him, he must be lost somewhere. So, off we went, instructing Ben to be the point man at the house. We went to the transfer spot, Murphy, and asked if there were any straggler bus kids hanging around. The staffer there started making phone calls to Ralya and then the bus garage, and they had Caleb there and would bring him to us at Murphy. Poor kid; just what he'd worried about. But he didn't seem too traumatized when he arrived, and the drivers apologized for the mix-up, so the next day, we tried the busses again. His first driver apparently heard of the mix-up and wondered why Caleb hadn't been on his home-bound bus the night before, so he assured me that they'd get it straight that night. Which, thankfully they did, and all is now well on the busses.

However, poor Caleb is so clueless about how school works, and the rhythm of the day, that the first day he didn't know to bring his lunch from the classroom to the cafeteria, so they had to give him a hot lunch. I don't know if they thought his delinquent parents didn't even pack this kid a lunch, or what, but I know we had a whole teaching session at home about what constitutes a healthy lunch and what the options were in the fridge and cupboard. So, he brought back his warm Go-gourt and smooshed PB&J and said they gave him a free lunch! The next day his teacher sent me a note to let me know that he'd assigned some older kids to Caleb to "show him the ropes"; I can only assume that means that he's still trying to figure it all out.

But I'm so proud of my kids, all of them. They are showing tremendous courage under the circumstances, and I know it's not easy for them to have a deaf mom. But they've been so great about repeating and air spelling words for me, or playing charades to help me understand what they're saying. They've really had a good attitude about all of the adjustments they've been required to make these last few months.

This next week will be a challenge for us all as I have my cochlear implant surgery in Ann Arbor on Wednesday. Tom will stay with the boys while my mom takes me down for the outpatient procedure. We talked today about going down a day early, in case my surgery is early morning, so we don't have to get up too early on the day of and be wiped out before we ever get started. There are some interesting shops we haven't visited yet, so we might make a girls' day of it Tuesday and take my mind off the surgery the next day.

I hope to post pictures of my incision for those who are interested here. I know it's sounds gory and is a bit, but other implantees understand the interest in these things: how long the incision?; how much hair did they shave?; how did they close--with staples, stitches, or glue?; how ugly the turban bandage afterwards?; you know...the comparisons to their experience. I'll try to post a surgery update as soon as I'm able. In the meantime, I'd appreciate all prayers for a successful implantation and quick recovery. Thank you, my friends.