First day *officially*

Kyle officially started high school today.  I still can’t believe he’s in high school. I can’t believe we have made it this far! And I say we cuz it has definitely been a team effort! 

Kyle had two weeks off in between the end of summer school and the start of the regular school year. I mentally prepared myself for the worst. Last night I tossed and turned in bed, thinking of every single worst case scenario 🙄! I finally got out of bed at 5:45 and woke Kyle up, hoping for the best but totally expecting the worst. 

I woke him up 10 min early thinking he would refuse to get out of bed and have to skip breakfast due to lack of time. But to my surprise he popped up and walked downstairs no problem! 

Since the epic fail with the bus, while James was gone, I have been keeping the iPad away from him until he gets on the bus. As soon as he sits down in his seat he gets the iPad. So, he ate his breakfast with no iPad and everytime he asked for it, I reminded him that as soon as he got on the bus he would get it. He put up his usual fight with getting dressed but nothing out of his norm. 

When he was all ready we sat by the window and waited for the bus. My stomach in knots and him spitting everytime I mentioned the bus. I kept thinking “keep it together, even if it’s awful, keep it together”. James reassured me about 25000000x that everything was going to be fine. But like Kyle, sometimes all the reassurance in the world doesn’t take away the anxiety (I am definitely on the spectrum)! 

The bus was supposed to be there at 6:28am. Our son justin also started high school today, and James had to leave to take him and a few friends to school at 7:45. So when 6:35 rolled around and the bus still wasn’t there, my anxiety sky rocketed! My heart raced every minute that passed and the bus wasn’t there! I was freaking out at the thought of James having to leave and me having to try to get him on the bus alone…with a new bus driver…and the first day back after having a 2 week break! 

At 6:42, the bus pulled up, *phew*! I walked out with kyles backpack, while James got Kyle up and walking. The new bus driver was a middle aged woman with a big smile! *phew* I told her Kyle struggles sometimes with getting on the bus and she laughed and said not a problem! *phew* I got on the bus first and Kyle followed and sat down in his seat, no problem! *phew, phew, phew*!!!!!! The whole process was 2 minutes, and off they went! James was able to leave with justin on time, and my stomach eased up and my heart started to slow down!

Kyles afternoon bus driver is different than the morning driver. So I anxiously awaited him to get home to see how his day went and the ride home went. I was greeted as the bus doors open by another super friendly driver and Kyle with his goofy grin! Janine was right behind him helping him transition from bus to home! 

Janine said he had a GREAT day! Yay!!!!! 

This season in Kyles life has been one of the most difficult. One that I will be so glad when Kyle finally has this new routine down. But there is something about hard seasons with Kyle that make me appreciate and celebrate when there is a break in the hard-even if it’s just one good day amongst many bad days.  Somehow small triumphs give me just enough fuel to keep going. To continue trying. To keep hoping.  And so as hard as it is to admit, I am grateful for hard seasons (but welcome an easy one sometime real soon)!