Last Day

Judging by two posts ago (Walking Wounded), one might think we're in a slump or a downswing. Not so at all. We're actually doing great!

And, Christian? Well, he's a rockstar, ya know.

In fact, we had another IEP meeting, which is actually just an addendum to the IEP, not creating an entirely new IEP, and by the way, this is our third one this year. So if you're a parent that has to deal with IEP's, don't ever feel like you're signing away everything until the next year or like you can never, ever change it. Because you can.

During the meeting we met with Christian's teachers and therapists and it was the consensus that Christian is ready to move to the regular special needs preschool class full time. He started the year in the CITE program, which is for children with more needs. It's a quieter (sometimes) environment with less children and more aides. So we thought he would do better starting out in that classroom.

In our last addendum meeting we decided it was time for Christian to start spending some time amongst his peers in the regular special need classroom about half hour a day. He would participate in circle time, music, and library. He has adjusted so well to this transition that the team has recommended (and I concur) that Christian is ready to attend the regular preschool program full time.

Furthermore, Christian has met and exceeded some of his goals so they had to be rewritten. Goals for Christian include holding his head up by himself for a certain amount of time, tracking from left to right, looking toward sounds, making and sustaining eye contact, and prone positioning and the amount of time he'll tolerate it. These are just some examples of Christian's goals.

Aside from that, Christian is just really aware of little ones around him. He doesn't retreat or scare when the kids are being noisy or yelling. He is ready. And the preschool class just got a second teacher so it basically got cut in half. Bonus! One point one of the teachers made is that we should take advantage of the time he has to be surrounded by other kids his age. When he starts regular school, we don't know what class he'll be in. So now that we have the opportunity to allow him to be immersed in all that little kid chatter, noise, and laughter, we should take it!

So today was his last day in his other classroom. I'm grateful for this class because it was a great transition for Christian to get used to attending school, being around other kids, making art projects, and being without his Momma.

He was very well cared for and loved by his previous classroom aids and teachers. Especially Miss Tammy! I overheard her teaching a new aid about Christian and she carefully explained how to hold him, what he liked, what he didn't liked. She was talking about him like I would talk about him. That is the reason I never gave it a second thought leaving Christian at school.

Christian's teacher emailed me this picture. I guess there was something he wanted to look at so he leaned forward on his own. This is kind of new.

Know what else is new? Happy sounds. I thought I might have possibly heard a happy sound the other day. I didn't give it another thought until his teacher and therapists at school said he made a few happy sounds. This makes me want to make happy sounds.

And more new stuff...we have a new physical therapist that started with us a few weeks ago and she is awesome! She is full of ideas and really enthusiastic about working with Christian. We're focusing a lot more on massage and I've seen a huge difference in Christian's level of comfort, especially in the evenings, which is a hard time of day for him. He has, however, become spoiled with all the massaging and holding and pretty much insists on being held all evening or he'll whine and cry until someone picks him up. Time to illicit some new snugglers!

Enter Big Bro.

Be still my heart.

And did I mention Christian is doing great? He has never been more alert, he's grabbing and reaching while sitting when there are toys on his tray, he started activating a talker, and there has been no illness or throwing up in weeks! On top of that, he's on 100% blends and doing awesome!

 I couldn't be happier right now.