Adjustments

The past two weeks have seen us busy with making adjustments.

The Boychick has taken to school very well, overall. During the first week, he began to get the hang of planning for getting homework done and he also had to get used to getting up at the crack of dawn in order to shower, eat and dress before I am ready to get out the door with him. He discovered that he can get the assigned reading done in half the allotted time, but that he needs to schedule himself for extra writing time. He has enlisted the Chem Geek Princess as a math tutor. She is enjoying that role, and she understands the approach the Boychick needs--highly visual, do not rely too much on auditory working memory.

At the EMHS open house last week, we learned from the Boychick's advisor that he has been ajusting very well and that he is role model to others in his advisory period. He understands that many learnings do not come immediately and that work and patience are required to master difficult material. Also, he has learned to think about what he needs to learn and is not afraid to ask for adjustments from his teachers in order to get what he needs. His advisor says that he "has landed himself in a good place--a place conducive for his learning."

As the Boychick adjusts to school, and I am adjusting to being a GA, we are all needing to adjust at home because in the past week, the Engineering Geek has gotten to work on the Boychick's floor.

This is actually a big adjustment for us. The Boychick is sleeping in the Chem Geek Princess's room, and some of his furniture and stuff are in there. But the pieces to his bed, including the mattress and box springs are leaning on the wall in our bedroom, and the neatly stacked boxes in the hall have been gradually spilling out into the living room.

Yesterday, we were frantically going through boxes to find the kerchief and badge sash for the Boychick's scout uniform, as he had a scoutmaster council meeting for advancement. This meant more movement of his stuff into the living room.

All of us have great difficulty with this kind of chaos and so yesterday was one of those frantic days during which there was grumbling and snapping, in addition to productive work and conversation.

We all are striving to remember that the prep work is done, for the most part, and that the EG is now planning out the floor and laying out the pieces. Gluing will begin today and tomorrow, and the floor ought to be done by the end of next weekend.

The chaos is not permanent.

These kinds of adjustments are good for our flexibility.

And we can think ahead to when we move the Boychick's greatly reduced possessions back into his room. There are many things that are ready to find new homes via the helpful services of Good Will. So we will be spending some time this week going through these things and sorting the no longer useful to us from the no longer useful for anybody.

My current mantra: It's temporary. Order will eventually emerge from chaos. It did in May. It will now.