Summer Comes

Tomorrow is the official last day of school for Benji's pre-K year. As I listen to him play Lego Batman on the PS2, I smile and I cry at the same time.

This has been a remarkable year for Benji. He met 90% of his goals in school and other than home therapy we have reached a plateau. I say plateau because we do not know what the future will bring.

Benji can write his name, count to 12, say his alphabet, recognize numbers, letters, and shapes. He can dress himself and even match most of the time! We are fully potty trained, no accidents in forever!

From the outside looking in, Benji appears to be "normal", if there is such a thing.

We still have days where things are just too much. Those days are full of mom rubbing his back, wearing the hug vest, doing exercises on the trampoline, and sitting in the sling swing. That doesn't sound too bad until one realizes that even with all of that, Benji may still be "stuck".

See different things happen when Benji gets stuck. He can get stuck in an emotion or a topic or an action. If he is determined to be angry, we have to figure out what has happened. It's not very easy when you have five siblings and mom and dad. This results in mom and dad walking a thin line to rectify a wrong without making one of the siblings a victim. You might ask about how Benji being angry can turn one of his siblings into a victim... Benji sees things with Benji glasses. Sometimes nobody has to do anything at all, and Benji will get upset. He perceives that one of his brothers moved something, or took a favorite toy. Then he is upset until there is an apology, which isn't always easy to get. But he is doing better.

Right now, Benji misses his teacher. He doesn't understand why she had to leave school early. And while the other two teachers are there, he really wants to see the lead teacher. I think he understands that it is the end of the school year and he's afraid he won't get to see her again. We are working things out so he will and he will be happy once again.