Some Scooter episodes I've been meaning to share. These are the moments that have made it easier to get through recent toilet issues (thanks, we think, to the first virus of the school year, which has made Scooter vaguely uncomfortable, but not sick enough to stay home).
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We've been gently broaching the subject of a sibling again with Scooter. We're still at least a couple months off from trying, but have taken the opportunity to suggest that this is a possibility on those occasions when the topic comes up.
Scooter has been most interested in potential baby names. He easily took the boy name we've almost settled on, but came up with "Albison" for a girl. And no, the 'b' is not a typo. Not sure where that came from, but I did eventually get him to agree that our preferred girl name would work for a baby sister.
Of course, he was touching upon Trillian's worst fear when he announced that he would have a baby brother and a baby sister.
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When we were at his grandparents' house recently, two strange (as in we'd never seen them before) ran through the backyard. My mother-in-law was not too happy to see unknown dogs, and Scooter was similarly distressed. He decided that he needed to make, right at that very moment, a "No Dogs" sign. Supplied with a piece of paper and a marker, he drew a dog and then a circle with a slash, topping it all off with "NODOGZ" (the 's' was backwards, but he knew it was supposed to be an s).
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Speaking of spelling, the bathtub foam letters remain a favorite, but the play has changed. Instead of nonsense words, he has started spelling out phrases and sentences. Sometimes he'll demand our help in spelling the words, but we have come back to the bathroom on occasion to find fully formed sentences. With only a minimum of invented spelling (e.g., 'Y' for 'why').
He has an amazing memory for the words he's quizzed us on; I'm no longer surprised when he recalls a word from weeks before.
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School continues to go well for Scooter. I am volunteering regularly in his classroom; it looks like I'll usually be there for literacy stations. I enjoy seeing all of the different kids and, even after only a couple visits, developing relationships with some of them.
It's a boy-heavy class, but Scooter's teacher seems to have just the right touch with them. We haven't had a specific parent-teacher or IEP meeting yet this year, but Mr. Teacher seems to get how to handle Scooter's meltdowns so that they are short and there's no lingering embarrassment.
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Of course, Scooter may be spreading vicious rumors, unknowingly of course.
There was a substitute in the class. Scooter knew her a bit since she spent some time in the preschool classroom last year. As we were walking home, Scooter explained to me why they had a substitute.
"He is marrying his cousin," he proclaimed to me.
A little bit more: "He had to get on an airplane and go far away."
"Maybe," I countered, "he went to his cousin's wedding?"
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School definitely agrees with him. He likes being a big kid and is eating up the curriculum. On our last car ride, he serenaded us with a number song. After our frustrations with the preschool program last year, it's nice to feel like our choice to move may be for the best after all.
5 comments:
That must be so satisfying to know that the move is good for Scooter too!
That's great he's doing so well!
I loved reading all these! I am so happy he's enjoying school so much--I hope this continues on and on!
Katie is loving school too.
her teacher commented that it is such a different group this year as it is more girls so the day does not begin with Indian leg wrestling.
It's amazing how different a class dynamic can be, based solely on gender balance.
My little brag: Scooter's class started working on readers with stories that build slowly on certain phonetic sounds. He was one of 3 to read the first one by himself on the first try!
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