oh heck.

I don't know who's freaking worse...Ben or me. Deep breaths....

We went to the little informal meet 'n' greet this morning. He listened to the teacher oh, about 25% of the time. Mostly he was just looking around, doing his own thing. I'm fairly sure it's because it's new to him, and he won't be so busy looking once he gets used to the room... so that's not the part that is freaking me out. What has me concerned is all the little things.

Ben doesn't like following directions, he never has. He's always been content to do his own thing, and since he's been so well behaved and good at playing by himself...he hasn't needed to follow too many directions. Now it's going to be a whole 'nother ball game. Wow.

And he's on his own time line...like today when he went to the bathroom, he decided he'd have "a little soap time", and rather than do his business and get done, he just futzed around in there for awhile. He's going to be so behind on things. He's going to have so much "finish work" that he's going to have to complete at home in addition to whatever homework there is. Ugh. If he doesn't want to do something, he just doesn't do it. I really hope this teacher can whip him into shape, but really I think he needs a drill sargent or something.

And his fine motor skills are horrible. I can't get him to hold the pencil correctly to save his life (and we've been practicing for awhile now). One of the things he had to do today (and everyday when he first comes in) is to put his nametag under a piece of paper and trace it. Yeah, that'll happen. I showed him how and he still was making his own letters rather than trying to trace. See how well he follows directions. Ugh.

And if he has to go to the bathroom, he has to use the (ASL) sign for "bathroom" and then the teacher will sign back either "yes" or "no".

One nice thing was that he greeted and said goodbye to his teacher very nicely. "Hello, Mrs. Einck!" "Goodbye, Mrs. Einck!". It's nice he has a great memory for names. He also didn't seem shy when they sat on the rug and she asked them questions (practicing raising hands).

So Ben wasn't terribly impressed today because he didn't get to play. He told his teacher he had fun, but he'd wanted to play but his mom wouldn't let him. She told him that they will get to play a little bit, but mostly they're there to learn. And he's been pretty much sulking ever since. I tried singing the song the teacher will sing to get their attention ("One, two, three...eyes on me!" and they are to put their hands in their laps and sing back, "One, two...eyes on you!". He told me he was "done".