They made me proud!

I had Braden's annual IEP meeting yesterday afternoon. Usually, this meeting leaves me with a feeling of "oh no, my son is going to still be living with me when he's 30!" But, not this year.
He met all of the original goals on his IEP (and, while the goals weren't lofty, he still did it). He mastered everything he was taught in his learning support math class, he improved in writing...definitely his weakness. And, in Reading, he scored 97% accuracy at a 7th grade level...and, he's only 6th grade.
So, they're moving him out of learning support reading. He'll still get help with Language Arts and Math. He's moving up a level in science. Social Studies is already completely mixed. His teacher also added that if he has another good year in math like he had this year, he'll be in a regular math class by the following year.
I was practically in shock! Good shock though! And, in conclusion, his special ed teacher told me that she conferred with the whole 6th grade team and their overwhelming conclusion is that Braden is an easy student, because he wants to learn and is so bright and has such a vast background knowledge, that they'll really miss him next year! Isn't that wonderful? (and, don't worry, I did check to make sure they were talking about Braden). Braden was so excited. He actually said to me, "Mom, I'm so proud of myself!" But, I doubt he could possibly be prouder than I am and I told him so.
On the other front, JJ came into school today with his caseworker to discuss what happened last week. He admitted what he said was wrong, admitted to being disrespectufl to the principal because he was mad about being accused of trying to start a riot. He apologized to the principal and agreed that they'd try to work on getting along better. The meeting ended with JJ and the principal shaking hands. I was so proud of him. I told him that he acted like a man and I knew it was hard for him, but he did it and did it well. I told him I was proud of him. He smiled from ear to ear.