assessment

We had the "mamasori" school visit yesterday while J was out of town. To make the day a little more challenging, about two hours before we had to leave Aiden got sick all over his bed from his cough (which he only has when he's laying down). I didn't think he was a "contagious" type of sick and it was just because his cough was causing an upset tummy. He felt better almost right away, didn't have a runny nose, and ate a big lunch, so I decided to just take him rather than reschedule.

Turns out that the assessment was with two other families at the same time. There were five activity stations (color puzzles, sorting silverware, pouring puff balls/beads, heavy/light buckets, magnets) and three teachers to observe the kids. We were instructed to just step back into the corner of the room. I was kinda a bit miffed because his actual teacher didn't spend more than a minute with him and spent at least 15 minutes each with the other two kids. Aiden only got to do 4 of the 5 stations because this other kid was being a nightmare, wouldn't share and kept grabbing things out of Aiden's hands. Aiden was so patient and didn't fuss at all. He impressed the two teachers he did work with, but I was worried that he hadn't had a chance to show the teacher who makes decisions what he can do.

At the end I asked her if she had enough of an opportunity to get to know Aiden. She said, "oh no worries, I know how advanced he is from the time I spent with him at the open house in the fall, don't worry, you will be getting a good letter from us" then she whispered "he has a spot." I guess I should be relieved, but the whole deal just made me "sweat" - both literally and figuratively. It's just stressful to watch your kid be assessed (especially while there are other kids picking on him). I'm feeling much more chill about it now and I'm happy that he will have a spot, but now we just need to figure out if we want to use the spot. We hope to have an opportunity to check out the classroom when it is in session and get a better feel for how Aiden will benefit from it.

I asked Aiden what his favorite part was and he said "the balloon puzzle." It makes me smile that he shook their hands and introduced himself clearly.