THIS Kid.

If you loyal blog-readers will recall, there have been a few posts about my challenges with parenthood. . .In particular, challenges with our eldest son. . .

May 2013
July 2013
July 2013
December 2013
March 2014

Just to list a few.

Still, to this day - this actual day - when the phone rings from the school, I still feel a pit in my stomach about bad news.  Did he have a meltdown?  What has gone wrong now?

So, bright and early this morning, I get a call from our eldest's teacher, and my heart starts racing, and I am already reaching for my car keys to head to out the door, and she tells me -

He did so well on his quarterly assessments.  Not only did he make HUGE improvements with the actual score - he almost finished one of the tests in the allotted time, and actually finished the first test within the recommended time frame.  IF you recall anything about my son - you know this is a BIG DEAL.

My heart is bursting with happiness and pride.  I want to rent a billboard.  I want to take out a page in the New York Times.  I want to get a fly-by plane banner.  I want to scream this from the rooftops for all to hear and know - that I am so proud of my son.

When I picked my son up from school today, I asked him, "Did Ms E tell you about your test results?"
"Yes," (hey, he's a teenager, sometimes one-word is all I get).
"You worked hard, took your time, and improved.  What do you think about it?"
"It's because I'm in the right school for me," he replied simply.

I am glad he recognizes that truth.  He is in the right school - which is a whole different story.  It does make a world of difference.
However, we are also standing on YEARS of hard work, therapies, therapists, doctors, strategies, conferencing, planning, behavior charts, lists, and. . .our amazing school from K-7th grade:  Community School of Davidson.
We had incredible educators every year - our son was surrounded and scaffolded by caring, highly qualified teachers and support staff.  They got us through a lot of very rough times to get to this point.

We also know that this is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - but it is most definitely a mark of success along the right path.  There will be more downs, and hopefully a lot more ups.

We absolutely recognize that our son is in the right school for him and again, he has amazing teachers.
And most importantly, he is doing the work.  He is applying the strategies that we worked on for years.  He is an incredible, hard-working, kind, thoughtful teenager - and I had been fairly certain, early on, that days like these would never happen.

This.  Kid.