My name is Jacob, and I'm really cute.

Water rules!

I left the water in the tub running (just a trickle as you can see) on purpose yesterday because the boys love to play in running water. 

Jacob loves to try to get a drink (doesn't usually work)

While Jacob was hogging the faucet, Alexander decided to combine a cup and a plastic frog to make his own waterfall setup. 

So proud of himself.

Alexander update

Jacob and I went to visit Alexander at preschool today. It was awesome seeing how happy he is in that setting. He's grown so much in the past few weeks. I don't think he'll actually be talking any time soon but he's definitely progressing in the communication department. It was motivating to see how consistent his teachers are in helping him express himself and be a little more independent. He doesn't like transitioning between tasks (e.g. moving from playing with cars to snack time, etc.) and he doesn't like really participating in circle time (e.g. putting pictures on the board of what the weather is, doing motions for the songs, choosing what toys he wants to play with later, etc.) but the level of fit that he throws during the process has lessened significantly. Of course, his teacher doesn't even call it throwing a fit because, compared to other fits she's seen in her career, Alexander would be considered extremely mellow. Those are really the only two things he struggles with; he loves center time (playing with toys) and outside time (playing on the playground) and table time (more playing with toys) and art time (he painted with apples yesterday). I guess we can throw breakfast time into the challenge section but he's doing better with eating too so that's good.

One big thing that he's learned at school is going peepee on the potty! He almost never wets his diaper during the school day anymore and today while we were there he almost went poopy on the potty too. I haven't been on top of things at home so he hasn't done it on our potty yet but that's in the works. We might have a fully potty trained kid in a couple of months if I can just get on the ball. 

Another thing that I discovered just today was how many kids are in his class. *Drumroll* THREE! That's all! I am happy with this discovery because that obviously makes the student/teacher ratio nice and low. One teacher and one parapro for three students, plus the speech therapist who comes in for a little while to work with Alexander. Awesome! I thought there were seven kids based on the snack calendar they sent home and I was fine with that number but four of those students are actually in the afternoon class instead. Alexander's teacher did say that their class will probably grow through the year and they might have as many as eight kids in the morning class by the spring but for now Alexander is getting a BUNCH of one on one attention and when they need to work on goals that require more peers (sharing and stuff) they just combine with the 4-year-old class next door.

I forgot to take a picture of him actually in his classroom but I promise to post some soon. I'm also planning on scanning in the artwork he's been doing so I can make it into a book and I'll share it on here too. Stay tuned for more updates to come! :-)

Camera love

I've discovered an interesting piece of information about Alexander. 

He can be whining his head off and throwing a fit, but if I pull out the camera and start snapping pictures... he perks right up.

Smile! :-)

Recovering from strep throat

It's amazing what a little less pain can do for a kid's mood ;-)

Couple of pictures

Happy boys :-)

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