Anyhow, I learned to deal with it and cope, but dropping her off for school never got a whole lot easier for me despite hearing from others that it would become easy. I missed her so much during the day, and counted down the hours until I could squeeze my girl again and hear all about her day. I thought about homeschooling literally every. single. day, but I didn't want to pull her out of school for selfish reasons. I just wanted what was best for her, and really felt like my desires were selfish.
Well, apparently I wasn't listening well enough to that still small voice and it took two years for Ava to be impacted enough by public school to make it very obvious to us that we should have listened to our initial feelings. (Daddy has been on board for homeschool since day 1).
I was receiving calls from the school nurse almost daily (for a month!), that Ava was in the nurses office reporting that she was going to throw up. I love the school nurse! She is always so sweet, and eventually she mentioned anxiety to me. She said that the symptoms Ava is experiencing seemed a whole lot like anxiety to her. I made an appointment with the pediatrician. They did all kinds of tests for tummy issues and allergies (for the nausea sensation she kept having), and everything came up clean. Her pediatrician agreed that Ava was experiencing GAD, which is generalized anxiety disorder. We could never pin point exactly what what causing it, except that it mostly was happening at school. Sometimes at home she would have issues if she heard a fire truck or ambulance. She would get so worried that someone was hurting somewhere (bless her sweet tender heart).
We continued in public school for a bit, and send peppermint oil with her. I told her to sniff it when she was feeling anxious. A few weeks later, the last straw happened. Ava was at recess. She was doing tricks on the bar and fell and crotched the bar. She told me she was laying there on the bark crying and the recess teacher just looked at her and looked away. She finally got up and walked over to the recess teacher, and asked to see the nurse. The recess teacher said "Ava, you always get hurt, you are ok." She made her sit on the bench for the remainder of the recess.
It wasn't until the bell rang and Ava went back to her class, that she could tell her teacher she needed help. Her teacher sent her to the nurse. The nurse called and told me that "Ava was in the bathroom saying she was bleeding in her underwear." I rushed right over, and sure enough. Ava had crotched that bar so hard, it had split her skin in her private area and she was all bruised on one side of her inner thigh. I was FURIOUS when she told me what happened with the recess teacher. She was made to feel to insignificant to an ADULT. You better believe, I found that teacher on Facebook and wrote her a note (I told you I was a Momma bear). Of course, she denied everything and said "Oh, I was so worried about Ava!!" RIIIIGHT. I'm so glad she wasn't in front of me when Ava told me that. I would have punched her in the face, I was so upset. And guess what? When Ava returned to school, she told me that Mrs. Brands (the recess teacher) was SO nice!! She suddenly became the nicest teacher ever. Go figure. I made a formal complaint to the school and pulled Ava out 3 days later. Done.
I feel a little guilty that I hadn't listened to those promptings, and I had to let something drastic happen to make me listen. But here we are!!! I am SO excited, and SO scared!!!! Ava is really excited!! Of course, I had to take her out for some homeschool photos!! I don't even have words for how much I love this girl and her sweet little soul!! She is so funny, confident, and just all around sweet. She sure is a package, and Daddy is gonna have his hands full approving of a worthy guys someday!
<3 nbsp="" p="">I"M SO EXCITED TO SEE THIS SWEET SMILE ALL DAY!!!!!!
I couldn't leave Val out of this post. Just wasting time on the iPad! :) The stairs are comfy!
