Our new school routine is mostly good. M now goes to bed at 7:30pm without fuss. We have done something outside or physical after 3pm when we get home from school, like a walk, a park, or swimming. Dinner at 6, then another hour of whatever, shower at 7, read, and in bed at 7:30pm. She’s out like a light. This day is so much more manageable for me than 12 hours with no real routine or schedule! Behavior has been so much better, so obviously she is thriving on it, too.
School seems to be going great! None of my worries have come to pass (yet). The teachers seem super friendly and they say that M is “having a blast” when I go to pick her up! Today I picked her up for our first therapist appointment, and got to see her inside the class. She was sitting nicely on the floor with her little friends. *Boom, mind blown* When she saw me and came over to put on her shoes, a little boy came over and said, “I’ll miss you so much when you’re gone”. In response to his attempt at a hug, she pushed him away (gently). He said, “oh don’t do that!” It was so cute. She said goodbye to everyone, and I was happy to see she seems like she likes her classmates! She didn’t really care either way about her toddler room friends until the very end, but maybe it’s her age.
Oh, and also, they have a live bunny in their classroom. That’s cool! The teacher makes sure to touch base with me at every pick up, telling me what they’re working on so we can work on it at home. (Right now it’s putting her socks on by herself).
I have done nothing at home but sleep while she’s been in school. I am just taking the advice I got to do nothing the first week but treat myself… and that means sleep! Now that I know they seem like they can totally handle M and she isn’t too traumatized, I’m thoroughly enjoying having six hours to myself. I watched a whole movie in German the other day. Awesome!!!
So if all this was good, here comes some bad… I picked her up today for her appointment and she was not a happy camper. Fighting me about getting into the car (she broke her DVD player in the process), and being horrendous at the appointment. I guess it’s good that she acted like that in front of the therapist so she could see the behaviors I’m talking about… the wild running around, dumping things, in-your-face defiance, and my favorite: hitting, kicking, and hurting me.
Next week we’ll meet without her so we can talk. This week was pretty much just good observation for her!
Mother of All Things 
Maybe she’s just now really beginning to process all that’s happening? We’ve been doing fairly well with our new routines, and I’m really working to keep them going, but we did sure have had some relapses. It seems like overall improvement but still a wild day here and there. Two steps forward, one step back most days, then vice versa for an overwhelming day or two. I hope she gets back on track quickly, and I hope my girl does too!