Wheels on the Bus

There was a bus outside my house this morning. It was for Chica Marie. I was never notified transportation had been arranged. I was the only one awake in the house, just preparing my breakfast and the roast for dinner tonight. I saw the bus drive slowly down our block from the kitchen window. I assumed it was for someone else until I checked and noticed it sitting right outside our front door. I was barefoot and in my pajamas. It was drizzling. I sheepishly trundled outside and asked the bus driver if he were waiting for Chica Marie. He confirmed he was. I told him she was sleeping because I was never notified transportation had been arranged. He asked where she was going to school and I told him. He said he would pick her up Tuesday morning at 6:35. Oh my ever-loving god that’s early! I usually only wake her up around 7! I usually only get up around 6:30 myself. This is not going to help Chica Marie perform better at school, not at all. I was worried she would need to be on the bus crazy early and, sadly, I was right. School doesn’t start until 8:05, so this child will be on the bus for an hour and a half before she even begins her day! Insanity!

 

I feel like this train wreck will never end. I’m so angry that instead of being set up for success and a good first time school experience, Chica Marie is having all her triggers flung at her, just setting her up for failure. Her first full day of kindergarten she spent an hour standing around outside the school waiting for a lost/missing bus with another student on it. Luckily, her mobile therapist was there to try to keep her entertained, but I shudder to think what may have happened if the mobile therapist hadn’t been there watching Chica Marie and finding little things for her to do. The child on the missing bus was a runner, so the rest of the day was spent watching the adults try to keep this 5 year old in the classroom. The only thing she did was learn to trace her hand and cut it out, something she already knew how to do! When I asked her what she learned yesterday, she refused to talk about it. I don’t think she likes school and who can blame her? She is stuck in a classroom where she doesn’t belong and things keep changing for her! Just this morning I had to explain she would be riding a bus, which had not been part of our previous narrative. I had to explain she needed to stay in her seat and not scream on the bus. My hope is she will sleep, since it is picking her up so early. Leaving her without structure, constantly changing her schedule, restructuring her day, causing her to up earlier with no afternoon nap – these are the things that are going to accelerate Chica Marie’s undesirable behaviors! I don’t understand how the school doesn’t get that?