Today was family story time in Xander's preschool classroom. Once a month, the teachers invite family members in for a special reading by someone from the community (or sometimes just the teacher) and a copy of the book is sent home to add to the child's collection. Connor and I have made several of these visits, knowing that one of these days I might actually make it back to work and not be able to fit in all these little extra moments of seeing the kids actually at school.
After story time, I had a chance to talk with both of his teachers. It seems Xander has made a good friend, a little boy named Jacob. He even said his name today, out loud, on the way back in from recess. He does that, from time to time, saying real words out loud that you may or may not hear again for months. Time will tell on this one, of course, but it's the first name I think I've ever heard (or heard of) him saying.
And although it shouldn't surprise me at all, it did a little bit. Jacob, like Sawyer, has autism.
When it came time to register the twins in preschool, we decided to separate them so that Xander might have a chance to be around more traditional peers, more talkative peers. His biggest delay seems to be speech, without many of the social limitations that Sawyer seems to have. But of all the kids in the class to befriend, Xander picked the one who is most like his twin brother (although his friend is more verbal). For whatever reason, Xander is comfortable with him and that's just fine. He's moving forward. Friends. Words (names even), out loud. Listening and participating. Transitioning. All good things.
