James

James has been doing so much lately that I decided to give him his own blog post to share all the fun things.  This will probably be closely followed by a post about Mikey, then Billy but I can't make any promises.  It isn't that I am too busy, it is that I am too tired.  Usually the times comes that I have a minute to do something like this and I am just ready to sit and do nothing.  So my list of projects to complete just keeps getting longer and longer.  Also I have been horrible at taking pictures, so I really have missed out on a lot.

Over a month ago James started Kindergarden.  He was pretty excited for his first day...and hasn't been excited about school since.  When I told him it was time to go to school he got his backpack that he picked out and his PECS book and loaded himself in the van.

James' first day of school

"Just take the picture Dad!"

Kindergarden here is full time.  That means 8 am to 3pm.  It is a long hard day for James and he hasn't quite adjusted.  I met with his teacher and special ed teacher before school started to tell them about James and what they could expect from him.  They both seemed very eager to do what was needed to help him adjust to Kindergarden and succeed.  But I don't think they really understood what that meant or how much help James would need.  I know the special ed teacher talked about putting James in the regular classroom most of the day (His IEP is for about 50%) and seeing how he did and then pulling him out more if needed.  I thought that sounded good, but knew it wouldn't happen.  So after about the first week he was being pulled out most of the day and all his teachers were kind of at a loss for what to do.   After the first week I met with the teacher and principal and district specialist to figure out a new behavioral plan for him.  He was really struggling with everything.  They had a lot of good ideas I felt and tried to stress to them that it was really going to take time and they had to just be patient.
At parent teacher conferences we learned James was struggling a lot more then we knew.  They had a long list of behaviors they were working on and said they hadn't really gotten to any academics yet because it was all behavior.  Things like, not tipping in his chair, leaving things alone that don't belong to him, staying in his seat, screaming, kicking, hitting, refusing to work, the list goes on.  It was pretty discouraging for us.  The general feeling between everyone was that he needed his own one-on-one aid, but the district wouldn't do it without more documentation.
Then things started to get better, at least at home.  I found out one morning in the middle of our "I will not go to school" meltdown.  I asked James if he liked PE.  He said no he liked music.  I looked on his schedule and saw that he did have music that day.  He immediately perked up after that.  Since then we have found out a few things about school.  He HATES PE.  He loves music.  He likes recess.  He hates computers.  Another big thing that happened is a few weeks ago we were getting ready for church and I realized it had been too quite for too long.  That usually means trouble.  But when I looked for James he was quietly sitting at the table "doing homework".  He sat there for probably 30 minutes just happily working.  He has NEVER done that.  He has been drawing a lot since then.

James doing homework

I found this picture that he drew and didn't know what it was.  So I asked him.  He confidently replied, "Leaving it on, falling down, and winter."  I immediately knew what he was talking about.  He had drawn trees in their seasons according to him.  Leaving it up (Spring/summer) Falling down (fall) and winter.

leaving it up, falling down and winter

Some other fun things he has been doing: 

One day he decided he wanted to ride a two-wheeler.  He had us take his training wheels off and was so excited.  He explained to us that now we have 3 2-wheelers and one 3-wheeler and no 4-wheelers anymore.  He really can't ride his 2-wheeler, but he thinks he can.  It is pretty annoying to me because I wont even try to balance he just likes crashing.

He is obsessed with wipeout.  And is constantly recreating it.  The couch cushions are constantly on the floor and he sometimes wears gloves and pretends he his the punching wall and tries to knock us all down.  

In primary the kids are learning their Articles of Faith.  The kids have to pass them off according to their age.  So James is a CTR 4 so he is learning 1-4.  He has already memorized the first 2 so he only has two to go!  He has also already learned his Primary Program part.  

I am sure there are a lot of other things I have forgotten.  I really need to be better about updating more often so I don't forget all the fun things the kids are doing.  I guess we will see if I can get Mikey and Billy done this week.