Off

We're off to Virginia tomorrow for 10 days... woo hoo! I've been packing and writing lists today. I'm looking forward to lots of family time and hanging out while we're there, and Jon and I also have a two-night trip planned to Williamsburg (the children will stay with my parents). Here are some pictures before we go.

Lucy thinks she is hilarious when she puts on glasses or hats.




Jon and I found this paper that Nate had drawn on. I've never seen him be able to do circles before. The second picture is him showing the paper and being very proud. :)

Helpers

Nate had a lot of fun this morning helping me clean. I sprayed the glass cleaner on the mirrors, and he wiped. Then, he got to dust (Swiffer dusters are great). Most exciting, he got to vacuum the floor underneath his chair at the dining table with the hose extension. (This was especially gratifying for him, I'm sure, as there was a mountain of crumbs down there, as usual.)

Then this afternoon, Lucy emptied the clothes from the dryer into the basket.



It takes a lot longer to clean with "helpers," but it sure is so much more fun.

Today

My friend Casey watched Lucy for me this morning while I went to school with Nate and helped in his morning class (SDC) from 8:30 to 10:45. Let's just say I wish I'd had time for some coffee first! :) It was fun seeing Nate in his element. Today was his turn to count the days/numbers on the class calendar, pointing with a little paintbrush stick, and that was very cute. He is getting to know all of the songs they sing and adjusting to their daily schedule. One of the boys in there, in particular, is very verbal, seems to have no behaviors, and is about 4 and a 1/2 (and also extremely cute), and I was glad to see that Nate is seated next to him in circle time (don't know if it's always that way or not). It was a fun morning.

Adjusting to school

The title of my post is not really talking about Nate but about me! Surprisingly, Nate has made the transition to big boy school very well. He still likes it every day and isn't having major meltdowns at home like I thought he might (after having spent half the day "holding it all in" at school). The adjustment has really been for me--trying to figure out how to organize my day and week, since everything is different now. I'm getting into a new groove, though, and I like it.

Nate spends time every day talking about things he is looking forward to. Right now those things are riding in a big airplane (for our trip to VA) and riding the school bus. (The school bus thing is slated to start on June 30, when he would be riding just in the mornings, but we might change our minds about this and just keep driving him. I'm sad that this would disappoint him, but we'll see.) To help him understand when fun things are going to happen, I got a calendar with big numbers. He can help me change out the month and the numbers each month, and then on event days, we'll put on a special label. For May, you can see his birthday and our airplane trip:



He also knows a song with the days of the week (just start on Sunday and sing all the days through twice to the tune of "Oh my darlin' Clementine"), and the calendar will help him figure those out too.

Here are a couple of pictures from last night, when he and I were laughing at how his pants looked:

Comedian

Lucy and I always share a lunch at the mall food court on Sundays after church. She eats an entire half of a sandwich and some of my tomato soup. When we laughed at how she kept the spoon in her mouth yesterday, she kept doing it over and over and scrunching up her face to look even funnier.

Art

Ricci gave me the idea a while back about keeping a "digital copy" of all of Nate's artwork but not having to keep every single piece of paper he brings home. I just started putting this idea to use, as Nate's backpack seems filled with stuff every day he comes home.

This picture is from his first day at school. I love how happy he looks.



No amazing artistry yet, but it's fun to have a record. :)

I am not joking

Do you remember how I started the "I'm serious about losing those last 10 pounds" commitment several weeks back? And how I only posted about it for the first couple of weeks? I'm usually a very committed person; when I set out to do something, I stick with it. So what happened this time? I'll tell you: the day after I posted my first update, I found out that I'm pregnant! I had my first appointment last week. I'm 9 weeks along today and am due December 15. Jon's reaction when I told him was to laugh for about 10 minutes straight. This was not in "our plan," but I'm glad it was in God's. I'm feeling pretty good--just super tired. Crazy!

Jon's pics

Here are some cute pictures Jon took on his phone in the past couple of months:

Nate going on the train at the Spectrum--this is the only time he has done it, though he asks every time! He loved it. Below the pictures is the video.







Me at the end of March, when we went on our church's couples retreat to Big Bear. Jon and I went on the Alpine Slide--I'm waiting at the top for our turn.



And Jake and Lucy when we went to dinner with the Eichlers recently. He kept feeding Lucy his food.

School and... work?

Nate has been going to school every day this week, and it is going well so far. I picked him up early (12:00) on Monday and Tuesday, but today I'm letting him stay the full time, 8:30-1:30. I think that timing will be an adjustment (a long day for him), but I also think he's having a good time. When I picked him up yesterday, he announced that he had cut with scissors and played soccer (that is some pretty good spontaneous language for him). He also, of course, loves recess.

I also have another update that I've been meaning to write about, but it happened so quickly that I never got a chance. Jon's company works with a graphics design studio in Long Beach, and he mentioned to them that I do freelance editing. They immediately asked for my resume and scheduled an interview within a couple of days. I went up there, interviewed and took a proofreading test, and they offered me a part-time, work-from-home job a couple of days later. So I'm now going to be doing about 10 hours/week of editing/proofreading, mostly from home. (I went in a few half days this week to train, coordinating childcare with family members, but the company, Vision Design Studio, knows I won't be coming into the office more than once a month for a half day.) It's just cool to be able to do something I love (editing) from home that won't take away from being a mom.

Lucy's stats

I took Lucy to her 12-month check-up (yes, a month late) on Thursday. Here are her stats:

18 pounds (5th percentile!)
29.5 inches tall (50th percentile)
17.5 inches head (25th percentile)

We have a tall and thin girl! The doctor asked if she says one or two words, and I thought about it--she says several.

Ball="ba"
Book="buh"
Daddy="daaaa-DEE!"
Mama="______" (still has never said it)
Drink="dee"
Bubbles="bubba"
Bye="ba ba" while waving

I think she's just starting to say a consistent word for "Nate."

and my favorite:
Flower="wawoof"

Some pictures

First day

I wish I had thought to bring the camera this morning for Nate's first day of "big boy school." I dropped him off at 8:30 with his new teacher, and he seemed excited/curious about what was going on--no tears. I must admit, though, that I got a little teary watching him walk away while holding hands with another little boy on one side and his teacher on the other. I hope he's having fun!

Party

We had family over for Nate's birthday last night. Jon grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and Nate ate his "happy birthday cake," which he has been talking about ever since Lucy's party a month ago. :) When we mentioned on Wednesday night that he would also be getting a few presents on his birthday, he nearly fell over with excitement--he had no idea. He got some clothes and lots of new toy cars, which I had mentioned since he didn't have any. Jon got himself Nate a remote control truck. It was a fun evening!

Lucy walking

Here's a video of Lucy doing some walking. She is consistently taking 20+ steps.

Nate

Yesterday, I brought all the paperwork to La Tierra to register Nate. To my surprise, they put up absolutely no fuss about his not having any immunizations after 18 months. I had brought a letter that included some of the state law that he can't be denied entrance into the school, but I didn't have to bring it out; I just signed their exemption request. Woo hoo! He starts this Friday, May 2.

Tomorrow is his birthday! Three years old... I can barely believe it. I'm going to run by the store today to get birthday candles and the ingredients to make an easy cake (for everyone else to eat; I still have frozen leftovers of the GFCF cake for Nate).

Holding hands

I turned around in the kitchen tonight and saw this. Nate had the proudest, cutest smile on his face showing me that he was holding Lucy's hand and leading her (sometimes a bit fast!).

Bible story

Quite a few months ago, Jon started telling Nate a Bible story every night at bed time. He started asking for them before nap time too, so I tell him one then, though I'm not as good a story teller. For the past several weeks (at least), Nate asks specifically for the story of Adam and Eve. (I think he likes the predictability of the same story each time.) He knows the story well now, and I tell it almost the same way each time, so he can complete some of my sentences.

• We start the story with Genesis 1:1, which he has memorized: "In da beginning, God cweated da heavens and da earf!"
• God decided that Adam needed a "help-Nate."
• God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of "knowledge of good and eeeevil."
• After they ate the fruit, they realized they had sinned, and they were ashamed, which means they were "vewy vewy sad and guilty."

So cute!

This morning

Full IEP report

Is it really Thursday already? I meant to write an update yesterday about the IEP meeting, but I spent all of my computer time listening to our recording of the meeting and writing detailed notes. I'm going to send those notes to the school district so they can include them on the IEP as an addendum.

The meeting and all in attendance were very pleasant. Afterwards, I wished I would have been a little stronger in resisting their putting Nate in the IBI tutoring, but I realized too that he probably still will do well in there, and if he doesn't, we can call another meeting.

Here are just some of my notes (with additional comments in grey). This is long, and it isn't even everything!

- We went over the few minor changes necessary in the assessments (just factual).

- Next, we went over the proposed goals:

• Occupational therapy (vestibular, grasping/drawing, tactile)
  Will use gluten-free products
• Speech/language
  Answering a variety of “wh” questions/functional language
  I asked about a goal for reducing Nate’s echolalia. The SLP said they usually don’t write a specific goal for that--usually it’s an elimination process because the child is comprehending more, and the echolalia decreases on its own.
• Cognitive skills and pre-academic
  The psychologist noted that these skills are on par for Nate’s age expectancy; she wrote goals to keep him moving along.
• Adaptive physical education
  Nate doesn't qualify for individual services for APE, but we included two related goals--using the pedals on a tricycle and learning playground games like red light green light.
• Social goals (initiating play, increase play repertoire)
• Other goal parents brought up but that was not included:
  Self-monitoring of his special diet. Psychologist and speech and language pathologist noted it was particularly difficult to write any sort of goal for this, especially because there aren’t any natural opportunities for choosing different foods at school besides what the child brings.

- Offer of program and parent response

• Special day class 8:30-10:45 five days/week
• IBI tutoring 10:45-1:30 five days/week
  I noted that the we loved the SDC—the kids were talking to each other, interacting (things Nate needs to work on), and we liked the teacher. I noted that the IBI setting did not seem this way. The kids were not interacting, and there were many more apparent behaviors. I asked, “How is he going to work on talking with other kids if the other kids don’t talk?” The district preschool program specialist answered that the SDC feels natural, much like a typical preschool; she said the IBI clinic feels more sterile and is run a little differently—it’s highly structured and they’re really focusing on goals and objectives. She said that, because it is structured with so much adult support, kids really are able to make progress toward goals, especially abstract, social skills. (Hmmm, did this really answer my question? No!)
  She continued by saying that IBI is an autism-specific class, so the kids in there do have language delays and difficulty with socialization. (She was saying this means they really do focus on the language and socialization in there, but in my mind I'm thinking, "Exactly! They have problems with those things! So how will Nate be able to interact with them?")
  The psychologist noted that the IBI tutoring we observed was the 4-year-olds class, but that the 3-year-olds IBI tutoring class has a "different ambience." I asked, then, if Nate were to meet this year’s goals, would he not be in the 4-year-old IBI? She answered that most kids do continue in the IBI—just his goals would be changing. (Another answer I didn't like. If she was confirming that I shouldn't have been comfortable with how bad the 4-year-old IBI looked, then why would it be good for Nate to be in there when he is 4?)
  The psych mentioned the mock Kindergarten program and other opportunities for inclusion and socialization/peer interaction for when kids turn 4. I asked would Nate be able to be in that mock K if he accomplishes these goals, or would we need to add more goals in order for him to be in the mock K? The psych answered that that is the goal; the SLP confirmed it is what we would anticipate, and the psych said that he is on target toward it. Jon and I noted that the mock K is what we want to shoot for.
  I said that our main concern with Nate and the IBI is that his trouble is interacting not with other children with autism but interacting with typical peers, so we are hoping for as much exposure as possible to those typical peers that is appropriate. This is the area we see him struggling the most. The SLP responded that the theory is to teach them in the smaller group so he can gain the skills, even if it’s rote, and he can generalize to the special day class. More practice, less intensive teaching. (Overall, I am not happy with their responses to my questions about typical peer exposure, since they just talked around the issue and didn't really address our concerns.)
• Group speech 15 minutes/week (this is basically nothing)
• Occupational therapy direct service 30 minutes/week
• Occupational therapy group 2x/month (with class)
  

- We talked about a transition plan; Nate will go at least the first few days (or week, or as long as I think it's needed) from 8:30-12:00 instead of all the way to 1:30. This means he'll be in the special day class until 10:45, then do lunch with the IBI class, then do recess, which ends at 12:00.

- We also discussed extended school year. Nate will attend the summer program, which ends July 25, but he will not have services in August. I pushed on this one for a while, but the only group-type program they have in August is for severely impaired children, so that wouldn't work for Nate.

Once I turn in our signed IEP and the registration packet, Nate will be starting next Friday, May 2!

IEP

We had the meeting today, and it went very well. I'm feeling sick right now (caught a really sore throat/stuffy nose/headache thing), so I'll write details soon!