The Po Show

It's Getting Better
"Get-ting so much bet-ter all the tiiiiime!!" Ooh, musical reference for the old!

Today was Matthew's spring conference, and it went well. I was not in attendence, as we didn't have anyone to watch the kids. Another tragic side effect of having no friends or family around here, sigh. Ross left work early so that he could go, which was nice since he met Matthew teacher for the first time...yesterday (that's a whole 'nother post).

Matthew's teacher just raved over how much he's improved over the year, and how impressed she is with how far he's come. Which is wonderful and all that, but again, this happens EVERY SINGLE YEAR. It's great that he improves so much during each year, but why oh why must there be such a regression with each new beginning????

But I need to give him credit where credit is due, and I do. The teacher said that not only is he much more in control of himself, she has to step in and intervene for him much less often than before. Instead of actively defusing him when he starts to lose it, she just reminds him that he KNOWS how to behave, and that he is capable of getting in control of himself. And he does. Wow, that is so good to hear, honestly!

Today they went on a field trip to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT (I just love this school so much; they take the greatest field trips!). Matthew had a fabulous time, raved about all the things they saw, and apparently he did great the whole time. Even in parts that I had worried about (they saw an IMAX movie, and there was an area with big, loud animatronic dinosaurs), he did great. Those are big steps for him, and I'm really proud of his progress.

He still hasn't gotten invited to any more birthday parties (after the one and only one at the beginning of the year :*( ), and he hasn't made any real friends, but I think he has made some progress socially as well. Last night we went out to Applebee's (woohoo! hot night out!) because they were having a school fundraiser there, and seated at the table behind us was a girl from his class. She turned around and said hi to him and said to me "Oh, it's the math champion. He thinks he's a math champion, and, well, I think so too." :) He said hi to her very nicely once he noticed her (though he wasn't sure at first that she was whom he thought she was, because "She looks like Jackie, but bigger" (huh??)).

He's been going to chess club once a week during lunch, and he's really enjoying it. This was what he needed, a social environment that involved an activity he is good at, as opposed to soccer or something else in which he was unsure of his ability and therefore made him too nervous. The only thing about chess club that he is nervous and self-conscious about is his lunch. He has not been eating his chocolate Balance bar (his lunch staple for the past two years) on chess days, just drinking his juice box. For two weeks, he said he forgot (uh-huh...). Finally he told me that he felt nervous to eat a "little lunch" in front of the other kids, who all had "big lunches." Poor thing, there's just nothing that can be put into a lunchbox that he will eat, and he won't eat school lunch. I sent strawberries this week (ugh, icky hard shipping berries, an anathema to me, the California Strawberry Princess, but he eats them) in a tupperware and he ate those, but that's just not much of a lunch. Not much brain food in the afternoon for a kid that really needs the sustenance to keep his behavior in check. But he seems to be handling it okay and ultimately, the decision to eat or not to eat is his.

So there we have it, the state of Matthew's days here in the third quarter of school. He's doing well, has improved in so many areas, and is truly excelling in math. I'm very, very happy. We just need to work on easing his transition to next fall!