Gentle Blue Giant, Spin Us Around: First Day of School for Little Man

Little Man's first day of school was delayed by Hurricane Irene, so today was his first day. I was so happy I met with his teachers last week to touch base with them about his diagnoses and therapies. They were extremely accommodating and put my mind at ease. Of course, this didn't stop me from being emotional and sad today. Last night I wrote up all of his words/approximations and he has 27! not including 7 names. Back at his appointment at the big hospital in the city, he only had 7 and one name. So he tripled his "words" in roughly 8 weeks!!!! (I put "words" in quotes because they are approximations and you have to know him very well to understand what he's trying to say - tripling his "words" doesn't mean he is "fixed" - it just means he has been working very hard to make some of the sounds or parts of words.)

Something I was not expecting - this morning we got into the car and the first thing he did was point to the house and say, "Bee-bee?" He must have been wondering where his big sister was and why she wasn't going to school with him. They were in separate areas last year and saw each other periodically throughout the day, but he's really attached to her. It will be interesting to see how he does as the year carries on.

Drop off was a little hairy - all the teachers coming in to drop their kids off the first day and drop off all of their kids things - diapers, wipes, meds, ketchup (Little Man's favorite food group), bed rolls, extra clothes - it makes for a little confusing drop off. Thankfully tomorrow it will just be the lunch box. :) He went right over and played with the cars and saw his friends. His friend A came right over and said, "How r ya?" Just melted my heart a little to see him reach out to Little Man. I slowly made my way to the door and he looked back and he cried a little. Thankfully his teacher swooped him up and I made my way out the door. By the time I drove out of the parking lot, he was back playing with his friends.

According to his teachers he had a great day! He decorated his folder, played with his friends, he hung close by the teachers when they were outside - but he still had fun, he ate and napped and had a huge hug for me when I picked him up. He must be still excited from his day, as he has been in bed since 7:30pm and now at 9:30pm he is still in his room wide awake...

Here are a few pictures of his day today:

Not sure of this...