Wanting cookies, football, and more assessments for Aaron

Luke saw Raha eating a cookie and told me, "Look, Raha has a cookie. Mommy, I always want what the other guy has."

I took Raha over to South Oldham to get info about registration and to see the school. We went back tonight to get football gear and practice starts tomorrow. Yikes! I told him that he's not allowed to hit, be hit, or fall on the ground, and of course he looked at me like I was a total idiot. Probably not for the first time? My dad says that he had less injuries in football than basketball thanks to the protection from pads and helmet but it still scares me. I am glad for the initially welcoming coach and I hope that he really feels welcome and thrives on the team environment. I was nervous for him while we were signing up, completely out of my comfort zone with football gear and parents who were obvious sports fanatics, then had a good moment of levity when Raha told me we need to go to the sporting goods store to buy him a cup. I punted to Rich on that one.

It's definitely weird for me to be on the other side of ECE (special education) services. The assistant principal was condescending and quite sure that he should be in self contained services even though she doesn't know him at all and doesn't know how beautifully he's behaved for months. I was furious but acted polite since I'll need to work with her for the next couple of years. We have a meeting next Monday, so I'll take lots of behavioral data, references from administration, and bring his therapist and other classroom teacher. I need to learn how to be a good advocate.

Aaron's speech therapist made a referral for another assessment, this at my request for him to receive services in the home for sign language. Austin is great, Aaron loves her, and we don't want to switch to a therapist who can provide both services. When we were with Barbara and Dennis, Aaron was enamored with Barbara. She speaks fluent ASL, and he'd get so excited that he start wiggling his fingers and waving hands to talk to her. He spontaneously picked up lots of signs and is so willing to communicate, and we're so desperate to talk to him. I'm not sure that there are signs for 50 kinds of construction vehicles, but I'm sure that Aaron would be delighted to learn all of them.