Firstly I’d like to say, girls suck anyway! We are thrilled you are joining our family, pee-pee and all! It might be rough being the youngest boy of three. Lots of hand me downs and bossy older brothers. I promise your brothers are mostly awesome and you are going to dig their shenanigans. They are going to teach you all about how to make messes and play make believe. I am so excited to meet you Baby Brother! Stay comfy in the womb and we’ll see you in October.
Love,
Mom
PS…the cord was in the way so we got a “I’m 95% sure its a boy…” So I am going back next week for a quick double check.
(excuse the quality. I didn’t have my external flash and the lighting sucked)
Its hard to believe that I am almost the mom of a Kindergartner! Gavin graduated preschool on Wednesday (and Thursday). After three years with the same teacher, bus driver, and teachers aides, it was so hard to say goodbye. Well not for Gavin. He says he has their email addresses and he will just email them. I was the one who was a wreck. I spent the entire time choking back tears. Especially when he was hugging his teachers good bye. They’ve been a part of our lives for so long and it was tough knowing this was the end.
Gavin & Ms. Nicole
I also think that Gavin really doesn’t understand that next year he’ll be in an all new school. We’ve been trying to prepare for it. He tells us all the time that he will make new friends at his new school. I know Gavin is ready for Kindergarten. He has come so far these passed three years. At the same time I worry he won’t get a great teacher like he has had. His teacher and teachers aides have been the best. I just hope and pray his Kindergarten teacher is as sweet and loves him as much as they did. I can’t see how she wouldn’t though. He is pretty cute and lovable .
There are a bunch of video clips here. We went to both days of his preschool graduation program. He has two days because most kids go either Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs, and the days repeat. So Mon/Tues are the same thing. He goes all four days so he gets to do everything twice, which he never seemed to mind. Anyway, I filmed both days. The second day my video ran out because we had filmed Keaton’s right before. Again, these are long and probably only family will watch.
This one is my favorite because you can hear Gavin singing. The best part was when I uploaded it and Gavin watched it he said “The video camera doesn’t do my voice right”. HA! No one likes the way they sound on film .
Keaton finished his first year of preschool yesterday. He’s learned so much and made so many friends. He’s a wiz with numbers. He can count to 100 already and can read numbers so well! He recognizes all his letters, upper and lower case. He can spell and write his name. He is such a smart kid, and we’re so proud of how well he’s done. He can’t wait for next year!
His preschool put on a little program for us yesterday. They sang all their favorite songs. Keaton was so cute singing and doing all the hand motions. He loves all his preschool music. His teacher made all the kids a CD of the songs, and he’s already listened to it 10x’s since. Anyway, here is a little video of his performance. Its long so I suspect only grandparents and family will watch Also to warn you in the middle of the video the sound goes crappy and crackly for a few minutes, then goes back. My Flip video recorder apparently needs to be replaced. I am so sad it ruined this video! The first part is fine though.
A couple of weeks ago Gavin had a little accident. Well actually two. The weather had warmed up enough to allow them to run around outside. Gavin as engrossed in some blocks he had in his hands, and was running full speed ahead. He hit some uneven cement and fell face first (because he couldn’t catch himself or he’d have to let go of his blocks) onto the ground skidding all the way. He managed to scrap his nose, eyebrow, forehead, shoulder, and fingers. Worst was that he scrapped his glasses that were only 4 months old! After I made sure he was okay and cleaned him up, I started dreading the cost of a new pair of glasses. We had just purchased those glasses in November for a whopping $465! Luckily they were still under warranty and for $25 we replaced the lenses (which I still need to pick up).
His second accident happened the week after Easter. We were having our annual egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Draper’s house. It was postponed due to the crappy snowy weather. Before the hunt Gavin and his cousins were jumping on the trampoline. All of a sudden I look over and see Gavin walking over with blood gushing from his nose and mouth. Apparently they were playing wrestling and Keaton ended up jumping on his face! Luckily he was okay. He got a bloody nose, a new scrap, reopened some scabs, and loosened a tooth (that is fine now). The worst was that he got a bad headache and didn’t want to participate in the egg hunt. Poor guy.
I have been meaning to update for a few weeks but between Party prep for Keaton, getting strep throat, and having to sleep 16 hours a day. Well it leaves no time for anything else. I had my first doctors visit for the Bonus Baby. I was excited to get an Ultrasound because I never got an Ultrasound early on with Keaton. The Baby was indeed in there and right on for my dates, so that was great. Although they didn’t really “zoom in” so I didn’t see the heartbeat or see movement. The OB says he saw it though, and I am supposing he knows what he’s doing.
Four years ago today at twenty-six minutes after noon, you entered this world and became one of the best things in it. I can remember the first time I saw you so vividly. Just like it was yesterday. I honestly can’t believe its been four years since that day. I know every birthday I say I can’t believe your a year older. But really, how did you go from my fat squishy little meatball baby to this little boy? I’m almost afraid to blink, you might just be all grown up when I open my eyes. I am already feeling empty nesters syndrome coming on.
Just before we left to Texas Gavin had his big Kindergarten evaluation. They had a Kindergarten teacher from his current school evaluate him for a few days and see what she thought would work best for him. They also had his Autism Team person come in as well. He had a couple of choices. One, not to start Kindergarten at all and repeat preschool, two, attend a special Kindergarten for kids with Autism, and three, attend regular ole Kindergarten. We were really wanting him to be able to go to regular Kindergarten. And while we ultimately could chose that even if they didn’t recommend it, we would place him where ever they recommended.
After their evaluation we got word that he was fine to attend regular school!! We are so excited. We would have been fine had they chosen for him to go to the special autism Kindergarten too. Our biggest concern about him going there vs mainstream Kindergarten is that he would pick up on behaviors of other autistic students. Gavin doesn’t display a lot of classic autistic characteristics, and he’s over come a lot of the ones he used to have. He’s a sponge and we were worried if he was constantly surrounded by children who stimmed, threw tantrums, etc, he’d pick up on the behavior. Where in traditional Kindergarten he’ll have a lot of exposure to regular kids and hopefully pick up on their behaviors instead.
Last week I went to register him and next month we will have his transition meeting. We’ll meet with his current teacher and the Kindergarten teacher and hash out the details. Gavin will continue receiving support from the Autism team. I am not sure how often but at least once a week. He’ll be pulled out of class sorta like resource. He’ll also continue speech therapy. Our biggest worries for him will continue to be how he does socially. Right now he does pretty well and kids his age thinks he’s a riot. I wonder how he’ll be in a couple of years though.
He is definitely a success story. He’s come so far in such a short amount of time. I feel lucky beyond lucky. He is so amazing!
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