On Tuesday, I met with Moose’s teachers and therapists (and the school psychologist), to review his progress of the last year, and set goals for him for next year (Kindergarten!).

This is the third annual review I’ve attended for him, plus the meeting where we set goals for him before he even started school, when he wasn’t yet three. While I’m thrilled with the progress he’s made, for some reason, these meetings always make me nervous. At first, I couldn’t even identify why I had a knot in my stomach all day, and then it hit me–I was worrying over his review. Worried about what they’d have to say about his progress and behavior (which is ridiculous, because it’s always all good), worried about what the goals would look like for the next year, worried at just the thought of him starting Kindergarten.

I really didn’t need to worry. The reviews of his progress were excellent. He’s meeting most of his goals at least 75% of the time, and many of them 90-100%. Everyone who has worked with him commented not only on his achievements and perseverance, but on his attitude–what a funny, sweet little boy he is. His teacher even got a little teary-eyed at one point talking about him, which almost got me started, but also made me feel really good. The goals for next year, while daunting when written out on paper, are not outside the realm of his capability. Even talking about Kindergarten wasn’t terrible, although I did cry a bit at home over the thought of him being in school full days next year.

I’m going to be dealing with these meetings every year, and I’m sure that I’ll always feel some apprehension beforehand, but with every good meeting that I have, I’m hoping that anxiety for the next one diminishes a bit!