Success!

I am happy to report that Aiden's third day of kindergarten (at least the drop-off part - he isn't home yet) went perfectly.  We worked on what we expected from him all weekend and while he did have a few moments of refusal this morning, he actually perked up fairly quickly and happily walked to school.  John went with us today and Aiden was so excited to show daddy his new classroom.  He even made John close his eyes before we went in!  He hung his backpack up by himself and proudly showed John his desk.  We had a very easy goodbye and Aiden got started on his morning work right away.  The look on the teacher's face said it all.  WOW.  She turned to me and mouthed, "SO much better!!".

So what changed it?  I think it was a combination of things.  John hadn't been to the school yet, so I think being able to show daddy where he was going to school was a big deal for Aiden.  We're going to have John either accompany us or be the one to take Aiden to school 1-2 mornings per week.  It's early enough, it doesn't delay his workday much.
Also, Aiden had been upset that he wasn't taking a bus.  We live just 3-4 blocks away, so a bus makes no sense; plus they don't have a route that goes by our house in the morning, but it looks like they do for kindergarten release.  I'm not sure if we qualify due to our location, but I told Aiden that I would look into it for him.
We also set up (thanks to a suggestion from one of the ladies from the mommy group - and an additional suggestion from my mother in law) an incentive program for him.  In case you didn't know, Aiden is (slowly) saving up to buy an iPad.  We agreed that for every morning he gets up, ready, and into school with NO problems (complaining, fits, crying, etc), we will donate 25 cents into his iPad fund.  If he does complain, throw a fit, etc, we will take back 25 cents.  So not only does he not get the 25 cents for that day, he will lose money from the previous good behavior day.  You could see the look of intrigue come over his face when I told him about it.
The combination of these things seemed to make a huge difference.  We did find out some good news regarding the school's Talented and Gifted Program (or TAG).  The school is actually one of the schools in the district that gets extra targeted funding for their programs for kids with additional needs (whether it's behavioral, special ed, or TAG).  It sounds like Aiden will qualify no problem for the Exceptional Readers part of TAG (and possibly for some more), but we would have to consent to testing.  We're going to wait until after his first parent/teacher conference and obviously wait to see how he's handling things.  It did make me feel better about the potential to ease his boredom.  And could be why his class is so small (at 18) - if they get extra funding, they may be able to limit class sizes because of it instead of cramming 40 kids into one room.

Thank you to everyone who checked in with us to see how he was doing and for the prayers.  Those first two days were certainly a huge struggle, but I think we may have turned the corner.  Let's hope it continues!