Bobby's World: August 2014

Bobby's in the 4th grade!! Not sure how it happened this fast. Where did my little baby boy go? I see him in the hallways with the new class of pre-K kids and I just can't believe that he was ever that small. He walked into the school two weeks ago for his first day of 4th grade like a seasoned pro. He is so grown up!!

Because Bobby's school situation is different than typical kids, I go into his classroom with him on his first day and talk with Ms. Kim about Bobby's summer and what we worked on and what we didn't. However, now that Bobby is one of the older kids, he went right in like he had only been off for a couple of days. Ms. Kim had to go off and help some of the younger kids get to their classrooms and get situated.

I took advantage of the situation of being alone in the classroom with Bobby and took tons of pictures. He went right over to his cubby, unpacked his backpack and put all of his things away.

When his things were put away he went to the play area and found some of his favorites. His speech therapist came in and hung out with us for a while.

Then he went over to his computer and waited for us to put in his ID and password so that he could have all of his favorite programs.....too bad we didn't know his ID and password!! We have to wait for Ms. Kim for that information.

Ms. Kim made it back to the autism classroom after the other kids were all in their classrooms. As soon as we started talking the morning bell rang. Time for Ms. Kim to take Bobby to his regular ed. 4th grade classroom for morning meeting.

Off they went. Of course I took a couple of more pictures as I was leaving the building. Next year he will be taller than his beloved Ms. Kim!!!!

When I picked up Bobby from his first day, he received glowing remarks. He transitioned back to school like he had been off for the weekend. All of the summer school and daily therapy kept him right on track so that he could just continue without weeks of reviewing what he had learned last school year.

Bobby and one of his aides, Ms. Deb

I picked Bobby up later in the week and we had to run upstairs to get some paperwork out of his desk. I asked Ms. Kim if I could tag along and just peek in the window of his regular ed. classroom. I just wanted to see inside. When we got there the rest of the class was out of the room so I got to go in and see Bobby's desk. As you know, I have a sickness that is only made better by taking too many pictures!! Ok Bobby, sit in your desk so Mommy can take a picture!!!

A new issue has appeared in Bobby's school world. An issue that I could have never imagined!! Ms. Kim is working with Bobby and a classmate on group work in the afternoon when I arrive to pick him up to take him to his therapy session. The problem.....Bobby wants to give all of the answers. He is having difficulty sitting quietly and waiting for his turn, he is just blurting out the answers for his classmate.

I will take this problem over past problems any day of the week!!!!! He is sitting nicely and actually paying attention to what is going on all of the time during the work session. I'm jumping up and down on the inside.....he knows the answers, he knows the answers!!! Way to go Bobby!! But on the outside holding my finger up to my mouth with the universal "be quiet" signal!!

Of course it is not all work. It is still only August, plenty of time for after school water fun.

Bobby, Natalie and another friend have been having fun during a weekly after school swim session at Stepping Stones. They absolutely love this after school activity!!

Zoi for one could not be more excited that the regular school year has begun. I got out my tennis shoes and she started running circles around the kitchen.....she knew that she was going for a walk with her BFF Ellie!! Zoi was jumping for joy, literally, as I hooked her leash to her collar.

We had to stop at school and drop Bobby off....Zoi waited patiently in the back. However, as soon as we started driving through the park that houses the walking trail, Zoi started jumping around the back of the car!!!

BFF's together again......

Running off into the sun........

After we walked our mile and a half back to the car, Zoi jumped in and drank up a bottle of water!!!

We've made it through the first two weeks of school with flying colors. I think we all like our routine.....not just Bobby!!! It's a holiday weekend, the unofficial end of summer, Daddy will probably close the pool next week so Bobby is enjoying it as much as he can.

One more exciting thing begins this weekend, at least exciting for Daddy.......football season begins! This time of year in Morgantown, you need to end each conversation with "Let's Go Mountaineers!" So, LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS!!!!!

Bobby finally got to have his summer vacation. Even though he finished up the regular school year in June, he continued his daily therapy and attended summer school for 6 weeks. When summer school ended, I decided to cancel his therapy appointments for the two weeks until the new school year begins. We finally had the days to do with as we pleased and I was determined to find something fun for Bobby to do each of these days mainly because he works so hard the rest of the year.

A big bonus, our friend Natalie and her family were back from their extended California vacation to visit with their family. We had two weeks of fun things to do and Natalie, her mom, and even her dog were along for most of the adventure. Perfect!!

A common sight over the two week period.

I had been wanting to take Bobby to the new Splash Pad in Fairmont all summer, we finally had the perfect morning to go try it out. When we pulled up, we were so excited because no one was there, we had the place all to ourselves. In autism land, this can be beyond exciting when the kids to get to go to a new place and figure it all out before any one else is there to add to the anxiety. Bobby and Natalie LOVED the Splash Pad and were prepared to share their space when kids started showing up about half an hour later.

So much fun!!!

A sensory lovers delight.

A perfect day in Bobby's World......adaptive swimming at Krepps in the morning, stop off and pick up some Chick fil A for lunch, then off to open swim time at Stepping Stones new pool in the afternoon. This fun schedule happened twice during his vacation. Bobby and Natalie were thrilled!!!

Natalie hadn't seen the new swimming pool at Stepping Stones, but of course she loved it......

We were fortunate enough that this day was able to be repeated. The last session of adaptive swimming at Krepps and another open swim time at Stepping Stones. We couldn't ask for better days for the kids!!! Sonny joined us one of the days at Stepping Stones...

If your looking for Bobby, you can find him swimming underwater!!

Ummm, do you think that she likes the pool??????

We invited Natalie to swim in our pool on some of the days that we couldn't go to the big pools. However, they were only allowed to come over if they brought Ellie to have a doggy play date with Zoi. Can't get any better than that....a mommy play date, a kid play date and a doggy play date....the definition of a true win/win!!!

To conclude week one of Bobby's summer vacation, we had something new and exciting planned. Once again, I packed our pool bag and Bobby was ready to go, he stood at the door with the bag just waiting for Mommy and Daddy to get ready!!

We were finally on our way, but not sure how Bobby would react to our planned day. He LOVED it doesn't even really describe his reaction!!!

Waiting for Daddy to buy the tickets for the Mountain Coaster at Wisp Resort, Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. After we had the tickets, Bobby walked right out and started walking up the ramp to the Mountain Coaster just like he knew where we were going even though he had never been there before or seen anything like it before. Luckily the line for the ride was only about 4 people long, but Bobby stood there and watched what was going on. Another great aspect of this ride.....I could stand right there with them and help Bobby get on and off of the ride so that Daddy didn't have to do everything by himself. Bobby got right on and let me buckle him up.

Daddy said that on the ride up the mountain Bobby was as relaxed as could be, but once they started down the other side, he tensed up and held on.

When the ride stopped, Bobby got right off and ran right back to the end of the line, he was doing that again!!!!! Good thing that Daddy bought the 3 ride ticket.

They also have many other adventure activities to do at Wisp. Bobby wasn't even interested in playing on the playground, he just wanted to keep riding the coaster. We had to bribe him with french fries and chicken to get him to leave.

We stopped, picked up lunch, then went to the beach so that Bobby could swim. Another perfect day for Bobby!!!!

When we were just hanging around the house, we had to come up with some fun activities to keep Bobby occupied. His favorite new toy.....the water slide.

When the water slide burst, Bobby was forced to play with just the water hose, he wasn't complaining. Mommy and Daddy will shed a little tear when the water and sewage bills come next month!!

To begin week two of Bobby's summer vacation, the rain began. Blah! I had to come up with some indoor activities. First on the agenda, a trip to the cool toy store on High Street in downtown Morgantown. The only problem, you have to park and walk to get there. Bobby did perfectly! He didn't really care to walk under the umbrella, preferring the rain falling on his head. Oh well!

When we left the toy store, Bobby kept saying "eat." He literally dragged me into Subway, which is not a preferred eatery in his world. When we got in the store, I took him to the bathroom. Poor kid had to potty!! He felt much better and sat and had some chips before we headed back out into the rain.

Umbrellas are for wimps......

Little plastic "Oobi" eyes entertained him all afternoon....

(FYI...Oobi is a tv show that was on Nick Jr. when he was younger.)

There was another open swim day scheduled at Stepping Stones on Tuesday and we pretty much knew that we were going to have to use the indoor pool because of the rain. However, on our drive there, the sun came out a little bit. When they asked which pool we wanted to use, I asked if we could try the outdoor and move indoors when the rain started, "sure" was their response. When we got to the pool, the grey clouds parted and the sun came out. The kids got to swim outdoors!!

The rain did come back after we got home. Thanks Mother Nature, we really appreciated this gesture! For a rainy evening, we had a impromptu fun family night. Grandma Carolyn and Mimi came to visit and brought dinner from Murial's. Ahhhh, no cooking for me!!! After dinner, things got a little out of control!! A dance party broke out.....the laughter followed!

The party then moved downstairs to play with our new Wii, well new to us anyway. Bobby watched bowling like nothing we had ever seen. He payed more attention to this than anything he has ever watched. Amazing!!

The next day I took Bobby to the mall to ride "it's a train." Yes, this crazy little train makes him happy.

After we left the mall, we drove across town and met up with Natalie at Burger King so the kids could play in the playplace. We weren't the only parents with this rainy day plan. My word, there was a group of the loudest kids ever playing inside. I get it, I really do and am not complaining, the kids were having fun and the parents needed the break. I just now know that I have some sensory issues too, and that was way too loud for me. We didn't stay long, and when we walked outside a calm came over all of us. Oh boy!!

The rain left, whoo hoo, but left some colder weather behind. We took the kids swimming again on Thursday to Stepping Stones open swim and opted for the indoor pool because is was only in the low 60s.

On Friday, we had one last activity planned for the kids, a trip to the beach at Deep Creek since Natalie had never been. We were a little early to met up with them, so Bobby wanted to go into Burger King, which was empty. Ahhh, the playplace with no loud noises.

We were practically the only ones at the beach because it was a chilly morning. Bobby didn't seem to mind and ran right into the water and sat down. As Daddy often says, "he's tougher than woodpecker lips!!"