Tyler started school last week - July 24th. We have him enrolled in the Kindersteps - Pre K program through the school district. He goes for half the day every day - just like Kindergarten. This is really his first experience in a "typical" learning environment because he was in the Carmen Pingree School for Autism the last 2 years in Utah. Although we are a little nervous because we are so protective of him, we feel that he is ready and that this is the best thing for him.
I was so excited for him and a little sad at the same time because he is growing up so quickly. He is getting so big and so independent. He just marched right up to the school and got in line with all of the other kids. He was so proud of himself and so excited!
His teacher, Mrs. Heuter, is so sweet and nice and Tyler really likes her. He had a great first week and she said that he is doing perfect!!
The first day we asked Tyler if he had made any friends and he said he didn't know their names. Then by the third day he told me that he has 22 friends and he listed off a bunch of them - Wade, Taylor, Zach, Chase, Cameron. We are so happy to see him loving it and adjusting so quickly and that he seems to be fitting right in!!
It is amazing how observant he is of all the little details around him. He can come home to me and tell me with exactness what his teacher said - "The beautiful girls had to walk to the blue bucket and put their backpacks in and then the handsome boys had to march to the green bucket and put their backpacks in." He will tell me what story they read and the songs they sang and he can almost recite them word for word! That part of his autism is really fascinating!
I love how much he is communicating and how much he tells us each day. It is so great to see the interaction and the two-way conversation skills that he has developed compared to where he was just a couple of years ago! The third day after school he got in and said "Mom, a friend of mine..." and then he proceeded to tell me a story about something his little friend did. He is so grown up and so sweet! We have always worried about him having friends and him having good social skills so it was such a relief to already hear him talking about his "friends."
I did this layout yesterday of the pictures I took of him on his first day. His favorite color is red and he picked out this new shirt to wear! I love the first picture of him on the left where you can see his little hands holding onto his backpack! So cute!!
I also did this layout yesterday of Nathan crawling up the stairs. The pictures aren't the greatest cause he was moving so quickly but I just had to scrapbook them! He is growing up so fast too! He has been going up the stairs for a long time now but still can't really go down. We have tried to teach him 100 times but he just doesn't want to do it.
The journaling says:
climb, stop, turn around, wave, climb some more, stop and wave, giggle, climb to the top, sit down, cry... cause you can't get back down
He is such a funny little guy!!
I picked up some of the new Scenic Route paper yesterday at Scrapbooks Etc. and was so excited to use it! I love all of it!!
