Update on Ethan

The kids are on Christmas break for 15 days, but I had to take Ethan into his school today for a speech therapy evaluation. I was worried that he wouldn't understand that he wasn't going to do his regular school routine and that it would be difficult for him. But he went right in with his speech therapist and did all four parts of the evaluation seamlessly. He sat the whole time without getting up, answering the questions and participating in the activities. It was just 7 short weeks ago that I took him for his initial evaluation for school, and that was a giant challenge for everyone. Ethan wouldn't participate, he wouldn't sit still, and he threw a huge fit. What a difference 7 weeks of preschool has made! Believe it or not, the evaluation is not the point of this blog, though I was really proud of Ethan for doing so well with it this morning.

The real point of today's blog is that I got to talk with Ethan's teachers one-on-one (well, two-on-one, I suppose) the whole time he was having his evaluation in the other room. I was so happy to get to ask them all the questions I had been saving up. You know, the ones I always forget to ask when I'm dropping him off and picking him up since my focus is just getting him where he needs to be. Anyway, Mrs. Linda and Mrs. Colleen told me how well Ethan has been doing in school. He walks in the door in the morning, takes his coat off and hangs it in his cubby by himself, finds his name tag on the roll list and moves it to the "present" list, washes his hands, and sits down to eat breakfast with the other kids. He eats his breakfast, drinks his water bottle, and cleans up when he's done. He moves through all the different activities and games on his own and puts them away when the buzzer goes off. He happily participates in speech therapy. He uses the potty and washes his hands afterwards all day on his own (and he's one of the only ones out of the ten students in his class that is potty-trained). And...here is the big one...Ethan has a friend. Mrs. Colleen told me that he and a little boy named Austin are good buddies and play together all day. I had noticed one day when I picked him up last week that Ethan was sitting at a table with another little boy playing the peg game and taking turns (wow!!!). I found out they play on the computer together a lot, too, and that Ethan has been typing words and numbers. I am SO HAPPY Ethan has made a friend at school. I can't even tell you how good it makes me feel to know he has another little boy to play with and that enjoys playing with him. What a blessing this school has been for Ethan already.

I guess Ethan has just started using the computer at school, instead of just watching other kids use it. He likes using the word pad and typing the words he knows. Travis and I had noticed that he had been typing on his Nintendo DS a lot lately. Yesterday he typed, "102030405060708090100," and came up to me and told me, "Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred!" I had no idea he could count by tens, and his teachers told me he hadn't learned it at school. He does like sequences, so I'm not surprised that he figured it out, but the typing is new! I'm just so proud of my sweet boy. He is doing so well. School has been great for him, and I am so happy he has two great teachers who love him. I never knew I would feel this good about everything in such a short amount of time. Whew.

Back in the swing of things.

Today Travis went back to work and the boys went back to school after having last week off. No big deal for Travis, though I'll miss him, and no big deal for Elijah, who jumped out of bed and shouted, "It's computer day!" (On Mondays Elijah's Kindergarten class gets to spend a half hour in the computer lab, which is his favorite activity of the week.) But for Ethan, who just started attending special needs preschool the week before last, it was a big deal.

Ethan had just gotten used to getting up early, being rushed around, and spending the morning in school a couple of weeks ago, and then last week since there was no school he once again got used to NOT going. He's a creature of habit, even more so than most children, so this morning was not fun. He didn't want to get up, he didn't want to get dressed, he did want to go potty since he loves to do that, he didn't want to eat breakfast, he did want to drink his juice (of course), and he didn't want to have his hair or teeth brushed. But then he got in the van with no problems, and he seemed okay when he went into school. I hope he eats his breakfast there.

Since I have to get all three kids around by myself most of the time and Ethan is such a challenge in the mornings, I have to plan everything out the night before. Make sure everyone has nice, clean clothes to wear to school (as in NOT the too small jeans or the shirts that bother Ethan, a pair of matching socks for everybody, underpants, school shoes found, etc.), get Elijah's Kindergarten folder together, get Elijah his lunch money and whatever else he is supposed to bring (today it was a can of white frosting because his class is making gingerbread houses), plan a breakfast both boys will eat, and find clothes for myself since I have to walk Ethan into school. Then I have to get up before everybody to make sure that everything is ready to go in the morning, and (lucky me) I get to spend half and hour trying to wake Ethan up and get him out of bed and fight him into his clothes. I am hoping this gets easier with him. Once he's in the habit of going, maybe it will be?

I was unsure about putting Ethan in preschool as it was, since he's still only three. But he gets speech therapy at school for free (instead of the $200+ sessions from before), and the teachers really seem to be helping him. The first week he went, he learned to pee standing up (haha) and how to pick up after himself and put things where they go on the shelves. Those two things don't sound very big, but for Ethan they are a huge deal! I'm really proud of him, but I worry about him the whole time he's there...is he doing okay? Is he having a good time? Is he having a meltdown? Is he participating in the activities? Is he listening? I am also hoping the worrying lessens over time. I worry about Elijah, too, but not as much. Elijah can tell me if something bothers him or goes wrong, and Ethan's can't. A big part of me just wants to keep them home with me forever! Would that really be so bad?

So it's just me and Madelyn. We're watching Super Why and doing a puzzle (and blogging!). Before I pick up Ethan at 11:30 I want to sew a dress, take a shower, and play with Madelyn some more. I'd better get going!