School is good
Zoë is absolutely loving school. She loves riding on the "white bus", she loves her morning routine, she seems to really enjoy the activities at school, and we see big, big improvements in her on all levels. We can take her out with us places now and she's pretty good about not going off too far and about coming back when called (she used to be nearly uncontrollable that way, used to scare me to death thinking she'd dart out into traffic unexpectedly or run off and fall in an open manhole or something). She's getting better about not handling everything she sees when we're in a store. She's just generally better about outings, and that's a big relief.
She's also talking quite a lot, and expressively. Her speech is still pretty idiosyncratic, but it's real speech, it's perfectly contextual, and she'll even initiate conversation sometimes. Her receptive speech has gotten MUCH better! She understands a great deal of what we say to her, or she can work out what we mean by context, and she'll answer questions (some questions, anyway).
She's even putting herself to bed in the evenings. Right around 8:30 she takes herself to bed, because we will have already put her jammies on her and made sure she's gotten her supplements and has clean teeth. She's going to bed voluntarily, which is just a jaw-dropper. Mind you, she doesn't go to sleep right away, but she does go to bed, and she does go to sleep on her own after she's had a bit of a play in her room. She seems to be getting plenty of sleep, so she must be doing all right in the sleep department.
I knew school would be good for her and that she'd enjoy it. I'm kind of shocked at just how much benefit she's getting from it, though.
Good Weekend
Zoë had a very good weekend. She was very pleasant, reasonably compliant, very communicative. She was a real pleasure to be around, actually. I think school is doing her some good! Tonight she even went to bed without a fight! Amazing. I knew school was going to be good for her, but I had no idea we'd see positive changes so quickly. As Zoë said, "Hooray! School!"
Ah, one other thing to add... Over the weekend, a heavily pregnant friend of the family came over briefly. Since Miranda and I had been talking about babies growing inside their mothers' bellies (including showing her pictures of me when I was pregnant with her), I took the opportunity to tell her that Catherine had a baby inside. Miranda was interested but a bit shy, and observed carefully but that's about all. Catherine invited her to touch her tummy, and Miranda did, but that was about it. Then, on the way out, Zoë went up to Catherine and very gently and sweetly put her arms around her belly and gave her a very gentle hug. It was VERY clear that Zoë was hugging the baby!
I was somewhat surprised because Zoë and I had never talked about babies much (although she does like them and is very, very sweet and gentle with them), certainly not about pregnancy. I would if I thought she understood, but I didn't think she'd comprehend it, so we just didn't talk about it. But she heard me telling Miranda about the baby and she must have understood perfectly, because she went to give that little baby a hug.
My conviction that she understands a great deal more than we give her credit for is certainly confirmed by something like this. I really need to get it through my head that she does understand quite a lot!
Upset Morning
Zoë didn't have a good morning. She got up, but was sleepy and grumpy, and then she spent a very long time on the potty. Her dad kept checking on her and she kept saying she wasn't done. Eventually, he had to tell her to finish up, but by that time it was getting late, and she didn't get to eat her breakfast before the bus came (she was given it, but the art of eating quickly is totally lost on Zoë at this point). She kept saying that she'd go in the car, that she didn't have to get the bus, but her dad wanted to make her undestand that this isn't going to be something she can be in the habit of doing, so he sent her out the door with a breakfast bar, which, it turns out, she wasn't allowed to eat on the bus for safety reasons.
She was crying when she got on the bus, and she apprently cried most of the way to school, and then for the first ten minutes or so of school. She kept saying, "I need to go home! I need to go home!" The teacher offered her the breakfast bar but Zoë was too distressed to eat it, and she had a cuddle with the teacher for a while and then decided that there were interesting things to do, so she got up to start doing them.
At morning snacktime she ate the breakfast bar, and she had a good time in the indoor recreation room and in the art room, and they had computers today, which she always likes. They also cooked pikelets (little pancakes for those of you not familiar with Australian dialect) in the classroom and Zoë was very excited about that, and she ate a pikelet with jam on it (which she won't do at home) and one with Vegemite on it (ditto).
I know all this because I went to the school after I dropped off Miranda to see how Zoë was doing, and I had a talk with the teacher about how it was going. I was prepared to take Zoë home if necessary, but she seemed to be doing well. When I saw her she was outside playing and about to come in, and she saw me and said, "It's a Mom!" and ran over to get a nice hug and a cuddle. She said, "Awww, it's a beautiful mom," and then she said, "I love you."
I asked her how she was and she said, "Okay," and I asked her if she was going to go back to school and she said, "Zoë school. Bye Mom!" and they headed off to the classroom.
I think the "it's a beautiful mom" line is because I often call her "my beautiful girl", but wherever she got it, it was lovely to hear.
Well, I guess this has been a lesson for all of us. For Zoë, it's a lesson in dawdling and eating when it's offered, for Andrew, it's a lesson in NOT letting the kid sit on the toilet indefinitely, and for me it's a lesson in Zoë's resiliancy and ability to recover from an upset.
Bus!
Zoë rode the bus to school and she was absolutely thrilled about it. She waited outside with her dad and when the bus came she shot onto it and leapt into a seat. The teacher who was supervising had to move her, as it wasn't her assigned seat, but she very happily put on her seatbelt once she got in the right seat, and beaming a huge grin, waved goodbye as the bus took her away.
According to her communication book, she had a fairly settled day, and they went on a walking trip to the local shops, which she enjoyed. She also came home with green hands. Apparently, they did finger painting, and it seems the color didn't entirely wash off of her hands!
She seems very tired and she's quite calm when she gets home. I think having a full day with lots of activities and outdoor play is doing her a lot of good.
Tonight Nanna was talking to her about what she'd done at school and at the end of the conversation Zoë said, "Whatever." (That's a completely new thing, I've never heard her say it before!)
Later, she was on the potty and she was making odd squealing noises and so I went in to see what was wrong. I opened the door and said, "Are you okay?" and she looked up at me, gave a little grin, and said, "I'm noisy."
She did give us a bit of trouble at bedtime. She didn't want to go. She wanted to lie down on the couch with a pillow and a blanket, and we would have allowed that, except that she wasn't lying down, she was playing, making noises, etc. Once I put her to bed, she fell asleep pretty quickly, probably because she was quite tired!
So, I'd say she's doing well in school. She certainly seems to be enjoying herself. She always enjoyed pre-school, as well, so I'm not surprised that she's enjoying school now. They go for walks, play outside, have lunch, they'll be going swimming every other week (she doesn't know about that yet), they have computer time and a nice full curriculum (today was mathematics and number recognition, among other things). I can't imagine that she wouldn't enjoy such a varied and interesting schedule!
Hooray! School!
Zoë had her first day of "big school" today. She wore navy blue "skorts" (shorts that look like a skirt) and a burgundy polo shirt that was rather too long (I got a size six because that's normally a pretty good fit, but these must run big, or long, because it nearly reached the bottom of her skorts!).
I made her a picture schedule that began with eating dinner, and included all the steps following (getting supplements, brushing teeth, having a bath, etc.), and she did her best to follow it, including actually saying good night and going to bed. She didn't sleep right away (too excited) but she did go to bed, which is a big thing with her.
When it was time to get up, her dad went in and said, "Zoë, time to get up for school!" and she sat bolt upright, fished around in the sheets, found her picture schedule, and said, "Morning!" because that was on the schedule, too (along with going to the potty, washing hands, eating breakfast, etc.). Andrew drove her to school (he was home from work on a personal day) and the whole way there she was saying, "School! Hooray!" and "Big school!"
When they got there, she stood in a bit of awe outside and then when Andrew started up the path, she realized she could go inside, and she was off like a shot. He took her to her room and introduced himself to the teachers and Zoë made a beeline for the Thomas the Tank Engine toy she spotted, and she shouted over her shoulder, "Bye, Dad!" although he stayed just a bit to talk to the teachers a little.
We arrived to pick her up a bit before the end of the day and saw her in the classroom. She looked very happy to be there, although she had the look of someone who isn't sure what she's supposed to do or how things work. Apparently, she'd been telling the teacher to "Go to the kitchen!" when she felt bothered (just as she tells me to "Go sit at your computer!" and tells Miranda to "Go to your room!"), and she was uncooperative at morning snack, but she did well at lunch and had a nice play outside, during which she, "Broke a knee" (she didn't break it, she only scraped it, but she insisted that she broke it). She also informed us, and I'm quoting directly, "I'm ready to go home now".
My jaw about hit the floor, I can tell you.
The teachers are great with the kids, very relaxed, obviously very skilled at working with autistic kids. The teacher even found the "go to the kitchen" command funny! (Zoë is, actually, a very endearing and entertaining little kid, for what it's worth; everyone who has worked with her really comes to love her.)
Tonight, she resisted going to bed because that's what she does, but I gave her the picture sheet and told her she could finish watching Futurama (that's "foo too wama" in Zoëspeak), and by golly, when it was over, she said good night and went to bed! I had to go in and settle her once, but the next time I checked on her she was sound asleep, hooray!
Tomorrow, she's going to ride the bus to school, something she's been looking forward to for weeks. The bus comes at 7:25 (eek), but Andrew is up and leaving around that time, so he's going to get her up, get her dressed, etc. and get her on the bus and then head to work, himself, which will allow Miranda and me to sleep a bit longer (and Tuesday is our "day off" when we have no scheduled classes of any sort, whew).
So, it seems her first day went well, and I've got very good expectations for her this year. I think she can't help but do well in the setting (extremely low child to teacher ratio, very small classrooms, specialized programs for autistic kids, etc.). She's made terrific progress over the past few weeks, and certainly over the past year. This year is going to be a big leap for her, I think.
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