First Day of School and a Miraculous Recovery

What a bittersweet day! Although I am happy to get a bit of downtime now that Sage has gone back to school, one can't help worrying about the new teacher, wondering if there will be bullies, and of course, the concern of a mother for her profoundly dyslexic son.

I had always envisioned homeschooling my kids, little did I know what the Universe had in store for me. Sage has always been a bright kid, very socially outgoing, engaged and interested in the world around him. But even as a little kid, he seemed to have problems processing information in a way that showed up as "good" test scores. He's brilliant when it comes to politics and framing a photograph, but he reads at a first grade level and is currently entering fourth grade.

Last year his phenomenal teacher, Mrs. Gonzalez, was incredible, never has anyone advocated for him so well, never had anyone seen his great potential and how deeply dyslexic he is. And having only been diagnosed officially at the end of 2nd grade, there was a LOT of catch up to do.

Nevertheless, he actually chooses of his own accord to read out loud to my husband and I sometimes. I think he's proud of what he's accomplished and so he should be. He's worked hard and though I know school will probably always be somewhat of a struggle, he's finally getting some building blocks with which to create his world of education.

Really though, I can't say enough good things about his school. It's a public school with a fine arts focus, they teach violin AND Spanish starting in first grade. The walls are COVERED with murals created by the students depicting civil rights activists and abuses. And the school is very, very mixed. I believe thirty percent is African American, thirty percent is Latino, and the remaining thirty percent is a mixture of native born Caucasian, Hmong, Somalian and "other" students. As the Caucasian mom of a multi-racial child this is SO important to me. It's like the hospital I work at, a gorgeous mixture of races, cultures, and ethnicities.

So, I finished up my four-shifts-in-three-days and am enjoying the day off before I go back tomorrow evening. Just four or five more shifts until I have the option of going on maternity leave! (which I won't, but at least I have that option and I can thereafter make my own schedule. Whoopee!)

Yesterday was another day in the nursery. A sort of steady stream of babies. One little guy was SO hirsute! He was such a cutie, but sadly he'd had thick mec at so all that hair was coated in poo. Another baby yesterday was pretty "mec-y" and though I KNOW that our protocols about washing babies so quickly is all balderdash I really couldn't wait to wash and comb all that stuff out of his lovely fuzzy hair. One thing about me is that I have a real aversion to gunk in peoples ears so I ever-so-gently took a few swabs and wiped out his wee ears. I did NOT however get aggressive with his vernix. At least I'm that savvy.

But the real kicker yesterday was when a woman, a victim of the recent bridge collapse who had been pregnant at the time, came down to visit the nurses who cared for her baby for the last month while she teetered between life and death. What a miracle! I won't say much except that she looks great and her child is fat and happy. I wanted to cry I was so overjoyed for her recovery. I think that kid must be destined for something great.