We have been so blessed to have Calvin ride the "short bus" to school for these last almost two years.(if you laughed at the phrase "ride the short bus" that I'll assume you are a bad person. I have one brother and one husband who can't say short bus without laughing and I am sorry to say they are not ideal human beings.)
Overall it has been wonderful and we and met some amazing people. We have also run across a few people who are not quite as wonderful as those who you usually find working in the special needs department!
Calvin has also been creative in finding ways to make the ride to school as unpredictable as possible! Here are some of his tactics for throwing a wrench in what could be a smooth bus ride...
-don't get on the bus when it comes to pick you up
-don't get off the bus when you get to school
-fall asleep on the bus and don't get off the bus when you get to school.
-pretend to fall asleep on the bus and don't get off the bus when you get to school.
We've never had a problem with him getting off the bus at home although occasionally he is asleep on the bus ride home and we have to wake him up to get him off the bus.
With those last 3 options, the bus driver would at first bring him back home, but that is too rewarding, so then they'd wait at school but that took too long and the district didn't want to pay them overtime, so now we meet at the bus yard. When they call me to tell me Calvin is still on the bus I have about 25 min to get there giving me time to load the car and head over. It is just right. Then I drive him to school which is sort of a pain but we make the most of it by going to the beach or zoo afterwards.
Remember when Calvin's bus driver hit him? That driver is no longer in special needs! Crazy!
After that incident we had the best driver ever, Kevin! He genuinely loved Calvin (which is tough to do)! and was so great. He'd do a doughnut day or in-n-out day here and there just because he wanted the kids to feel special. He got "out bid" by a more senior driver so we haven't had him this year. We miss him terribly.
Calvin's aid Jeannine has been with us for a long time, over a year. She is so kind. Calvin adores her.
Calvin's current bus driver is fine...neither great nor terrible. We did have an interesting experience today though. She pulled up the house! I opened the door and waved hello as I usually do and then she drove away down the street. Weird?.... I walked to the end of the driveway and as she looped around to pass our house she slowed down and said, "he won't get up I'm taking him back to the lot." WHAT?! I said, "no, I'll get him off the bus." I walked onto the bus and woke him up and got him off the bus. It was funny. He wasn't mad or angry, he was asleep with his head phones in and never heard her stop or tell him to get up. She was completely furious and fuming. Must be an off day....hopefully she isn't losing patience with him....that would be an unfortunate turn of events.
What's funny is Calvin wasn't mad or trying to be difficult, he was sound asleep with his headphones in and his shirt wrapped around his head so he had no idea they had even stopped and tried to get him off the bus.
It is interested how as an observer I can see that this was an incident where Calvin was innocent but somehow managed to get the driver in a fury. I know this happens to me at home. Since he does cause such a rukus so often and puts people on their guard it is easy to be upset with him often and assume he is trying to cause a problem but the trick is slowing down enough in judgment to see what his intent is and working with him to move forward. A galaxy sized amount of patience is required. I'm still working on growing some more!
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