Parent/Teacher Conferences and IEPs

Last Friday we had our very first parent/teacher conference.  It was scheduled for 15 minutes and ran at least 45, that was good.  A lot of that time was his teacher explaining what she does in the classroom and why.  I really appreciated that.  My lack of love and trust of public schools should be well known.  So I was happy to hear that, as it should be, this class is all about play and learning through play, and learning though routine.  Also happy to hear that she's really flexible with her lesson plans - that if the kids sort of collectively are into dinosaurs one week, and her lesson plan was something else, she'll find something on dinosaurs for them.

Noah is still so, so happy to go to pre-school.

On the days he doesn't go to school, he still wants to go to the park in the mornings.  Poor kid, he's so sad when we get there and there aren't any other kids to play with.  Add it getting pretty cold this week, and he was a little bummed out yesterday morning.  (We went to the park at 9:30 a.m. and it was 45 degrees with a breeze from the north.  Brrr!)

This morning we met with Noah's development person (not sure what else to call her, she works with him at the pre-school) and his new speech therapist person to go over his new IEP.  We feel they both really have a good handle on who Noah is, where he's at developmentally, and how to work with him.  He's still about a year behind when it comes to some aspects of language acquisition and expression.  But other than that he's a sweet, smart, social boy!

Oh, the best thing to come out of the parent/teacher meeting was learning that they line all the kids up and do potty time, one at a time, and that Noah is getting the hang of pulling his pants up and down, peeing in the potty, and washing his hands!  We knew he'd started washing his hands when he got the chance.

So this week we've started doing more potty times with him.  A month ago we didn't think we'd ever get started on potty training, and here we are!!  I don't expect a fast development, but this is a great start.  He doesn't even require rewards - he just loves to be told "good job" and to be clapped for!  It does suck that this is happening during winter with the harder to take on/off clothes.

One other fun thing.  Noah is a BIG fan of Sofia the First.  He's been listening to the soundtrack and watching the episodes for quite a while.  We decided to be nice and order him a Sofia the First storybook.  I've always said it really helps boys to read of you find a topic they're interested in.  And there's a whole genre of "fart" books for boys.  Well, for Noah it was his first princess!  He's starting to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates as well.  We'll have to find that sort of storybook, too.

Shutdown Getaway

Due to the benevolence of Mother Nature and a very messed up government, we found ourselves with some time off, unseasonably warm weather, and cheap, off-season hotel rates.  So, we did what any rational people would do - went to the beach!

It's about a four hour drive to Ocean City, Md.  One of the nicer benefits of the shutdown (other than time off) is a real lack of traffic around here!  We picked Noah up from pre-school Wednesday at noon, finished getting packed, and off we went.

We were on the beach before dinner time!  Noah was hesitant at first, and he still won't get in the water because the waves are too loud.  There was a lovely family with five kids that Noah decided to hang out with after running up and down the beach for a while.  They had some shovels and he moved a lot of sand around.

I was smart and got two queen beds, one for me and one for Nerdstar and Noah.  heh.  He was really tired and even though we forgot his glow worm, went to sleep pretty well.

The funniest thing he's done in a long time - around 4 a.m. I just happened to hear him say, very clearly, "JELLO" and keep on sleeping.

We've joked lately that Nerdstar spent the entire pregnancy giving Noah food updates about what she ate every day.  Now, with his limited vocabulary - at least 65% of it is food words.  His teacher also said he loves to play with the kitchen in the classroom.

At 6 a.m., Noah was wide awake and repeating "water" which meant he was ready to go back to the beach right then.  I had to show him it was still dark outside and we couldn't even see the water.  (We had at least a partial view of the ocean from our balcony.)  We were at the beach around 7 to see most of the sunrise.  Way too early.

We ended up being done with the beach and back on the road about 11 a.m.  We had seen that there was a little conservation zoo on our route, so we went there.

I think it's impossible to overstate how social Noah is.  There were groups of school kids there and he totally ran off and left us to go join them!  He would walk with them to various exhibits and then get right in the middle of the group to see what was going on.  When that group went on to something else, he'd walk with us a little, and then go join another group.  Both us and the teachers were just laughing.

It was a really nice trip, especially because we never got around to doing it during the summer.

Day Two of Pre-School

Noah went to bed a little early last night.  I told Nerdstar that had me worried about how early he would  wake up.  Well, he woke up around 3:30 or so with either a nightmare or a really empty tummy.  He really wanted a cup of milk when she got up there!  Poor boy didn't have his usual number of pre-bedtime snacks.

Anyway.  He was tired when I got him up this morning.  I don't usually have to wake him up, it's not pretty when I do.  He was happy to get dressed.  Then, he didn't want his morning juice, or any snacks, or to watch George. He wanted to go downstairs and out to the car Right Then.  Well, ok, it was only twenty minutes before we needed to go downstairs and to the car.

Thankfully, there's a long way we can take to get to his pre-school.  Then, there was one of his favorite songs on the iPod before getting out of the car.

Because it had been a morning of NOs, I was pretty sure getting him into the classroom wouldn't go smoothly.  He walked away down the hall, then he hid behind my legs, and just really didn't want to go.  He came close to tears, but there weren't any.

It didn't take more than a couple of minutes though to get him into the classroom - his teacher was really helpful.

Generally, once he's re-directed to something he's happy.  But still, driving away, I was a little worried.

When I went to pick him up, one of the assistants told me how much fun he had with water colors, naming all the colors.  And he played with playdough.

Coming out of the classroom, he was all smiles and laughing again and telling me what he could about eating his snacks.

The note in his backpack said he was better today about paying attention to the teachers for clues about what to be doing.

All in all, day two seemed to be a success.

First day of Pre-School

Our boy had his first morning of pre-school today.  We've been talking to him about school, and going to play with kids, and having snack time, for a few days.  We know that until he's been to school a few times and puts it together with the words, it's hard for him to understand.  But that's ok.  Mostly he just wants to go play with kids.

He was pretty excited when we got there.  He walks through the school naming all the things on the walls.  He's not good at standing still, yet.  And he pretty much ran into the classroom and started playing.  I'm sure the other moms thought I'd filled him with his morning coffee.  He was the only kid not standing quietly by their mother.

I realized today what a "presence" he has.  He's not hyper, but his energy takes up a lot of space and the house really does feel empty without him!

After I dropped him off, I went to the grocery store and got a few things.  I came home and worked on mowing the back yard some more.  And I went to the mall to Bath and Body Works and got a lot of hand soaps.  Yes, I missed Noah.

When I went to pick him up, he would have been happy to stay and play a lot longer!  But he was also happy to see me.  He was laughing as we walked to the car.

Once home it was time for a snack and juice and a nap!

This is when I wish more than anything he had the language skills to tell us all about it!!

My Buddy

Noah starts pre-school Monday. Six weeks or so ago, I started a list of things to get done while he's at school. Things like getting the car inspected, getting an old laptop repaired.  Things he might not like to stand still for.  I have a feeling that by week 3 I'll really, really miss having him do all those things with me even though we'll still have T/TH to hang out all day.  He's been my buddy almost 24/7 for 3 years.  I enjoy having him around.  I miss him when he and Ching go run around together.  I'm happy he's going to get to be around other kids.  I hope school will be good for him.  But I'm going to miss him.

Sending Noah Out Into The World

This morning Nerdstar, Noah and I went up to Noah's pre-school for a meet-the-teacher session.  All of the paperwork is turned in.  All of the supplies are purchased.  We're all set for the first day on Monday.  Sigh.  There will be twelve kids, one teacher and two teacher's assistants.  Looks like it'll be nine boys and three girls. 

I have mixed feelings about all of this.  I keep reminding myself the reason Noah is going to pre-school is because he loves being around other kids.  So, our only goal is for him to have fun.  Noah was definitely the most outgoing and talkative this morning.  We love how he tends to make himself at home in the world, wherever he is. He's also the kid other kids take toys from.  It happened two or three times in less than an hour.  He always lets them.  He always waits for other kids to go up or down the ladders at the park.  It's going to be interesting to watch how he grows socially over time. 

Now, is it a good thing they're also going to teach our boy to walk not run, use an indoor voice, and follow directions?  YES!  In fact, we're pretty happy someone else will succeed in this, as we haven't.  (We haven't really tried.) 


From just about the day he was born, I've prayed that God would protect him, body, mind and heart.  Now, more than ever, that's still my prayer.  The world can be hard on sweet boys. 

Noah Snacks

 

Morning: Cheese and crackers, an apple, a banana, veggie sticks, small bowl of raisin bran

Afternoon, pre-nap/post park: ice cream and a few french fries at Dairy Queen plus 12 oz of lemonade

Evening: slice of toast, granola bars, apple sauce, string cheese, an orange, small bowl of cottage cheese

throughout the day - 3 8 oz. drinks of water/white grape juice

He'll also add a small glass of milk as his post-bath night cap.