Jackson's Last Day of School

What a great year for Jackson!  He came into the school year barely knowing his letters and numbers and is leaving a very proficient reader and mathematician.  He started the school year dreading school and ends the year with no dread of school.  This last 9 weeks, he really hit his stride.  Great progress! 

He still had a few hiccups here and there-- a periodic check on his behavior chart instead of a smiley face, but overall, this year was a success!  His teacher deserves major kudos. 

This extra year should set him up for success when he goes to kindergarten at the public school in the Fall.  That was the goal of this year-- giving him the confidence and ability to hit the ground running. 

When I asked Jackson how he felt about the last day today, he summed up my feelings very well -- "Happy but a little sad too". 

Jackson was ready for his last day pool party!

I've Never Peeled a Carrot

When Alyssa was about 2, she was sitting in the backseat of the mustang, and told us "I've never peeled a carrot before."  Totally random.  That is what we say when we encounter total randomness. 

-For the last 6+ months, Jackson has pretended he has had a 'lab' where his 'helpers' control the weather.  To call the lab, he pushes on a wart on his wrist (that refuses to go away).  When the weather is good, he tells me that his helpers did it.  When the weather is bad, he tells me they must have been off on vacation. 

-Ah, to be young.  I went to lunch with Alyssa the other day at school and was going over our to-dos later that afternoon.  I told her we needed to fold laundry and sort socks, and she was excited.  Truly excited.   I wish I had that excitement for the task!

-Last Friday night, the kids and I spent our evening at Costco--enjoyed some books and dinner for 3 kids under $5.  Night out on the town, I tell you!

Matthew's Last Day of School

Today is Matthew's last day of private preschool.  Matthew will start preschool at the public school in Austin in the Fall.  We very well may have paid our last preschool payment--after 7+ years! 

Matthew has bloomed at school this semester.  It was a perfect fit for him.  After the first few weeks, he confidently walked into school every Monday, Wednesday, Friday to put away his bag and then go to the gym to play with his friends. His teachers have been kind and loving and his peers have been welcoming and accepting.  We will miss this warm and caring environment, but have heard great things of the public school preschool program where we are moving.  I hope it will be as good!

Mattie was making faces at Jackson, who was trying to make him smile.

Discouraged and Hopeful

Lately I have vacillated between being discouraged and hopeful about Matthew's future verbal abilities. 

First, there was a thread on a Facebook group for kids with unique chromosome disorders that gave me great hope.   These are as close to Matthew's peers as possible.  This was the deidentified thread:
   Poster 1:  Has anyone’s children developed speech after the age of 5?
   Poster 2:  My son is an adult and as he got older his speech has developed and is still developing. He had very little speech as a child but now you can't shut him up, he's not always very clear and is hard to understand but never ever give up
    Poster 3:  My son, 8, had minimal speech until about 3-4, but took off about age 4, then continued to improve age 5-6. Now  is mainstreamed without support and very verbal. Great at reading, hard to understand when reading aloud and gets weekly speech privately. He is 80-90% intelligible by a stranger.
     Poster 5:  My son about 4 or 5 when I started to think about giving up hope of his speech developing beyond the odd few words. However, now aged 10 his speech is brilliant. He can talk in sentences and his language is improving all the time.
     Poster 6:  My daughter learned sign language first, when she was 5 or 6. The speech came afterwards, when she was 8 or 9. She is 13 now and uses a combination of ASL and speech. Family can usually understand her, but not as understandable to strangers. But, it is CONSTANTLY improving.

Also encouraging, Matthew has started singing and verbalizing more.  He imitates the tone and syllables to the song 'Click Click' by Elska.  He pants when he sees a dog. He 'ooo-ooo's when we act like a train.  He says "I" for "Hi" and "Bye".  Overall, he has been verbalizing much more. 

He wants to communicate.  He uses spontaneous sign-- a car sign when he sees a car, a dog sign plus a pant when he sees a dog, a more sign when the horse stops at the fair, and so on.  He will grab your hand to take you to where he wants, or point to a desire, or tap on you to get your attention.

What I want more than anything is to hear my sweet Matthew say "I love you, Mommy." But, he is still not talking.    *Sigh*

Surgey Follow Up

Matthew's surgical follow up was a week ago and all is well.  He healed nicely.  He is eating well.  He has gained back some of the weight he lost.  He is as active as ever.  No concerns from his surgeon, who was nice and capable, and who we hope to never have to see again. 

Last Day of Music Class

Today was the last day of music class for Matthew. 

Over the course of the year, I have had many mixed emotions on Thursdays from 9:30-10:30.  Matthew has loved music class, which although I was not excited about it at first, made me love it too.  Matthew really got into the routine, and participated as well (and sometimes even more) as all the other kids.  And once in a while, this class (with 10 'peers'), I was reminded of how different Matthew really is sometimes.

Today, I reflected back on how far he's come in these 8 months.  Matthew has progressed-- his participation, his verbalizations, his attention span, his ability to follow direction, and his interaction with other kids have all improved.  Often it is not as fast or as easy as I hope, but he has made good progress. 

Getting Sad

Months ago, when I had the heart to heart about moving to Austin with my beloved, I noted 4 things that I would be sad about-- 1.  My job (which I covered in a previous post)  2.  Alyssa's friends 3.  Being geographically close to our parents and 4. My local grocery store (I know it seems silly but I have great affection for my grocery store). 

Maybe I was in denial, but I did not list my friends. Not because I wouldn't miss them, but because I rationalize that I am an adult with means to keep in contact with my friends (email, facebook, telephone, heck- even the car and a driver's license).  I know that friendship is not geographically dependent! 

Even knowing that, this week I've started to get sad about leaving my Houston based friends.  I will miss being a few minutes away, being able to run into them on the way to school, or at the grocery store I will miss.  I know that even though we have the adult means to keep in contact, it will take effort and sometimes our adult lives and responsibilities will get in the way.  It won't be the same.

It didn't sink in until now.  Just this week I have started to realize that our time here in Houston is coming to a close.  Since February, I have said "oh, we are here till the end of the school year" and that felt like forever away.  And every day (sometimes every hour) since February, we have been head down just getting to the next day (or next hour).  There hasn't been much time to look up and look forward.  But now, the kids activities have slowed, the house has sold, my semester is done, and the end of the year activities are scattered on the calendar.  I look up and see that we are just a few weeks away from our move.  Though we are excited about what is on the other side, we will miss what we are leaving. 

So, to my Houston friends, I will greatly miss you in the every day but I am thankful our friendships aren't tied to a location.  Email, call, facebook, come see us and I'll do the same!