Field Day

With all the excitement of Jake's one year anniversary last week, I forgot to mention field day. Last year when Jake was in 4th grade, field day was on May 30th and those are the last pre-stroke pictures I have of him. Oddly enough, it was May 30th again this year.

Jake had been a little worried about how he was going to participate in field day. Many of the activities involve running, use of two hands and general bilateral coordination. His PE teacher has been amazing all year on adapting things for Jake so he could participate and be part of things like everyone else, this was no exception. We went in one day after school so he could walk Jake through the different activities and figure out how he could participate in each one. Knowing what to expect and how he needs to adapt before he gets into a situation has been extremely helpful for Jake. We realized that most of the stations would be doable. When there was a team relay, instead of being the kid that ran to fill cups of water, he stayed on the other end and helped hold the tube the water was dumped into. When it came time for the shoe kick, he sat on a stool instead of standing. Balloon toss, no problem, he did that one handed. There was a dodge ball type game where he stayed the thrower instead of the runner who was trying to avoid getting hit with the ball. There were a few areas where he sat and rested part of the time and that was fine. It was hot and they were doing activities for almost two hours. Was his field day experience different from last year? Of course, but that's ok, everyone else's was too. He got to participate with his friends and he had a blast. At the end of the day, that's what is most important.

Jake has his final day and a half of elementary school this coming week, which I'm already anticipating are going to be very emotional for me. Tomorrow is his final assembly and Tuesday is fifth grade continuation. On many levels I am so happy he is getting to finish out the school year with his classmates and continue onto middle school. On several other levels, I am so sad he is leaving the elementary school that has provided so much support for him not only this year but for previous seven years (he went to preschool for two years there before starting kindergarten.) I am also somewhat terrified to be sending him to not only a new school, but middle school where I don't know any of the staff and they don't know Jake. Every day I sent him off to school this year, I knew there were people who genuinely cared about him, looked out for him, and made sure he was safe both physically and emotionally. I'm not going to have that same level of comfort starting next year and its scary given the situation he's in. I know its normal for parents go through some anxiety when their kids transition into middle school and to be honest, I had a lot of that before his stroke. Now there's an extra layer of angst. I am working very hard on keeping that to myself so it doesn't bleed over into Jake's feeling about middle school. Right now he is excited, which is where I want him to stay.