So, in the middle of Thomas’ fits and thankfully he was in special needs preschool with the most awesome bus driver, teacher and speech therapist ever; Tommy and I decide to have another child. We are a fun couple I tell you. I became pregnant with Daniella and shortly thereafter decided I couldn’t live in NJ anymore. No. I had to move back to Staten Island. Had to! Tommy and I talked it over and we both decided it was for the better to move back. We really weren’t happy there, after 15 months I still hadn’t made any friends and I figured it would be easier to navigate the NY special ed system because it was a little more familiar than NJ. The Great Garden State as lovely to look at and visit as it was, was not for us.
Thankfully we sold our house within a month or so and we negotiated this house from the best sellers ever. When we closed on our house in NJ it was almost a nightmare. Someone (we have no idea who) dropped the ball and left 3 days between closing on the NJ house and closing on the Staten Island house. So technically for 3 days we were homeless. OMG yes we were. Terrible. Thomas, Alyssa and I went between my sister’s house and my inlaw’s house on Staten Island. Tommy met up with us here and there. This was the very end of March and I was due with Daniella the very end of April.
We closed on our purchase house on April 3. I cleaned like a mad woman nesting and all, it was terrible to clean like that and be that big and pregnant. I couldn’t help it. My gosh! Anyway, we loved it here immediately and I gave birth to Daniella on April 29, 2011.
When we negotiated the price on his house, one reason we were so successful was because the house needed a lot of work. New windows, new roof, new furnace, total updating, new kitchen, new bathrooms,etc… Fun times I tell you with a newborn and a 5 yr old off the hook behavior wise.
In between cleaning like a lunatic and being pregnant I managed to have Thomas readmitted to the public school system here and after evaluations were performed by the board of ed it was deemed he should be fine in a “CTT” class meaning Collaborative Team Teaching. This was new back in the day. One regular ed teacher, one special ed teacher and a para-professional. Half the class was special ed students and other half typical students. I was fine with this. And it seemed like a great idea at the time until I noticed Thomas couldn’t keep up with the work or do the homework without a lot of help and prompting. If I didn’t help him (heck even if I did) he became frustrated and would throw a fit. That’s not to say he wasn’t still having tantrums and fits like usual.
After this kindergarten year was up it was determined by the board of ed that Thomas required full time special ed, in a 12 student, one teacher, one para professional environment. Again I was fine with that and agreed.
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 