First up, Imogen turned 20 months old this week. She continues to be delightful and opinionated. She is talking in 2 and 3-word phrases now and showers her brother with affection about as much as she tells him "no!". She's still a wee thing, yet to hit 20 pounds, but I'm holding out hope that we'll be able to turn her car seat around before she's two! Here are this month's sibling comparison photos.
After a long, rainy winter and spring, the warm weather is finally making a return to Portland this weekend. The kids and I got outside this morning before school for a little photo shoot.
And some plant inspection...
But the most exciting news around here is that Elliot was accepted to the Creative Science School, a focus program through the Portland Public Schools, for kindergarten this fall. CSS was our top choice of all the charter schools and focus programs we visited, so we are thrilled. We think Elliot is going to do very well with the Storyline methodology they use for teaching, and we're excited about having him among typical peers. We like that the school is K-8, and that 8th graders are paired as mentors with the kindergartners. And it was the only school we visited in which the kindergarten teacher was actually enthusiastic about the prospect of having a child on the autism spectrum in her classroom. There are several kids on the spectrum at the school, and they have done very well. The school is supportive and honors each child's individual strengths, challenges, and learning styles, and we think it will be the perfect place for Elliot for the next nine years.
We are of course sad to leave the most wonderful School of Autism, where Elliot has been a student for the past two years. But it is the work that the staff at SOA have done with Elliot - academically, socially, and sensorily - that has prepared him to enter a mainstream school. Elliot is a master of his academic benchmarks, so now he can spend his transition year working on his social goals and making new friends (though we still plan to see our amazing friends at SOA!). Woo hoo!!
Happy weekend, everyone!
