Life with Fragile X Syndrome

By request, a school update.

Melissa

Monkey boy is still enjoying school but we can now tell that they’re asking more of him on a daily basis. He is a LITTLE less excited about going each morning but has a blast once he gets there. It’s just not all fun and games anymore!

He’s using more and more words. Last week when they were discussing his classmate K’s birthday Monkey jumped into the conversation to add “I’m 3.” And yes he is…I’ve been trying to get him to say that for quite a while, too bad I missed it.

Yesterday during potty time he decided to try the potty…STANDING UP. Oh boy. He needed a little bit of help from his friend O. (ha!) but he did it! After he was done he told one of the classroom assistants “I pee.”

Tonight we’re going to try trick or treating. I’m pretty sure he won’t want to hold his bucket for candy but we’ll try a house or two. Then we’ll hang out on the porch and pass out candy. He always enjoys that. He’s going to be an old west sherriff. We’ll take pictures!

School is going great!

Melissa

I think it’s safe to say he loves everything about school at this point although there is that little thing called Circle Time that he could do without…but he’s starting to give in there too. Yesterday morning he woke up and led me to the top of the stairs and indicated that we should go down them. SCHOOL! was his first thought when he woke up.

His teachers love him. They tell us how gentle and soft he is. How he takes the most interest in those younger than him or those who are having a rough day. He is learning all the rules and he’s enjoying himself more than we had hoped. He may even recognize his own name…twice today he picked out his own floormat for Circle Time.

Monkey and School

Melissa

Monkey has now completed two days at school. They gone quite well. He’s warming up quickly to the classroom and has basically been just really exploring it. He did great on his first day and we left without any issues at all. It was a really smooth transition. Today was a bit harder as he was a bit hyper-aroused to start, but a few minutes of squeezes and he was back to normal and exploring. He still isn’t a fan of circle time, but he never really was. Hopefully that’ll change with time. Each day they’ve gone to a different nearby park as the playground at the school is still being worked on. Today on the way back from the park they got a little wet as they got caught in the rain but I was told he did great. He even played with a little girl that was at the park and he did great sharing a sit in car with other kids as well.

Another cute Monkey story…

Melissa

This morning while we were getting ready to leave Monkey brought me his vibrating toy and shook it at me.   I took it from him and discovered that the battery was dead.  We went to the battery drawer and while I put the new one in he threw the old one in the trash.  Once he saw that it was working he ran to the living room and tugged on one of the zippers to his backpack.  I guessed that he wanted the toy in his backpack and put it there.  Then he grabbed at the backpack and signed on.  I tried putting it on him even though he’d never let me do it before but this time he GRINNED when I put it on him!  I quickly sized it to fit him and he ended up wearing it until we got into the truck.  He was so PROUD of himself too, it was so cute!  It looks like he’ll be ready to carry his own backpack to school this fall!  Yay!

Back from Maine.

Melissa

Today was the the annual family reunion.  I only get to see most of those folks once a year these days.  Monkey had fun eating chips and exploring, I had fun chatting with people.  Poor Duhdee just had to chase the boy.

Never fear, however, because once we left we took the kiddo to Parsons Beach (love, love, love that beach!) and we all had a blast.  Monkey went out into the water with us carrying him and we played in the waves.  Once he had enough of that he and I sat on the sand on the edge of the water and threw rocks in.  Duhdee went out over his head and played in the swells.  It was incredibly relaxing.

After a while Duhdee joined us on the shore and we walked down almost the entire beach jumping in the pools the tide had left as it retreated.  We found lots of crabs that the gulls had left and some shells.  Duhdee tried to convince Monkey to bring home a giant clam shell but Monkey thought it made a better projectile than a keepsake.   We ended up spending 3 hours there this evening!  Monkey boy was totally exhausted by the time we left.  We filled his belly and got back on the road but decided to take the slow road (Route 1) through Wells, Ogunquit (we even drove to Perkins Cove to see the boat we got married on and then past the hotel) and York before we got back on the highway.   It was just a really nice relaxing day all around!

Umma is such a dunce.

Melissa

As soon as I posted about the great drop off this morning I went straight back to work. At 6 I got a phone call from daycare wondering when someone was going to be picking Monkey up. Crap! I totally forgot!

No harm done, he was hanging out with two of the providers having a BLAST. He’s in the best mood and had a great day I guess. I still feel like a dope for forgetting him. *sigh*