Tyler has been excited for Kindergarten to start for several weeks, but has clearly had some nervousness as well. One afternoon on the cruise, when they were supposed to be resting, I heard Tyler say, "Timmy, tell me all the jokes you know, so I can be funny and make new friends." Last week, when we found out who their teachers were (our prayers, and flat out request, was granted for Mrs Bekenstein for Tyler) Tyler was very excited, thanks to Timmy telling him that she's the nicest teacher ever and doesn't give much homework! When we went to meet his teachers last week, he was talking to Mrs Bekenstein and told her, "You will have to remind me of things because I'm forgetful." I let her know immediately that that was self diagnosed, that we had never thought that or said that to him! I also sent her an email the next day, which I will copy at the end of this post, as it is the insight into Tyler that I felt the need to share with her!
This morning, the closer we got to school, the more nervous Tyler seemed to get. Grandad and Susan walked down their street to the front of the school with us, and said goodbye there. Next we said goodbye to Timmy right inside the door. Timmy was just back to business as usual! He's in Ms. Kim's class this year, who we've heard good things about. He has several buddies in his class and is excited to see friends every day again. He ran off on his own without even a look back!
We then had a few minutes with Tyler in the cafeteria, where all his classmates will go each morning when they arrive at school, until their teacher comes to get them and walk them back to class. Tyler sat on the windowsill and called me to sit next to him. He said, "I don't know how to read yet." I told him, "I know buddy, no problem, no one here knows how to read yet." He looked a little more at ease and said, "But I don't know all my letters either." I told him, "Other kids won't know all their letters yet either, and you do know almost all of them, but you are here to learn them together." Tim told him, "And you'll work on one letter for a whole week at a time, no problem." He looked a little calmer again but said, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do all day." I told him, "Your teachers will tell you what to do, and when to do it, and how to do it, so all you need is your good listening ears." He finally smiled and said, "I always have good listening ears."
We spent a few minutes introducing him to several kids in his class that he has some kind of connection with, either they are younger siblings of Timmy's buddies, or they've played tball with Tyler before, or he's had speech with them. Then we asked him if he wanted to say goodbye there or have us walk him back. He took both of our hands and said to come back with him. We said quick, painless, goodbyes as he walked into the room, telling him to have a fantastic day and that we couldn't wait to hear all about it!
My email to Mrs Bekenstein:
Mrs Bekenstein,
I find myself needing to explain Tyler to you a little bit, especially after his concession to you yesterday about being forgetful, which I still have no clue where that came from! (He has a great memory!)
Tyler is sweet, loving, empathetic, and eager to please, much like his brother. Beyond those similarities, he is very much his own person. Tyler is the baby of the family, and very fanciful in his imagination, which play off of each other. He has sort of imaginary friends, he's never played with them but he tells us stories about them. They are "my Rainbow Monsters" and he tells us random facts about them or that they've been hurt, or had babies, etc. The stories are starting to dwindle off, but I bring them up because he uses them as excuses sometimes, "But my Rainbow Monsters don't make me eat carrots," or, "My Rainbow Monsters never make me put my shoes on by myself." His fanciful imagination is what I wrote about in my teacher request form, because I wanted him to have someone who would not just put up with his imagination, but hopefully get a kick out of it like we do!
Tyler is also just silly. He loves to wear his shoes on the wrong feet on purpose, or leave a milk mustache on his face. He will also share "facts" like, "You know rain is made out of poison ivy?" There is no telling him otherwise, he will argue that this is truth until I give up trying to convince him. He also either actually becomes convinced, or very believable pretends he's convinced of things. He had an eczema rash once that we put medicine on for days, one morning he accidentally spilled milk on it, the next day it was finally cleared up. He now wants to put milk on all his boo-boos...
Tyler also has very specific ideas, and when he wants you to play a made up game with him, or build a tower, or play in the sand, he'll tell you that you're doing it wrong, and then tell you how to do it right. He's just a little headstrong.
Over the last few weeks he has been extremely excited for Kindergarten, but has also exhibited some nervousness about making new friends. He would tell Timmy things like, "Tell me all the jokes you know, so I can be funny and make friends." His speech intelligibility used to be worse, and he had some time in preschool where his friends couldn't always understand him, I don't know if this plays into his concerns, but his speech has improved a lot already. There are a few kids in the class he has met in passing or in sports, but no real buddies, yet, so I'm anxious for him to click with someone!
I know he's in good hands, just some forewarning! :)
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