Introducing Bobby To The Rest Of The Second Grade

When I picked Bobby up from school yesterday his teacher talked to me about an idea that she had and how she needed me to help out with a part.  She asked me to send her some pictures of Bobby.

She wants to make a powerpoint about Bobby since he can't verbally introduce himself to the rest of his class and can't tell them about himself.  She wants to show this to the rest of the 2nd grade during indoor recess, which will start happening more and more due to rain, snow and cold temps.  This year the 2nd grade indoor recess is held in the library since the gym is already in use with a class.

Bobby doesn't spend much time with the rest of his class because he is in the autism room all day.  They see Bobby at lunch, recess and some kids see him when he comes into art, music and gym class for as long as he can tolerate.  During regular recess outside, the kids all go out and break up into their groups and play and Bobby can go fairly unnoticed.

His teacher cares enough about him that she wants the kids to know him!!  What an awesome teacher!  You only hear about the horrible special needs teachers on the news that do horrible things to special needs kids, but I must say from all of the special needs teachers that have been in our life, we have been extremely blessed to have great people.

I have been going through my pictures trying to find pics showing Bobby doing the things that he loves to do.  So far, this is the direction that I am leaning.

Bobby's favorite activity is riding the Rhino with his Dad.  They recently took a trip where they rode trails all day...

Bobby's second love is swimming and playing in the water.  Here he is in his pool at home...

He likes to play in the water at Krepps Pool...

Bobby likes to play with the water hose...

He likes to play with blocks...

Bobby has a dog named Zoi...

He likes to play with his iPad and computer...

He loves to jump on the trampolines at the West Virginia Gymnastics Training Center...

 Learning to move on the ice at the Morgantown Ice Rink...

Opening presents on Christmas morning...

Jumping in the leaves and picking out pumpkins...

I'll send the pics to Ms. Kim and she will do the rest.  My goal in the pics is to show the kids that he does normal things like all kids do.  We are so blessed to have a teacher who cares enough to go this extra mile!!!

Bobby and Ms. Kim

Playing In The Rain

It's a rainy, foggy, misty, yucky fall day.  When you look outside you assume that you would need a sweater or jacket on because it is cold.  However, we have a little Mother Nature humor today...it is 70 degrees outside.  Even though I wanted to come home, put on my pj's, snuggle on the couch and watch tv, we came home, put our things away and went out of the front porch to play.

Bobby stood there, wanting to go out into the rain, but thought for sure that he would get in trouble...

 I finally assured him that he was allowed to go off of the porch and get wet...

AWESOME!!!  Zoi was NOT going to let me forget about her, so she came outside too.  Silly dog went right out into the grass and laid down in the rain.  I feel that it is probably time that I share this with you, but....I am pretty sure that Zoi has autism too!!!  Those two are like two peas in a pod when it comes to behavior!!

Doesn't take long until Bobby finds something to chew on... 

Nothing better than sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair!!

 Bobby, your autism is showing...

 Mmmmmmmm, tasty!!!  Time to play with Mommy's fall decorations...

 Bobby, we don't SIT on pumpkins!!!

 This wooden pumpkin sign has been one of Bobby's favorites for many years.  It somehow, usually finds a home tucked inside our Christmas tree after the holiday decorations come out.

His own personal pumpkin patch...

Bet that you didn't know that pumpkins also make good drums...

Daddy came home and Bobby was finished with hanging out on the porch!!  Daddy is MUCH more fun than that!!!  Time to "Ride the Rhino!!"

Alright Zoi, lets go back inside...Zoi, come on...fine, stay here on the porch, but Mommy is going inside!!

Popcorn and A Movie

Fall is definitely in the air.  Bobby played outside in the fenced area of our yard for hours yesterday.  I LOVE that he is wanting to play in this part of the yard where we don't have to stand right beside him.  He can come in and out of the house and play in the fenced area at his leisure.  We are able to stand at the living room window and watch him.  He seems to love having this little bit of freedom.  We put his sand box in this area for him and filled it with potting soil, which he prefers over sand.  Needless to say, he was FILTHY!!  After a long bubble bath he was as good as new.  Since he was all cleaned up, I wasn't letting him go back outside.  He then decided he wanted to watch a movie on the computer, he also told me "popcorn."  He looked so cute watching his movie and eating his popcorn that I just HAD to take some pictures, which obviously led to this blog post!!

Just in case you didn't know....LAURIE BERKNER BAND ROCKS!!!!!

Building Block Fun

The only toys that Bobby really PLAYS with are building blocks.  He particularly loves his Magna Tiles, which have magnets inside of them so they stick together well.  However, he doesn't build things the way typical kids do.  He, instead, plays with them "Bobby Style," meaning he lines them up.  He does this in a way that makes you know that his brain works in mysterious ways.  He spends hours getting these "masterpieces" built and generally does so with a smile on his face.

I bet that you didn't know that you were supposed to stand these blocks end to end instead of clicking them together!!  Sorry Daddy, I didn't mean to get you in the picture.  He's getting some time on the iPad since Bobby put it down.

You try cooking and/or cleaning in this kitchen and try not to knock every block over.  Extreme Challenges In Cooking!!!!

He likes a lot of the same shape when he plays.  He throws the triangle and large square Magna Tiles to the side, since there are only a few of them.

The arches are from a train set he got for Christmas a couple of years ago.  They are used as bridges in the train set up.  He only has 6 and can put them in some amazing configurations (obviously not in this picture), but if you ever see anything like this for sale anywhere not in a train set, or anything kind of similar, please let me know...he loves them.

Yes Bobby, you can click them together too!!  The colder the weather gets, the more the blocks come out to play.  I have to keep the kitchen surfaces as clear as I can so that Bobby has plenty of space to work.

I took a few more pictures on 9/23/12 so I decided to add some more!!  This is probably going to be my place to add pics of his "masterpieces"!!!!