Thankfully, preparing for Christmas is keeping me busy and keeping my mind off of it all!
Turning my focus back to my 2012 Advent Challenge, I want to share what I feel was God's inspiration to do something for someone else today. Today was Peter's Christmas Concert at his school. Jay took some time off from work today and met me and Luke and Kate to watch Pete sing. Well, really we watch him stand....and look excited...and hop up and down...but, still, we were there and he saw us and was happy! He had fun...which is all that matters. The fact that he could even be up in the midst of all the kids and in front of all the parents is a feat all in itself!
What touched me more than anything was the little boy from 3rd grade that stood next to Peter during the singing. (We found out later his name was Max.) He was so kind to Peter. If Peter looked like he was starting to walk away in the middle of the song, Max put his arm on his shoulder to guide him back to his place. When Peter was just standing there enjoying the moment, Max prodded him to join in. And Peter did....raising his hands in the air and shaking his arms then leaning over with his hands on his knees just like all the other kids. You could see the gentleness and kindness in the way Max encouraged Peter. That melted my 'mama heart'!
After the song that Peter was in, we met him in the hallway. He was so excited...and he wanted to go home but it was only 9:30 so that was not happening! His teacher invited us up to his classroom to meet his new classmate. We also got to go into the 3rd grade classroom and meet the famous Mrs. Perry, who Peter talks about every day! Peter spends a good amount of time in Mrs. Perry's class in the mornings. He does math and other projects with them. It has been such a positive integration experience! I was grateful for the chance to thank her in person.
Mrs. Perry is very kind and had lots of positive things to say about Peter. All the kids in the class looked at Peter so kindly as well....it makes me so grateful that 'neurotypical children', (I hate the word normal!), can like Peter for Peter!
Mrs. Perry also introduced us to Max and I was very grateful to be able to thank Max and praise him for the way he treated Peter during the concert! Max also partners with Peter during class time as well.
I had it on my heart to show a special thank you to Max. Peter is going Christmas shopping with his teachers tomorrow and I had sent in a little money for him to choose some gifts with. So I gave his teacher a little more money and asked her to help Peter pick out something for Max. I plan to send a Christmas card from Peter as well, with a note in it from me sharing our appreciation for his friendship and care of Peter.(Hopefully his mom gets to read it, too!)
The way Max treated Peter truly touched my heart. I was afraid that, after all that happened last week, it would be really hard to be at his school. But seeing Max's kindness made me feel so grateful that Peter is so accepted!
