Crosby is a preschooler...(and other late-week happenings)!!

Well, he did it.  Crosby made it off to his first day of preschool and survived without mommy.  :)  Yesterday he spent 45 minutes getting to know the classroom while the moms and dads attended an informational session.  When I walked out of the classroom (to leave him for the 45 mins), he was crying.  I got the report that the tears stopped shortly after and he was ok, but he BURST into tears as soon as he saw me come back into the room.  I was hopeful that today would be a little smoother b/c the cord would be cut at car-line drop-off.  He had a quivery lip but overall stayed strong.  It helped that Oliver's asst teacher from LY was the one to get him out of the car.  Got to speak with his teacher at car-line p/u and she said that overall his day was good.  Shockingly, he didn't want to join the class for snack (he's our eater!) but she said that it's not uncommon for the kids to pick and choose what activities they participate in for the first few weeks.  When Carter's caregiver asked him how his day was, he said, "I cried for mommy".  She said, "what else did you do?" and he said, "I cried for mommy".  Glad to have the first day in the books.  Now we wait 5 days until day 2 (he attends Th/F).  On a side note, he is doing great with his potty training (thanks to Carter's training!).  I told his teacher that we'll try sending him in underwear in about a month, once he's settled it.  Here is a photo of Crosby this morning.  Oliver told me that he hoped that he'd see Crosby and if he was sad, he would try to cheer him up and have his friends help too...He can be so sweet.

Carter is also getting used to his potty routine.  He still puts up a bit of a stink when the timer goes off (EVERY 15 minutes!!) but he knows what he has to do and has had fewer accidents this week (only one this afternoon).  The biggest challenge is that he always has to go since his entire diet is liquid.  This is something else that we are getting ready to tackle.  The other challenge will be getting him to tell us when he has to go, so that we don't have to sit him on there every 15 minutes.  School has been super supportive of his training and is also sticking to a strict schedule for him to keep the consistency.

Oliver had his first playdate without me after school today.  His buddy, Logan, turned 4 earlier this week so he headed over for lunch, cupcakes and play with Logan and 3 other friends (all new to Oliver).  Logan's mom brought him home for me and said he did great.  These boys are really growing up!

Busy weekend ahead (as always!)!  More soon...

Kindergarten!

Lot has happened in the last 9 days since I posted, the highlight of which, was Carter starting kindergarten.  I still can't believe that I have a kindergartener!  Luckily for all of us (mostly Carter) it was a super easy transition since he's still at the school that he attended for all three years of preschool.  It was literally a move the next classroom over.  He knows a couple of his classmates and has the same OT and speech therapists.  Familiarity is good for him so this set all of our minds at ease.  The highlight of his school experience is riding the bus.  :)  Here is a photo of Carter on his first day of preschool, back in 2010, when he couldn't walk independently, and relied on his reverse walker to get around.

And here he is on the first day of kindergarten on September 3rd, 2013.

Oliver started his first day of 4's preschool on Tuesday of this week.  He was SO excited (as you can see).  He is attending 5 mornings per week and staying until 1:30pm for lunch bunch M-W.  His buddy John's mom is nice enough to bring him home for me on lunch bunch days since his brother are (usually) sleeping. 

Oliver also started soccer this week.  We were kind of bummed to find out that all of his games are at 1pm on Saturdays since he does still nap most days, but he really enjoyed week 1.  Hope it continues to go well.  It was a little chaotic on the field with the kids all bumping into each other while they were learning a variety of skills...

Crosby is starting to enjoy his three mornings a week of mommy time, now that school has started. He has a tumbling class on Tuesday mornings and swimming on Wednesday mornings. Tomorrow is the big day for him.  He has 45 minutes of "get-to-know-the-classroom" time then Friday I cut the cord.  I'm hopeful that he'll love it and things will go well for him.  I look forward to being super productive in my ~6 hours/week of kid-free morning time.  :)

More pics to come after Crosby starts school...

Time flies...

Time truly is flying.  I often think about the quote, "the days are long but the years are short".  I've had more than one mom of older children tell me this (these are the same moms who have told me for years that they have no recollection of the early years of their kids lives.  At the time I thought, they are CRAZY, but sadly, I've joined them).  I do know that time flies like crazy but I still have trouble believing that it's already Sept.  It really hit me when I FINALLY logged back on to write this post and I see that my last one was almost TWO YEARS AGO.  Just.  Plain.  Crazy. 

SO much has happened in the last two years and I truly kick myself all of the time when I think about how I *should* have been keeping a blog since Carter was born, or at least diagnosed (not only would I remember specifics, I'd remember big things that have truly skipped my mind).  I am so bummed that I haven't taken the time to write at least once per week but life is just so crazy busy.  I'm promising myself to be better, starting now. 

We've had a great, whirlwind summer.  We took a trip to Lancaster, PA right when school got out.  The boys had a blast and we were lucky to have my mom join us for our 3-night adventure (Carter may have had the most fun of all of the boys as it took him a full 3 weeks to stop asking to go "back to the hotel").  July saw a trip from my MIL and a visit over the 4th from my SIL and her family who were en route to their beach vaca.  August brought our annual beach trip - 18 of us in one house in Emerald Isle, NC.  Doug thinks I'm crazy but it truly was the best beach trip we've taken, even including those before we had kids of our own (and this was year 7!).  We actually had a chance to relax a bit, thanks to being able to bring Carter's caregiver along (a godsend) and the cousins being at a helpful/fun/playful age for our boys.  A great time was truly had by all.

Now it's September and Carter starts kindergarten on Tuesday.  This REALLY makes me think about how fast time truly flies by.  I had a lot of mixed emotions at the end of last week as I walked in to our elementary school with many neighborhood friends whose children will also start kindergarten on Tuesday.  We walked the same hallway but I went right into room 3, the autism classroom, as they went left to the "regular" classroom.  :-/  Carter will have 30 minutes of inclusion in the "regular" classroom with an aide each day, but it's still hard as this was never the route we pictured.  I am thankful that he's in a familiar school with familiar therapists this year and one room over from his preschool class last year b/c change is hard.  I still had that pang of sadness though, as I felt like Carter *should* be following his peers across the hall.  This being said, I'm SO thankful for my gang of "special" moms that understand what I'm feeling.  Seriously, if one more person tells me that I *should* be happy for all that Carter is doing and how far he's come, I might punch them in the face (and I'm not a violent person).  Of course I'm thrilled with all he's doing but it doesn't make that hallway turn any less painful.  I do look forward to our school-year routine (as this is really best for Carter).  He'll start out with the 4-hour day that he has followed through his 3 years of preschool as he's still currently napping.  At any time that we decide, he can switch to a full day (6 hours).  His class currently has 6 students - 4 2nd-graders, 1 1st-grader and Carter as the lone kindergartener (4 of the 6 students are returning from LY).  There are two openings but we are all hopeful that they won't get filled any time soon.

That's it for now...More after Carter's 1st day as we prep for Oliver and Crosby's first days on the 10th and 13th.  :)  This momma is going to have SIX hours per week to herself!!!