First Day Back at Work

In having a relaxing last day of vacation, I didn't feel anxious nor stressed about work when I went to sleep last night. I forced myself to go to bed around 11 PM so I could wake up with 7.5 hours of sleep...instead, I woke up around 1 AM when BF came in to see if I was asleep and give me a few smoochies. After that, I couldn't fall asleep even though I felt exhausted. I tried what webMD suggests -- if you can't fall asleep within half an hour, get up and do something. So I got up and read my newest textbook, thinking it would definitely put me to sleep. I did this cycle about three times and finally fell asleep around 4:30 AM...just to wake up at 6:30 for work.

I get so annoyed when I don't get a good night of sleep and I have no reason not to! Fortunately, today was a teacher's prep day so I wasn't supposed to see any kids.

I got to work around 8:20 (later than planned) and when I pulled into the rear parking lot, a school bus pulled up. I thought, "That's weird; there's no school today," but I shrugged it off since the bus looked empty.

I got to the main office to pick up a key to my new and 10x improved office (wooO-hOoOOO!!!) when the secretary asked loudly, "is Cheryl there??" I was like, uh-oh...turns out the bus driver was wondering where the SDC PAU teacher was. I knew that he wasn't positive about coming in today. I picked up my key and promptly made my way back to the parking lot (opposite end of campus).

When I got there, I could hear two ladies/bus drivers frantically scuffling on the first bus. I climbed onto the bus and saw my ol' pal P320. The two ladies were freaking out, trying to back away from him but simultaneously blocking him from exiting off the bus (they are legally not allowed to let students off the bus without a credentialed teacher or aide). All the while, they were yelling at me, "Watch out! He's scratching and biting!" I was like, "What? [P320] doesn't bite...did he really bite you?" Turns out P320 didn't bite but was putting up a very good fight to get off the bus. It took the 3 of us to settle him back down. It was seriously a struggle that made all 4 of us break out in a sweat. The ladies finally got the seat belt and restraints back on, and I quickly called his mom to explain that there's a misunderstanding; school begins tomorrow.

I dreaded making the call b/c this mom is spread so thin, and I could hear the panic in her voice. I told her I couldn't stay long b/c I was already late for a District meeting, but she desperately asked me to stay with her son until she got there. She hung up and I sat down next to him. Oddly, he was totally his calm self that I'm used to. It was a complete 180 from what we were just experiencing minutes before. I'm not sure what it was -- did he understand when I told him, "there's no school today...Mommy's picking you up now...you're going home"? I've never seen him get aggressive or violent, but recently, this has been a huge concern for many upsetting reasons. (Later, when I was re-telling my brother my morning excitement, he called me the "autism whisperer." =P I'd like to think that I was the stimulus for calming him down b/c I've had a lot of success in the past, but who knows. Like I always tell BF, "I'll ask them my questions when I see them in Heaven.")

His mom called right back and said she was on her way, but I told her to please don't rush; everything is okay, just drive safe. For the next 25 minutes that I sat next to the kiddo, he was soOOoOo calm. None of the aggressive behaviors that he was just exhibiting when the two bus drivers were trying to get him to just sit down. Mom came and picked him up and he climbed into the back seat and buckled his seat belt with ease (I watched out of curiosity b/c I always imagined that they had a special seat belt contraption in their car, but there wasn't any.)

Thankfully, that was as exciting as my day got. Afterwards, I went back to my room and started unpacking. I hung up my "Speech Room" sign that BF designed for me last year. I saw some of the teachers returning from the district meeting so I caught up with them in front of the auditorium and then attended a short campus meeting. Truthfully, I couldn't wait to get back to my AIR CONDITIONED room!!

I had the A/C blasting at 70 degrees the entire time while I unpacked and marveled at how wonderful my new room and set-up is. I don't have a phone yet and still no working clock, but I've gotten used to not having a clock. I like that I am the time-keeper when I have kids in session; "What time is it? Not time for you to leave yet!" Most importantly, I still have a desktop PC, printer, a window, sink, and A/C-heater!

I stayed until about 3:30 and then went to run some errands before the first day of my last BCBA course. I was soOoOOoo sleepy so I had another cup of coffee to stay awake. Thankfully, class ended half an hour early.

I came home to my wonderful BF who had just woken up from a late nap. He didn't sleep all night and by the sound of his laughter, I guessed he was watching our newest favorite show, "My Name is Earl." And he was. :) Even though I had spoken to him a few times today, I had still missed him. It's nice to be home, but I really need to get some sleep as I will see my PAU kiddos tomorrow.

I can imagine my regular speech kiddos passing by my old room -- which is literally back to being a storage room, filled with those gray, cold folding chairs -- and thinking that they no longer have to go to speech since there's no more Speech Room and no "Miss Ling" in sight! Little do they know how wrong they are. Haha!

P.S. My goal this year is to get all of my kiddos to say my name right.