The "C"

As I cautiously opened the "beary good work blue folder" (which is actually red now), I searched for the all-telling sticker to reassure me that we had successfully completed another day of kindergarten. It was there and I breathed yet another thankful breath and muttered a "thank you Jesus" as I began sifting through the papers and work that accompanied our daily report. There it was, hidden behind a cut and paste activity... at first glance, the lenghty hand-written notes on the page would lead a well-experienced mother such as myself to be overly concerned, but the but the big purple smiley face helped to assure me it was worth closer look.

"Notice his 'C' is not backwards. He is trying so hard!" I almost fell into the floor. "Caleb is doing SO (yes capitalized and underlined twice) Great! I sit next to him in class and a lot times he copies my work but I make him tell me the answers first!...seriously, if she hadn't used his name in the sentence, I might have questioned who's child she was discussing. This was a the greatest early Christmas present I think I've ever received. Well, maybe there has been one more, but I digress and that's for another time and place!

Who would have ever known that a "C" facing the right instead of the left could create such joy and excitment in a household? There were brothers shouting, parents jumping up and down and animals looking at us all like we had lost our minds. It was a full-on party at the Woodard house! I wish I had thought to take a picture of the greatest part though...the beaming face of my sweet baby-boy who had tasted victory and success! It's okay that we don't have it because none of us will ever forget that moment...it is etched in our memories forever.

You see, this "C" has meant so much to our lives recently. It was this backwards "C" that lead us to Cindy, our guardian angel at Dyslexia Center of Tennessee (DCT). It was this "C" that has brought us to this point of such hope. This backwards "C" was the beginning of a successful future for two of my boys. If it hadn't been for this backwards "C", we would still be floundering around wondering what in the world we were doing wrong and how our sweet Russy could be working so hard and not accomplishing his goals. We wouldn't understand why our Caleb-monster was just that...a monster when he is frustrated because he realizes the things he is doing are backwards or incorrect. Without this crazy backwards "C", our lives wouldn't be in such a great place right now. This "C" has brought about amazing change in the Woodard's World!

To add to the monumental success of this "C", our precious teacher, Mrs. Pantall left for maternity leave before Thanksgiving as did our wonderful educational assistant, Ms. Mindy. It has been a scary time for the parents of this special little boy, wondering how he would react to a new teacher and assistant and if he would continue to thrive and grow or shut down completely. If day two of Mrs. Swanson and Mrs. Chris's class is any indication of our future, Mrs. Pantall is going to return to class in March and scream out loud! You see, that's what Mrs. Pantall does when you do something fantastic in her classroom...she screams out loud because she gets so excited. Caleb just giggles talking about how she would have screamed if she had seen it.

So, go ahead, take a look for yourself...even scream out loud if you want...no one in my house will think anything of it...heck, we're still here celebrating ourselves. Celebrating the 'C'