Friday, August 19, 2011

Preschool


For those of you who didn't already know, Alexander started preschool on Monday! He's in the special needs program (he's still not talking yet) and he'll be going 3 days a week from 7:30 to 11. These are the only pictures I got of him his first morning but doesn't he look handsome? He woke up rarin' to go (don't think he cared where it was we were going.)

Since it was his first day, I parked and walked him to his classroom. He wanted to stop at a different room because they had a reading nook you can climb up on and his class doesn't have that. But I finally got him down the hall and in the door. He made a beeline for the trucks in the toy bins (he remembered where they were from the open house.) The teacher was in the bathroom with one of Alexander's classmates and when she came out, she explained that the kids will be starting at the "center table", not the big toy area. They have puzzles and stacking toys at the center table and once we redirected him to it, he was fine with playing with those. She also told me that the VERY first thing the kids will be doing everyday when they come in is going in the bathroom and sitting on the toilet (he wasn't as willing to do that the first time). I'm fine with that because I think Alexander could very well be ready for potty training, I just haven't been brave enough to try it.

Alexander's teacher is Mrs. Amanda and the parapro is Ms. Janie. They were very happy to see that I had actually brought everything from the "requested class supplies" list the very first day. I really like them both so far. Mrs. Amanda sends home a daily journal of how Alexander's day went and I love that. They tell me whether or not he ate his breakfast and/or snack and what they were, and what they worked on that day. This week was mostly introducing him to his new environment and implementing the routines. They also started learning about the color red, circles, the number 1, and the sound "m". From what I can tell, Alexander's favorite part is when they get to go outside to play on the playground, no surprise there.

My favorite development that they've shared so far is they tried getting him to drink out of an unlidded cup and he did it, no problem. This is the kind of thing I just haven't tried with him (he's been using a sippy cup up til now) and they are trying it and I'm learning more and more that I've underestimated my little boy.

I'm excited to watch him continue to grow through this program and I'm re-motivated to work on things with him at home. I promise to get better pictures up soon and to keep the updates coming.
Love,
Amy