Living in the real world

I had thought that maybe, just maybe since Chase has been doing so well for the past couple of months that maybe he might be able to go to a "normal" preschool next year. But if the past few days are any indication that we were out of the woods, I am sadly mistaken. Chase has been such a little "pill" this past week and not only at home, but at school as well. The days of the teachers telling me that he had a really good day, he was so helpful, he listened, sat and paid attention are gone for now. Hopefully they will come back. My goal for him is for him to attend a preschool with children who don't have significant issues and not get kicked out. The PPCD program he is in is fine, although Chase is probably one of if not the highest functioning kids in the class. They cater more to the more fragile kids and I think that academically he should and could be learning more. At 4.5 yo, he should know a lot more than he does and I don't foresee that he will get that if he stays in this program.

Chase had his big assessment with the Salesmanship Club on Tuesday. It was a long morning for both of us. After filling out a lot of paperwork, he had a brief physical by the nurse, he is so big, he is in the 90th percentile for height and weight! He passed the hearing exam, but was not cooperative for the vision exam. We then met with the director and found out what the rest of the morning would consist of. After that, he went into a room with the education specialist and she worked/played with him for about an hour. I got to sit in a separate room and watch thru a one way mirror. He was his usual self, constantly moving from activity to activity; the one thing that surprised me is that he wanted to know where I was, so the therapist had to bring him to me several times during his session, attachment is working! While I sat and watched him, the psychologist came and talked with me. She wanted to know what his life was like in the orphanage, what I felt his problems were, what my goals were with him; she even went so far as to ask me how I came to adopt, what my motivation was, and so on and so on. Why do the waterworks start every time I have to tell my "story"? I hate that. After time with the Ed. specialist, I was asked to go into another room and play with him and then the phone would ring and I was given instructions to do something else with him, this went on for about another hour, the whole time, we were being watched thru the one way mirror and videotaped. After we were done with that we met with the director again and I was asked how I thought it went. I told her they got a pretty good idea of what Chase was like, although not totally correct as he does pretty well when he is one on one with someone, it's when he is in a group setting like school or if I am not totally focused on him that he acts out. They plan on speaking with his teachers at the school and get their impressions of him. I have a follow up meeting with them next week Friday to find out what their findings are. The psychologist told me as we were leaving that she felt she could solve this "puzzle" of a boy. I hope so!

More news from our courtyard, she just keeps laying eggs and she is just a little bird; we are up to five today!