Sam and Dad's Big Day (First Day Part 3)

Sam started preschool this last Tuesday which also happened to be Ronny's 33rd birthday. Sam was so excited to start school. He seems to have mixed feelings about it now. He had a great first couple of days with only a few hiccups, however he came home on Friday and told me he cried at school and wanted to come home but his teacher said no. He loves riding the bus with Daddy and loves that his friends are with him at school. He also has a mental health aid that is assigned to him and other kids in his class to help with transitions. The aid certainly helps quite a bit and Sam comes home tired which tells me he is thinking and playing hard at school.

The week before school started Sam was officially diagnosed with ADHD. Everyone seems to have an opinion about this, which is sometimes helpful but mostly not. I have begun researching this and have learned a great deal. Sam's child psychologist is not as helpful as we had originally hoped for. Although she is very kind and a great listener she does not have very much experience with what we are dealing with: a 3 year old, multiple children, and life in general with a child with ADHD to name a few. Textbooks can only take you so far, life seems to be a more direct and sometimes harsher teacher. We have begun different behavior plans at home that seem to be working much better.

In talking with the kids about Ronny's birthday, the kids each wanted to give him a gift. As this may get a little expensive we discussed options. Charley made Ronny a picture and his own game, Joseph and Sam bought him a giant candy bar, Ben and Sam gave him a Fully Invested BYU shirt, and I gave him Season Two of House. Joseph also decided that because Ronny is a student he should get cupcakes at school like he does. So we made cupcakes and took them into the guys at the office. The kids thought this was great! We then let Ronny choose where we went for dinner, Baja Fresh, and then got the kids hamburgers as they don't quite appreciate Mexican food yet. We brought dinner home and then lit the candles on the cake and sang to him. It was a long, but great day for our family!