The "Ho-Boy" Boy

The Boy has been having speech therapy twice a week at daycare and we can see small, incremental improvements. I'm updating this for two reasons. First, many people suggested contacting the school district or county agencies to see if we could get it free. Second, his past speech problems have a relation to a classmate of the Boy.

But first, thanks for the many suggestions about contacting government agencies for speech therapy. We actually did this a few months after coming home with him in 2007. He qualified for free speech therapy, but it involved pulling him out of school, driving him 30 minutes North for a 45 minute session, and then driving back to drop him back in the middle of his class.

We decided that it was too much disruption for a kid just starting to integrate into a classroom with other kiddos. Also, it was freakin' pain in the butt for us schedule-wise. We'll pay for the luxury of having speech therapists come into the school to have the sessions - it's covered under Wifey's health insurance (apparently, we still haven't got the bill!)

Anyway before we started the sessions, we had been talking to his new teacher (who taught the Girl for two years at daycare - we lurve this teacher) about if he was making friends in the new class. The teach mentioned a young gal who seemed to be the one who was always very patient, understanding, and kind to the Boy. Her name is Cameron. The teacher said that while other kids got frustrated with the Boy's mumbling and just threw their hands up in frustration and walked away, Cameron would patiently stay with the Boy and try to figure out what he was trying to mumble.

A few times after that, I tried to smile and say, "Hi there" to Cameron when she was in class. By chance, her drop-off and the Boy's drop-off are very close together in time in the mornings. But when I tired to engage her, she had this blank look on her face - kind of a non-recognition on her part of me.

Okay, I didn't want to be like a stalker parent, so I let it drop. I kept asking, "Are you sure this is the girl who is his buddy?"

And then yesterday morning I was walking the Boy from the car across the parking lot and I saw Cameron and her mother get out of their car and head towards the entrance to the daycare. We were just about 15 seconds ahead of them. As we slowed down at the door, they caught up to us. And as I was holding the door for Cameron's mom, Cameron just simply put her left hand in the Boy's right hand. I was still holding his left hand. The Boy, as is his nature, didn't make a big deal about it. He wasn't pleased or displeased that she had taken his hand. It was just another hand. I tried smiling at her, but she just looked up at me, looked down and kept walking with the Boy.

We got a little further into the building and I let go of the Boy's hand so that they two could walk hand-in-hand with each other down the hallway. I looked at Cameron's mom with a smile. But surprisingly, she didn't have a smile on her face like I thought she would. She just said to me, "Ho-boy". It was weird, it was more of a concern than anything.

I would understand it if, the moment they got together, they went nuts and started misbehaving. But, they walked together calmly to class. As we walked in, Cameron's mom said to the teacher, "Well, it looks like trouble" (about the two kids joined together).

They got in line to sign in - the teacher does that to have the kids practice writing their names each day. And while Cameron was waiting in line ahead of the Boy, she was still holding his hand. Only when her mother asked for hug did Cameron finally drop the Boy's hand. And then she signed her name and then she took off for another part of the room.

In the afternoon, when I went to pick him up, I found Cameron and the Boy playing together at one of the stations. This time, she gave me the briefest of smiles.

I don't want to be a paranoid parent. In fact, I wanted to compliment Cameron to her mother about how she is such a good pal to the Boy. But her sighing words prevented me from doing so. I don't know in what context she sighed those words. But I do appreciate that the Boy does have a pal in his classroom.