Daniel: What a Difference a Year Makes!

It's hard to believe but another whole school year has almost come and gone. This was an especially big year for Daniel, his first year of school! It was not an easy one that's for sure. As you may remember from my posts back in August and September, things started out good - he was excited to go the first couple days but then reality set in and the next four months were tough to say the least. I think deep down inside he truly enjoyed school - he just needed to get past the anxiety of me not being with him. After a couple months of anguish, I talked with the teachers and administration and they advised adding another day for consistency. He was originally going on Tues/Thur from 8-3. For the same price, I could send him Tue/Wed/Thu 8-12. Since all they did in the afternoon was nap anyway (which he didn't do) I figured it was a no-brainer and made the switch. Around November or December Daniel had a breakthrough. He finally stopped crying when I dropped him off. This was a huge weight off my shoulders - not having to leave him in tears every day. To give him a hug and have him go on his merry way was so wonderful. The next few months were great. He made major strides both socially and academically. I honestly wasn't even concerned about the academic side of things because social skills were my main concern going into the school year but I was amazed to learn just how much knowledge is in that little head. In fact, I'll never forget his teacher - the first few weeks of school - told me how Daniel had been looking at the wall and said to her "Miss Maggie, that's not right". She looked at the wall and realized the number sequences were put up out of order. They were in groups of five and one of the groups was in the wrong place (I think it was like 25-30 or something like that). I've come to realize just how much he LOVES numbers. Not a day goes by that he's not counting something. In fact, the other day Jeff and I were watching him count the number of raised bumps on a 16 x16 lego board without missing a beat. So he's got the math thing down but we will need to focus on his writing skills over the next year. Apparently the boy thinks he's left handed, so we're going with it (and we have no idea where that came from!). Then there's the social side. When the school year started, Daniel would hardly look at another student (or adult for that matter). By the end of the year he was interacting with others. For those of you that know Daniel, you know how HUGE this is. He still is quite shy with most people but once he gets to you know someone well he really lets down his guard and feels comfortable. You probably won't find him starting a conversation with someone he barely knows or joining a large group of people but he's doing his thing and I'm amazed at how far he has come. One example can be seen in the following video. In the middle of May, his class put on a show for all the mommies (they did a daddy one earlier in the year). Daniel got up there and participated in the singing and arm motions. If you asked me last September if I could have imagined him doing this during the school year I would have said "Not a chance!" Just goes to show you that you can never predict how much a child will grow.

He says he's excited for for pre-kindergarten next year. Luckily he will be staying at the same school but he will have to adjust to new teachers which may be tough. But like everything else, he will adjust and life will go on. Can't wait to see what next year will bring!