Tuesday, September 16, 2008

First Day of Pre-School!

All in all, a very good day for Evan. I didn't want to jinx it by posting on the blog, but the special ed director at Kittitas told me last Friday they had a very promising candidate turn in an application to be Evan's aide. She interviewed him on Monday and he was at school this morning waiting to meet Evan. We feel very blessed that J. applied for the position--he is fluent in ASL and will be a wonderful example for Evan this year.

Jeremy stayed today (and is planning on staying all this week) to help with the transition for Evan. I came for the first half hour, and got to meet J., help Evan put his bag into his cubby, and take pictures commemorating the occasion! First was independent play--Evan is very good at this already, and seemed excited to find toys he has some familiarity with (they have a Busy Box--he was all over that).

Next was circle time. The lead teacher sang a roll-call song, and each child is supposed to come put their name card in the attendance board. Out of the 5 kiddos in class this morning, only 1 was able to do this--and he was in the class last year :) One of the teachers told Jeremy this is a fun way to see progress--at the beginning of the year, most of the kids can't do this task, but are able to by the end of the school year. The lead teacher attempted to read a story, but most of the kids were ready to move on. Evan stayed on the rug, rocking back and forth, but he stayed on the rug! I wondered how he would do with circle time...

They looked at books independently instead of group story, and then it was snack time (Evan got to play some more, since he can't eat the snack). Then the kids went to a different room that has gross-motor activities like swings and ramps. Evan really liked this room, and didn't want to transition to outside. Evan surprised daddy, when he hopped right into a little tykes car, shut the door, and pushed and steered his way around (our neighbor McKenzie has one of these, and Evan's sat in it before, but we had no idea he knew how to make it go).

Evan only had a small melt-down part of the way through the morning. Jeremy interrupted his play to change his diaper, and this made him mad and started building gas. When Jeremy vented the g-tube, Evan kicked his legs up around the vent tube and pulled the button half-way out (which made him even madder). Jeremy was able to get the balloon back in and Evan calmed down. Note to Max: We beat you, less than one day in school for a g-tube incident (ok--it didn't come all the way out, so not as bad).

Here are some pictures from this morning:

On our way out the door, with an apple for the teacher (Evan didn't want to touch it because it was cold)


Ready...set...let's go in!


Ahh...Busy Box! This is something I recognize and know exactly how to do.

5 comments:

Mary said...

!

amy and mighty max said...

YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo EXCITED that "J" sounds so great and that you are happy. WHAT A RELIEF!!! I seriously am overjoyed for all three of you...actually all four because "J" will benefit so much from this experience too!!!!

Thanks for the update. We want more photos please!!!

Crystal M. said...

Great job Evan!!!! Good luck with J and I hope your school year goes well without any issues. Now what will daddy do while you are at school? LOL!
Hugs,
Crystal and Eva

Anonymous said...

AMAZING!!!! You are going to see huge progress from Evan as he observes and learns from his peers. What a blessing that J. should enter your lives at this time. I can't wait to see what Evan learns next!

This is definately a proud moment for the Storrs family! CONGRATULATIONS! ~Kim

Leslie, Arlin and Katie Kauffman said...

Congratulations on starting school, Evan! It sounds like you had a GREAT first day!! And your new aide sounds just wonderful--what a blessing!

Can't wait to see more school pics!

xo
Leslie & Katie