An Emergence into Normalcy

I have to share with you what a wonderful experience this has been watching Beans emerge from an extremely shy, withdrawn preschooler to a kindergartener who would rather hide under his desk than sit with the other kids to a first grader in special ed who was trying to grasp the beginnings of academics but was so sick he missed the majority of school to a second grader in a self-contained class for a combination of reasons - Asperger's, immune, and tube feeding among some of them - who failed miserably when we did a trial run in the inclusion class to this year. As a repeat second grader I have to agree with Beans' statement that he is a "real" boy. Not that he wasn't before of course but now he's just .... normal. And what a fabulous place normal is!

Academically, my little star is starting to shine. Most of his grades are in the 90% - a great indicator that he's grasping the lessons but not so perfect that I question if retaining him was the right idea. It definitely was. Math is his brightest area and reading/writing take a lot more work. BUT he is catching on and catching on fast. He has gotten 100% on every spelling test so far. Words that are rather complex for him at the beginning of the week but by the time Friday rolls around he's got them.

The thing that is most apparent though is Beans' social development. I was almost in tears on the way to school this morning thinking about it. He comes home from school, hops out of the van, races to the door to give me a hug. Then I hear about his day...and contrary to what he's relayed in the past it isn't the more bland routine I hear about. Yesterday afternoon the conversation went like this:

Beans: "Mom, did you know I have a new girlfriend?"
Me: "Oh really? What's her name?"
Beans: "You have to guess."
Me: "Is it M?"
Beans (with a twinkle in his eye): "No, but she is ticklish."
Me: "Who is it then?"
Beans (with his impish grin): "It's E! She's ticklish too but not on her neck."

Okay, okay so tickling the girls isn't the most appropriate social behavior in second grade but I do think it's a pretty normal one. His teacher is so great at reminding him we don't tickle in class. LOL.

A couple days ago he came home and told me, with a very serious face, that two boys cheated. "Oh dear, why would they do that?" I asked. He got a mischievous impish grin and said they pretended to fight so they could make up and get points for it. He obviously knew it was wrong but was testing the waters. This exploration is such a wonderful, new world for me as a mom. I'm absolutely loving it.