A week of new things

When Michelle turned 3 she aged out of Early Infant and Toddler Services, and came into School Age Services for her speech therapy. The first day I told her we were going home to play with a new friend, she asked for Ashley. I told her it was a new friend, that Ashley would no longer come play. She was a little sad about that, but Joanne quickly won her over.

She does a wonderful job with Michelle. She has been to our house twice now, and both times she brings a huge bag of toys. They play all sorts of games and activities, and Michelle has so much fun she hardly realizes how hard Joanne is making her work to say things correctly. Her speech is coming along. She still has to work hard to make so many of the sounds (B,P, even W sometimes), but she is getting better each week. She gets the "placement" right for many words. By that, I mean she might substitute another letter - say "muppy" instead of "puppy", but that is progress. I am amazed at how many words she says now - of course, much of it only our family can understand, but she is getting there. I expect big changes in her as the year progresses. We are so happy to be working with Joanne.

Michelle also started school this week. These are pictures last week of her meeting her teachers. You can see she thinks this is pretty fun. Here she is with Mrs. C. (I didn't ask them if I can put them on the blog, so I'll just use initials.)

And here she is pictured with Mrs. Z. It's a wonderful preschool. Small classrooms and lots of individual attention. Michelle is in the class with the young 3's, and its' a perfect fit for her.

The first day of school they had balloons and stuffed animals lining the walk way and benches as we entered. Michelle fell in love with the giant Clifford dog, and she was so happy to see a smaller Clifford when she went into her classroom. Her teachers told me she held onto him most of the day.

She did great her first day of school. I told her Mommy would stay and play for about 5 minutes, and then she would have to stay by herself with her teachers and friends, but that I would come back later to pick her up. She looked a little sad as I left, but I watched her through the outside window and she did fine. No tears, and she quickly found lots of fun things to play with. I brought my camera for pick-up, and I would say by all the paint on her shirt (and in her hair) that she had a great first day of school!