First Steps to Developmental PreSchool...

The week before Joe's birthday was our last week of First Steps therapy. sigh... I will admit that there were a few tearful goodbyes (and not just tears from the pregnant lady) as we shared our last therapy sessions with the therapists that we have had for around two years now. I have spent more time with these wonderful therapists than I have with some of my friends. They have all four (physical therapy, occupational therapy, developmental therapy and speech therapy) been a huge blessing to Joe and us as a family. They are all very different and I love that about them as I was able to connect with each one in a unique way. I am hopeful that we will continue to keep in touch over the years to come.

Monday was Joe's first day of school. And as we dropped him off for his first day... I'm thinking "Ah! Its hard to believe that he is going to school now. He seems so little and so big at the same time!" We only dropped Joe off - did not stay in class with him - so the following pictures are from when we visited the class a couple weeks ago. He participated rather well in "circle time" and quickly learned to activate a communication device by pushing a button when the teacher's aid held it out to him. And Joe doesn't learn anything quickly so it was great to see him pick it up so promptly.There were lots of new things to see and do, he was trying to take it all in. I had been afraid that he would be clingy and get upset wanting to be with me but he took to the new environment rather well. He was curious about the other kids and activities going on.We've had pretty good reports from the teachers come home in his back pack. But I think they would agree with me when I say it is and will probably continue to be a challenge shifting around Joe's schedule. He is so used to taking a good afternoon nap (usually from 1p-4p) and now he is in school at that very time. There were no openings in the morning class this late in the year (but he should be able to be in the AM class in the fall). When I have tried putting him down for a later nap he still wants to sleep about as long which puts him waking up at dinner time. Not ideal. So we're going to try going without a nap at all and see how that goes. He seems to get cranky for awhile but get a second wind, and he seems to fall asleep quicker at bedtime when we skip the nap altogether. So... we'll see.