Transition Time

It's getting near that emotional time of year.

I have spent much of the last week feeling sentimental and looking back on the kids and how they have grown up so darn quick.

As a mum you spend all your time striving towards the next milestone, the next step of their development.

You plan so much. You think how hectic life is and look forward to the time they go to school. Before you know it, they ARE going to playgroup, then they go to nursery and before you know it they are off to full time education.  It goes by so fast.

The whole week that has just gone has been a mix of education and medical meetings.

The kids have all had their transfer day where they move up to the next class and got to meet their new teachers. Liam already knows his two teachers as we see them every day when we drop James. He can't wait to go to the school nursery. James has one new teacher and one teacher he knows. For his first 6 months at nursery he had a teacher that went off on maternity leave. She is now back as one of his teachers this year and is very happy and comfortable with someone he already knows so hopefully it won't be too daunting. Matthew knows his teacher through the school and she is supposed to be very good.

It will be a big culture shock having James at school all day. They explained how they would like us to all gather at the reception class doors and bundle all the children in together without parents so they can get used to the new way quickly. Personally, I whole heartedly agree with this. There were a lot of parents arguing that if their child is crying they would feel bad. Having watched kids in nursery and playgroup, I am very much aware how this crying lasts longer when mum or dad is an audience. There will be nervous and uneasy kids, it's a big step for a 4 year old but this is the first step to a real school life. They will do fine.

The meeting about reception felt more like a lecture on being on time for school for half the meeting but in general it was a rather bittersweet feeling. You feel proud that they are growing up so wonderfully but realise that this is a whole new stage of their lives and that now they really are mainstream school children.

It's going to be so cute seeing them go in with their school uniforms and lunch bags. They were given their school bags this week and James was really proud.

Nothing at all changes for Liam joining nursery.

So the kids are all at that stage of transition where they will all suddenly seem that much bigger after the school holidays.

As for medical things, James' teachers are concerned not just about his speech but also his understanding. Last Tuesday James' nursery teacher came with us to the GP with a personal portrait on what James can't do in class to keep up with his friends. Some of the things on the list seem very petty and for a good deal of the things they are concerned about, James has been there, done that and grown out of it. James has a great logical brain, He has good motor skills but his teachers worry that he doesn't make noise when playing with cars. He did this when he was 1-2 yrs old. He's grown out of that now. He doesn't seem to understand the concept of playing snap - He plays it ALL THE TIME at home so I assume he was bored playing it at school. At home, I see a very different side to the shy quiet little boy they have in class. Deep down, James seems very mature for his age and he is not doing the things they expect him to as he sees it as "babyish".

So to keep the school happy and to tick all the right boxes for helping my child, I took him along to the doctors and they will refer him to the child development clinic for full tests to see how he gets on and what they think. James is just a fairly quiet boy that thinks alot. We'll just see how that goes.

On the Wednesday we went to Bury St Edmunds diabetes care unit as hubby left his insulin at work and had none in the house spare. They gave us loads of extra spares to make sure there was always some available.

Friday Liam went back to the speech therapist. She agreed that he had improved greatly since our initial meeting but would still recommend the group therapy they have for children behind in speech. We are still waiting to hear about this. They say they hope to fit him in before Christmas so it's just a case of waiting again.

Yesterday we had the local health visitor visit. She was lovely (normally I have a severe dislike of these professionals) and seeing the boys in their homes confirmed Liam was behind in his speech but was far from concerned. He's not in mainstream school yet and he is the youngest so it's not common to be left behind on speech at this age. As for James, he was very comfortable talking to her in his home environment talking about the things he was interested in. She could understand him clearly and he was very confident as he was doing what he wanted and able to explain his ideas. She asked if he shows an interest in language and I told her how I start bedtime stories and leave gaps for the kids to fill the story with their imagination. She told me I was doing everything they would normally recommend to help them improve language skills and that following our little meeting she was more than happy with what she had seen and that she would not need to do a repeat or follow up visit unless I initiated it and wanted any advice or help at all. She was LOVELY, very down to earth and a mum to 3 boys herself so she understood a lot of what we are going through with the school and how they DO help but alot of the time it's to have all the right records on them as teachers and show the school is doing well.

So that's the past week and a half in a nutshell.