Book Smarts, Etc

A few bits:

A started school today. His bus driver had called to tell us she'd be at the top of the hill around 11:15. Imagine my dismay when I saw the bus shoot past at 11:05 ~ and I had to run with my son up the hill. And A didn't want to go, so I pretty much had to drag him up the hill. It's not part of his routine any more to get on a bus, so it should be interesting for the next couple of weeks until he gets settled in.

He is in a typical pre-school classroom, so it should be interesting for the teacher and his classmates, too. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly ~ cross your fingers, toes, eyes, or anything else you're able to cross.

We've also confirmed that A can, in fact, read some things. At his OT appointment on Tuesday, she was getting ready to work on his fine motor skills by using some crayon bits. She pulled out a white sheet of paper with crayon outlines and the names of the colors printed in black on each one ~ but before she could pull out the box of real crayons and ask him what they were, A pointed to each one on the paper and read them off. And she hasn't used that color page with him before, so he hadn't memorized the sheet or anything. He's been reading off words I've been putting up on the fridge with those colorful magnetic letters, too, like "book" and "toy". Very, very exciting stuff ~ and it proves that even though he can't speak well and has some unusual tics, A is not stupid.

This perception (that our son is stupid) is still a challenge for us. We still meet some people that notice he's a little "different" or have heard that he is challenged with autism, and they talk to him really slowly and loudly, with a big exaggerated smile and wide eyes ~ and A will look at them, then look at me or Z with this, "What's wrong with them?" expression. We know he's a smart guy, it just takes some interaction and treating him like a typical kid to discover that. He is retarded (by definition ~ a little slow or behind) in his social skills and has some motor issues, but as far as other things go A is pretty astute.

Anyway ~ we'll see how it goes. In other news: my surgical consult is on Sept 4th, and they'll set a date sometime after that for the actual procedure. So it's hurry up and wait. And the longer I wait, the antsier I am getting.

K surprises us in new ways every day. Last night she started singing "Where Is Thumbkin" (with the correct lyrics). Then she segued into the song again, this time singing it in Spanish. Yes, Spanish.

I have to admit this threw me for a loop and I asked her to sing it again for me, and wouldn't you know, she did! They had just done the English and Spanish version on Sesame Street yesterday morning, so I guess that's where she got it from. K did it well enough for me to recognize it ~ although she is two, and still has some speech issues typical of very young children. For example "snuggle" is "sung-gull" to her right now, and a papaya is a "pa-pa-pa-ya-ya". She did it again for her daddy when he got home from work this morning. Booger.