Summer School Done!

This week was Alex's last week of Summer School (Camp Kindergarten), and apparently he did really well the last two weeks with things being different than what he was used to. He is such a smart kid, and really enjoyed playing outside a lot with his friends.

However, this next week he will have his playgroup on Tuesday (giving daddy some free time in the morning without me or Alex to harass him), and he gets to spend most of the rest of the week with his favorite person in the world... Grandpa. I imagine they will be doing a lot of this....



.... and even some of this....



I think my son's obsession with hanging out with his grandfather is because they are both very calm guys. They like things calm. They like things pretty much the same. I have said it before and I will say it again... my son is an old man stuck in a 5 1/2 year old's body.

With it being summer time, I have been working more, and catching up on things that I didn't have time to do during the regular semester, like doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, and I finally had a tattoo consultation for Alex's butterfly scheduled (Tuesday, if you were wondering). Since I am gone a lot, I try to come up with fun stuff for Alex and I to do together when Daddy is gone. We have made dirt cups, and today we made some Spanish Chicken (it involved measuring and blending stuff) for supper. I have a whole list of stuff that was sent home to me by his teachers and therapists to do over the summer. I look forward to practicing writing his name so he gets better at it, and helping him to perfect those fine motor skills that he is doing so well with.

And the more fun stuff too! I hope to be able to go play in the water at Grandpa's house a lot, have picnics at the park so we can play on the jungle gyms, and have fun in general! We have a little over a month before he starts Jump Start, so we have to get our fun in before learning commences again... for both of us!

Happy Father's Day!!

My apologies for not writing an entry last week, it was pretty hectic in our house! Alex and I had parties to go to, Summer School to prepare for, and I worked most of this last week, so we decided that today was to be our lazy day. Now to catch you all up on what has happened the last two weeks!

Alex had a week off before he started Summer School this past week. That gave him some well deserved Grandpa time, and then we had two parties to go to last weekend. One was for my side of the family, and the other was for Tony's side of the family. The first one he did a magnificent job playing with the other kids and he had a great time! But the second one was an engagement party, and he was letting me know in his own way that he really wanted to just have time off away from the ladies and the partying. Besides, the only other kids there were two girls who were younger, so I think he lost interest very quickly (as would any guy).

His first week of Summer School went well. He enjoys the fact he gets to play with his friends and be outside, and he REALLY enjoys it when Grandpa gets to pick him up from school when he is done. We couldn't find his tennis shoes for the first four days, which lead to him taking a digger one day and scraping his knees. However, magnificent Dad found his lost shoes on Friday, so the second week of Summer School should be much better.

Speaking of Magnificent Dad....



Today is Father's Day! Yesterday, since Tony had the day off, we went over to Grandpa and Grandma's house and had supper with them, gave Grandpa his new number puzzle books, and then when we got home we gave Tony his presents. Alex is super lucky to have two amazing guys in his life that he gets to celebrate today. Grandpa is his best friend, even though he won't stick up for him when Grandma tries to harass him. And Dad is his Dad, who play fights with him and he learns weird stuff from all the time. When Alex gets sick of Tony and I, he wants to go to Grandpa's house. And when he has been stuck with me all day long, he waits for Dad to come home so that he can harass him for a while. It takes quite a man to raise a kid that is not biologically your own, let alone one that is differently-abled. But these two guys have mastered it, and mastered all things in the art of Alex.



Next week is the last week of Summer School for Alex, then he has just play group on Tuesdays until August when Jump Start starts. So that means that I will have to come up with plenty of activities for the three of us to do so we keep ourselves out of trouble. Not only that, but I really should be a pro-active parent and start gathering stuff that we will need for school (its my last semester, I am so excited!).

We hope you all have an exciting week!

Kindergarten Here We Come!

This past week was Alexzander's last week as a Preschooler.

We started off the week by going to Living Waters, where we spent the day outside just having fun. It ended up with me being very tired (what a workout!) and Alex had a great day. So me being so tired for the next couple of days was totally worth it! He is now officially a Kindergartner, and I also received my copy of his IEP in the mail. Needless to say, we are going to do some work this summer! A few things that we are going to work on is writing his name, answering questions properly, following instruction with physical activity, recognizing patterns, and also playdates! He has summer school from June 11th through the 22nd, and after that he will have playgroup on Tuesdays until he has Jump Start in August before he starts Kindergarten. Mrs. G told Tony that he did a great job with being at school all day, so I hope that he enjoys it as much in the Fall.

Although a lot of aspects of Kindergarten are going to be rough on Alexzander, we are trying to make sure this transition goes as smooth as possible. He is going to have to start showing us what he knows, when we ask, and he will have to learn how to do a lot of things on his own. We want him to have independence while at school, so we will be working on phasing out the aid, and he will have to rely on his teacher more. We have to make sure he can calm himself down when he has a fit of being uncomfortable, but at the same time we want him to be able to tell someone when he is uncomfortable.

Then there is the food thing. We are going to try to get him to eat the hot school lunch with his classmates, but I know until things are in a routine for him, he probably will not eat very much. I found a blog called "The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism", and they had an entry about how some kids with autism cannot eat other foods because they are a sensory overload. They are used to the few foods they do eat, and they are only comfortable eating 15-20 foods.

Before I get too overwhelmed with the idea of getting him prepared for Kindergarten, I have to first realize that he has done so well already. He is using more words every day, and he did get the Preschool version of a report card this year. I was so happy to see that he developing or secure in all of the aspects that he needs for starting with a great foundation for his educational career. I know the toughest parts for him are transitions and peer interactions. There were even a few skills that he was labeled as developing after fall term, and now he is secure. For example: the skill of using conventional grammar. He went from developing to secure. Recognizing and recalling, throwing and catching, sorting objects, showing curiosity and motivation, fine motor skills, and retelling stories are some of the other skills that he is secure in.

And then... there was his portfolio. I received a book of his self portraits, a bunch of art projects, and his Preschool certificate. I almost cried because of all of the amazing stuff he did throughout the year! So many great projects. We are both (Tony and I) so proud of his accomplishments. While we both know we still have a lot of fights ahead of us, a lot of frustration and tears, it will all be worth it in the end.