I was expecting him to fall asleep in the car on the way home to let the dogs out since he decided to grace me with his presence at 5:30 that morning but surprisingly he actually stayed awake. We got home, let the dogs out, changed our clothes and grabbed a quick drink before heading up to school.
My mom and I have come to the conclusion that Carson is now going through the 'terrible twos'. I know that he is almost 5 but since we have always classified him as cognitively half of his age it would make sense. He has been a terror both at home and now at my mom's house during the day. He is into everything- ripping pages out of books, pinching anything that pisses him off, screaming, climbing on every piece of furniture we have and not even giving a thought to the fact that he could fall and break his neck. Yesterday he ripped part of our refrigerator door off and today he was ripping leaves off of my mother's 100-year-old California Cactus plant that has been passed down through the generations! Needless to say she is getting to a point where she can't wait until I am home full-time because she needs a break.
On the way I to school I told Carson that Amber was back at school today and I expected him to be nice to everyone today. I explained to him that screaming, pinching and pulling hair were not acceptable things to do to other people and if he did it he was going to lose his iPad for the rest of the night. Although I have to be honest, I don't know it I would've been able to follow through with that threat considering the fact that he is worse without it and since he has been using it more and more to communicate that would be extremely mean for me to do, but hey, he doesn't know that and frankly I wasn't even sure if he was comprehending what I was saying to him anyway.
We pulled up to the school and Patty was waiting for us when we got to the front door. While I signed us in for today she took him to the stairs. He didn't want to lose sight of me and ran right back to me when she let go of his hand for a minute. I took him back to Patty and then hopped up the first flight of stairs and then turned around to cheer him as he made his way to me. With a huge smile plastered on his face he climbed each step, one foot on each stair, until he reached me. Patty then told me to continue up so up the next flight I went. He happily followed. We made our way down the little hallway and headed to the flight of stairs at the other end of the hall. This set was actually 3 flights instead of two. I can't really describe the way Patty was holding him-she had one of his hands in hers and had them pushed up against his hip on one side. With her free hand she helped guide Carson's opposite leg onto the correct step, the whole time walking backwards. I had never seen anything like this and I have to tell you-it worked. She guided him down two of the flights and then left him at the top of the 3rd. I stood right in front of him and cheered him on as he held onto the rail and went down the four steps on his own! Granted, he would place both feet on each step which isn't really what his IEP says but it's still a MAJOR improvement. Even teachers who passed him in the hallway were cheering for him and telling him what a good job he was doing.
After the stairs we went into the music room. The other little boy wasn't there yet so they started without him. The song for the day (now that it's a new month) is "Apples are Falling" to the tune of "Are You Sleeping."
Apples are falling
Apples are falling
from the tree
from the tree
Pick up all the apples
Pick up all the apples
1-2-3
1-2-3
It starts out with legs together and arms and hands spread wide above your head. As the apples are 'falling' you bend over and place your hands on the floor (if you're 4 and very flexible or short ;) and then stand back up and stretch big to be a tree. You do this until the chorus, "pick up all the apples" which you then cross reach one arm to the opposite foot and vise versa. Good stretching and cross-body action going on right there. This takes Patty showing Carson what to do by mirroring and Jen actually making him do it. This is one we did last year too so he didn't do too bad with the first part of touching his toes but the cross body is nearly impossible for him to do.
After the song Jen sat with Carson and used two colored (washable) markers to draw circles and letters. He was happy with what he was doing until she made a cross and of course he spelled "RAIN" again to make "Train." It's cute because the kid never misses an opportunity to spell it. After writing letters they had him cut through card stock- which is very thick paper, they (jokingly) said they're working towards carpet.
This entire time Carson was sitting with Jen and Patty doing what was asked of him. I am now beginning to wonder if the other little boy in the class is maybe Carson's problem. Not necessarily a nuisance but just enough with the noise level or some other factor that makes it hard for him to focus.
After fine motor it was time for his obstacle course. This time is was a balance beam (foam on the floor), crawling through a tunnel, rocking on a balance board, jumping off of a step stool, rolling in a cylinder, throwing a ball at stacked 'cans' and then rolling on a ball picking up cones to stack using one hand to hold himself up and the other to stack, then rotating hands.. (pictured below).
It was then time to cool down, they played their soothing all done song and turned off the lights while rolling the ball above on Carson's back as he laid on his stomach on the carpet.
It was then time for speech (yay!!).
We went to Amber's room with LaQuita and sat down for a story - one of my favorites, "Pete the Cat- I Love My White Shoes." This book held Carson's attention pretty well. I'm sure the singing had something to do with it but it was fun. Afterwards LaQuita had a paper with places to put little tiles with Velcro and went through with the boys the sequence of what color Pete's shoes turned through the book and what he stepped in to get them those colors. Carson got the last ones (white, water) without any help.
After the story we listened to "Let's Go Swimming" by Laurie Berkner and sang along reenacting what the fish were doing in the song. Luckily this is one we again knew from last year and while Carson didn't want to 'swim' he was very happy to hold onto my neck while I was on my knees and jump over and over and over again unless they were taking a nap then he would pull me down to the mat to 'sleep' with him.
When the song was over Carson and the other little boy were taken to the table where LaQuita had a sort of BINGO game where Carson had to match pictures together in order to get a chance to draw a picture to match his BINGO card. The game lingered for quite a while and when it was time to go Carson was able to get a hold of his iPad again. He happily ran over to the little 'house' they have set up in the corner of Amber's room and turned on an App called, "Endless Alphabet." It is an app that has words like opera, multiply and experiment. Little monsters (cute ones) will then act out the definition of the word while a woman's voice will also explain the definition. As Carson is showing LaQuita his iPad, the other little boy comes over and is complaining that he wants to play with the iPad too. As he is looking over Carson's shoulder trying to get closer, Carson finds the most fitting word and shows it to LaQuita. His word? NOSEY. Too funny. Amber and I had a good laugh at that one.
At the end of the day I think overall we had a great day at school. I found out from Amber that they have changed the rules about kindergarten and that he will have to start next year. I asked if I was able to red-shirt Carson if he would be eligible for this program again next year and she said I will have to ask the preschool coordinator about it. We have an IEP meeting on November 4th so that is something that I will have to bring up then. She did tell me that once I'm off work I am more than welcome to bring Carson for snack time and recess and still be considered itinerant so he can hopefully learn to tolerate other people and still be able to get his services. One more thing to think about...
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