Monday, November 29, 2010

go cool??

The dude LOVES school.  Every morning when he wakes up, he asks "go cool?" and if you tell him that today is not a school day, he sternly says "GO COOL!!!"  We are very fortunate to have found a fabulous school with low student to teacher ratios.  He is in a toddler class, three days a week, with only children 2 - 2 1/2 years old.  They send home a daily activity report detailing activities such as language (they teach 1-2 new signs each day), tactile experiences, music, reading, science, creative art, motor skills, life skills and manners (a CDH parent's dream--ha!).  They are also working on potty training him and his teachers say that he'll be fully potty trained very soon!  Writing that tuition check each month is painful, but it's worth it to see the payoff.

The dude's verbal skills and sign language are improving drastically.  He's become very independent, too.  They expect him to put on/take off his coat and hang it up in his cubby; help get dressed after going potty; clean up after lunch (putting his bowls and utensils away and throwing away his trash); wipe his area at the table after eating; wash and dry his own hands; remove his sheet and blanket from his mat after nap-time and put them away in his cubby; put away the toys he plays with, etc.  It's certainly made life at home much easier!

Today, Mrs. L told me that she was shocked when they were doing number puzzles and the dude started counting on his fingers!  She said she ran to the next classroom to get another teacher just so she could witness it.  Mrs. L told me that a lot of the kids can count out loud a few numbers, but they don't really know what it means and can't count on their fingers.  The dude can count to 5 consistently (with 6 and 10 thrown in there sometimes).  She said she randomly said a number and he'd show it to her on his fingers!

It's such a relief to see him prosper so well in school.  We had to have him isolated for the first 2 years and we were concerned about his social skills and learning.  There's only so much that the mommy and daddy can do at home before he gets bored with us.  I also think that the interaction with other kids is helping him learn to talk, learn that the world doesn't revolve around just him, and have certainly helped to improve his eating.

Of course, I'd love "cool" too if I got to do stuff like this:


1 comment:

Jen said...

School is cool and The Dude knows it! Glad he's doing so well and loving it!