What has been happening! Well, Nathan just makes us laugh. We have taught him the correct terms for his private parts, so he is well aware of his "penis". Every time he pulls up his shorts and he gets a little stuck, "Oh my penis!" and tucks it back in. The other day, he was playing with Mr. Potato Head and there was some joking back and forth about who tooted. I asked him if it was Mr. Potato Head, and he says, "No, he doesn't have a penis". Hmm apparently more anatomy teaching is still required! He has taken a bit of an interest in playing dolls right now, I wonder how long that will last. I think it's mostly so that him and Lynsey have something to do together, but it could be more than that. He loves to hear stories about himself where he gets to fly with Dusty Crophopper or go on a train ride with Thomas, and has even started making up some of his own Nathan stories! Mind you they are mostly just repeated bits of stories he's heard me tell, but I can see that expanding very soon. He is just my little sweetie, I can't say it enough:).
Adam had a pretty big change at his school last week. They moved him out of Kimberly and Gordon's classroom (Kimberly is the aide that Adam has connected the most with since getting to RSA, she also babysits for us occasionally). I was really upset about it at first, as it sounded like it didn't necessarily happen because it was in Adam's best interest, but more because they were shuffling classrooms because of new kids and that affected Adam's placement. After some emails back and forth with the Program Manager, both Brian and I feel more comfortable with the change. I guess they always tried to keep Adam and Kimberly together because he wouldn't really work well with anyone else, but apparently he has become a lot more flexible and now works with several different aides very well! He is with Ruth, whom he was with right when he started at RSA, so he already knows her pretty well. He will also see Kimberly and Gordon in the afternoon during some group time, so that's good. He has handled this change like a pro! I am so proud of how he rolled with this change, I did not see that happening. I got to see a bit of video of him doing some programs today which was pretty neat. He definitely had this look on his face like, "let's just get this over with", but Ruth said he's not always like that (he was apparently quite aware of the video camera, so not totally himself). I have this fear that he is learning the programs and doing what they are asking of him (repeating sentences, identifying letters, etc.) but what if he's not internalizing it? I worry that it's not going to roll into every day life, it's my biggest concern about his therapy. I asked his Program Manager if she has noticed him becoming more natural in his socialization, and she said she has noticed he is much quicker to respond when people say hi (we have noticed this, too) and in general responds quicker to peers and teachers in social interactions. I guess this is a marathon, it's unlikely that there will be this giant proverbial "corner" that he turns (although I still pray for it because you never know!).
We had some beautiful weather over the weekend and we got to go to the park a few times! The kids have really missed that, this much was obvious. On Monday, Nathan had his push-behind tricycle at the park and he figured out pedaling! Very exciting! He's still a bit slow, but he seems to have made the connection that he needed to make, it will just be a matter of perfecting it now. Wow imagine when both he and Lynsey are independent on bikes! Then I can take the kids on bike rides alone and only have to push Adam along! Maybe THIS will be the summer that he, too, cares enough to actually start pedaling (fingers crossed!). Family bike rides are coming up! Oh wait, I guess that means Brian and I need to get bikes, too!
