My Little Man

Today I got a call from my husband. He had taken our little guy Jonathon to school and picked him up today, because I had to help with the Band at the high school today. My husband told me that Jonathon's teacher had taken him aside to talk to him about some of his behavior in class. From what he told me, and I am waiting for a call back from his teacher, but Jonathon has been having some unusual reactions in class. He gets upset with other children over a facial expression they have, he has covered his ears and told other children not to talk or that they are doing something wrong, he has said he was afraid to color, that he can't sit on the floor because he will get dirty, has become upset when the teacher has said the day of the week and he didn't agree, etc. They have had to take him out of class at times to console him when he has gotten upset.

I don't know all the details, because Tony was going by memory and said it was a lot of different things and that he wanted me to talk to the teacher to hear what she had said. His behavior has been good as far as doing what he is told, besides being afraid of crayons and sitting on the floor. Now I am worried. I have noticed some behaviors in him for a while. My sister taught him to "park" his toy cars, and ever since them he will put all of the cars he owns in a row. He repeats actions, like moving pillows from one place to another over and over. He is now counting the same things over and over, like the lighthouses in our living room. He has a short temper, which is getting better, but he will sometimes tense up and clinch his fists when he gets angry. He also is a thumb sucker and will suck his thumb in the car and bounce his head off the seat over and over. The first week of school, he would cry everyday that I would pick him up. Then when walking down the staircase, he would want to walk on the wrong side and when I would try to move him he would get upset. I finally talked him into walking down the right side, though.

He has no trouble with speech, he has always spoken well, although he has trouble with L's and a few other letters. He will listen, even though I have had to give treats to help persuade him at times. It seems when I talk to him, he will understand the issues I have with him, and he will do better, but it seems like now there are more and more issues that I didn't know about until today.

I am worried. Worried that there is some problem he has. Worried that he may always face these issues. I know it is too early to make assumptions, but when you don't know, you always think the worst. I just cannot imagine that my little boy has these problems. I cannot imagine what must be going through his mind when he gets upset at small things. I don't know why he says he is afraid of things he should never be afraid of. I wish I could be him for a day and try to understand it.

Right now though, all I can do is worry. Worry until we have some answers. Could it be that he just hasn't adjusted to being around his peers? Could it be that we just haven't had him around enough kids his age for him to know how to handle these situations? Could it be that he really has some issue that is causing these behaviors? Could it be that he is on the Autistic Spectrum? Could he be Obsessive Compulsive? Could he just be four and just be difficult?

I wish I had some answers so I could stop worrying what it could be. I wish I had heard from his teacher myself. I hope she calls back soon. This is hard.