It has been brought to my attention that I rule. Granted this commentary has been made by biased folk – best friend, husband, mother – so it must be taken with a grain of salt, but hey! I’ll take it.

Two weeks ago today, I was freaking out. I was freaking out about Matthew and trying to figure out how to best help him – how to help him cope with school and with life and how to be a better mom. And then I got all proactive on this stuff. I got all up in its’ grill and was all, “Yo! I’m gonna figure this out.” (That sounded way cooler in my head…OK, actually, no, it didn’t even sound cool there).

I made phone calls. I made appointments. I did research and here’s where we’re at two weeks later: Matthew may very well need glasses. We went to the pediatrician to have his vision and hearing checked and discovered that his hearing is perfect (hmmm, remind me of that when I’m telling him it’s time to clean-up Legos and he doesn’t budge), but his eyesight potentially needs some help. His right eye is 20/50 and his left is 20/30. (I’ve always had 20/20 so these numbers mean nothing to me. I was told it means that he has difficulty seeing far-ish away. Is that near or far-sighted? I always forget if you’re near-sighted if you can or can’t see up close…whatever, I’ll learn). So, we now have an appointment for next Monday to meet with an Ophthalmologist who specializes in pediatric ophthalmology. (Dude! That is HARD to spell). And after meeting with Matthew’s pediatrician and discussing EVERYTHING that we’ve had going on this year with him, we came up with a great plan – one that I’ve also acted on.

We have a neighbor/friend who is a kindergarten teacher and tutor. She’s going to work with Matthew one-on-one for six weeks this summer. This way, he can learn in a fun but calm learning environment and get the help that he needs. She’ll also be able to decipher if he has any particular areas that are exceptionally difficult (therefore indicating if extra-help or testing is necessary). Then, ideally, after a summer of making learning enjoyable and building his confidence, he’ll be in a good place for starting first grade with a new class, teacher and hopefully much better experience. THEN, next year, once we’re settled into school, we can reevaluate and know if/when it’s worth spending the oodles of money to get him tested.

For once in my parenting career I feel confident in saying that I did everything right.

And as a reward, I’m flying to Monterey to visit friends in two days! (OK, it’s not actually a reward for this, it’s an reward for turning 30 and for having the best husband in the world, but let me tell you: I will be celebrating a-plenty with Katherine, Dan and baby Grace)! Weekend get-away in Monterey C-A. I’m on my way! (Yeah, that JUST happened. And again, slightly cooler sounding in my head. Sorry.).