Time seems to move much too quickly these days. It's hard to believe Xander is in first grade and nearly seven.
If time moves quickly, Xander moves even faster. He just never, ever stops. Every day at school, he still brings home more paperwork than the other two combined. He is always working to get to that next best thing, so he just moves through everything so quickly.
Xander has had a wonderful start to first grade. His amazing aide Mrs. S was the classroom aide in his kindergarten class, so he knew her well before the school year started. And she knew his routine from last year. They have made a great team so far. His teacher is the amazing Ms. M, who had Connor in her first grade class last year. She is organized and detailed and exactly what Xander needs in a teacher. And he also got to keep another familiar face, his wonderful resource teacher Mrs. B. He is doing so incredibly well with all of them.
Speech is also going well, both at school and with our outside therapist. At one of his recent sessions, he was at 100 percent for all of the goals we have been working toward - using directors (inside, outside, beside, behind, etc.), reading and answering a "wh" question, and following multi-step directions. He continues to amaze us with how quickly he learns new concepts and how quickly he learns new routines.
Adding outside occupational therapy this summer has been one of the best decisions we have ever made for the boys. We can already tell a huge, huge difference in both of them. Xander is working on self-regulation and core body, patience, and problem-solving. He loves going to this therapy, and seems to really need it after a few days away. He loves the obstacle course in the gym, and also the therapy toys and games that they use in the small gym. We have also been using some joint therapy, and Xander is serving as a model for Sawyer on some of the activities.
There are so many things that at one time would have deserved an entire blog post, but that seem to be slipping away in the busy that is our current routine.
Here are just a few of the moments about Xander in recent weeks and months ...
Xander mastered the big boy bike with training wheels. For the longest time, we couldn't get him to pedal the wheels. He had trouble holding his feet on the pedals and making the rotation. I think occupational therapy played a big part in his ability to problem solve and master this skill. Where he used to give up in frustration, he kept watching big brother on his even bigger boy bike and was determined to succeed. And succeed he did. Now we'll just have to work on the training wheels.
Another skill is the one you see in the photo. Xander LOVES the monkey bars. This started last school year with his aide Mrs. G, and continued this year with his aide Mrs. S. Between the two of them, who frequently acted as his support (or crutch, as it became), he mastered the school monkey bars. And then the ones at the other playgrounds. And finally, last week on fall break, he mastered the swinging monkey bars (handles on chains that move when you touch them). And he mastered it so well some of the bigger kids at the playground would stop to watch him in envy.
Xander still loves his iPad. He particularly loves it when I turn the camera on and he can snap endless photos and videos. That's by far his favorite thing to do, over all of the apps and movies and television shows that he could choose from. I have NO idea where he gets it from. Really.
His movie obsession has switched from Cars 2 to Bolt. We hear a lot of phrases from the movie, sometimes appropriate and sometimes not as much. My favorite will probably always be "saboteur," particularly when he was shouting it at his occupational therapist after she rearranged his obstacle course during a session. Appropriate and just downright funny.
A few weeks ago, Xander had the honor of reciting the pledge on the morning announcements at school. Guess who stuck his face directly in front of the camera lens and said "cheese" prior to starting. Yes, yes he did. And then he recited the pledge perfectly. So many people stopped to tell us how well he did and how adorable he was that morning. He can also recite the school pledge, which still gives Connor a little trouble. But don't mention that to big brother, because he takes offense that little brother can do something he can't.
Just this week, his aide Mrs. S was sharing with us how Xander has started to interact with others on the playground, wanting to join in on games of tag (a popular one on their playground) or a game of basketball. He has long mastered parallel play, but the interaction with peers is definitely a new development.
Xander is growing incredibly independent (and always feisty and determined). You hear a lot of "Xander do it!" these days. And most of the time, he really can do it. We love watching him take on more and more things on his own.
Speech is also developing. Instead of using just simple phrases, he's slowly learning that we will only accept full sentences. We're starting to work on pronouns with him, and we're always encouraging expanded speech. He's making huge strides in this area as well.
We are so proud of Xander. There are definitely times when he still struggles (like when routines are changed or when a concept is too abstract), but he is making tremendous progress. He is having a wonderful school year and has a great team in place.
Every day he comes home doing something new. It's so much fun to watch him right now, to be a part of his journey.
