Last Day of School

 Lil G had his last day of school at the end of May.  As many of you know, Lil G has a phonological speech delay.  Because of this, he was involved in the Phonology class at his local school.  We were so blessed for him to be in the class, with his wonderful teachers.

At the end of the year, the class had a "Beach Party".  Lil G was quite excited to go and play with all of his friends and teachers.

Cereal Necklace

Lil G has been working on the final 'p' sound at school.  On Thursday, practiced looping Fruit Loops on a necklace.  He was pretty excited :-)

PreK

Today was Lil G's first day of PreK.  Most of you know that Lil G has a phonological delay of speech.  Basically, he has a crazy number of words but he doesn't always pronounce them well.  So, he is headed to a class here in town that focuses on his condition.  The awesome thing is, everyone in the class has the same issues that he has:  they are all completely normal cognitively but have some issues with pronouncing their words.

Today was very bittersweet for me.  I love spending time with my little man but I know that he has to grow up.  This is an intrical part of that process.  So, it is a necessary transition for our family.

Lil G was very excited about the first day of school..  Clearly, excited and nervous, judging by how wacky he was acting this morning.  He is generally a good listener (for a three year old) but this morning, he was having major difficulties.  But, we perservered and he was extremely excited to go to class with his teachers.  No tears or shyness around here!

Here he is showing off his new backpack for school.  He was so proud to tell EVERYONE that it had "a rocket ship and a flag".

The End of an Era

As most of you know, Lil G has some problems with his articulation of speech.  He has a tremendous vocabulary and is constantly learning new words- however, it is difficult to understand him when he talks.   This has caused a lot of frustration for the lil man and those around him.  Enter:  Speech therapy!

Lil G has been in speech therapy for quite some time now, and he is making great progress.  You can check out photos of one of his previous sessions here.

But, now that Lil G is almost three, it is time to transition him to a new part of life:  school-based therapy.  We had Lil G evaluated last week, and he (happily!) qualified for the Early Learning Program in our school district.  Next year, he is going to be in a classroom for kids that all have speech articulation (phonology) issues just like his!  He'll get therapy almost constantly for three hours, two days a week.  Until then, he'll be getting therapy two times a week from a new therapist, as he is "aging out" of services with his current speech pathologist.

This is bittersweet in our home.  It is so lovely to see the lil man growing and changing but it is sad to see his therapist, Ms. Kristin, leaving us.  Lil G has adored his time with Ms. Kristin, and he has improved dramatically.  We are so grateful for all the time and effort she has put into helping Lil G be understood by all around him. 

Lil G will be starting his new therapy services next Monday, so Wednesday was our last session with Ms. Kristin.  Lil G made her a card and got her a bag of goodies, to say "thank-you".  We are excited to embark on this new chapter in our lives but sad to say "goodbye".  We hope to still see her from time to time.

Of course, Lil G had to pose for his picture with Ms. Kristin, while sitting in his bucket.  Goofball.

Lil G LOVES therapy!

Today was the first time that Lil G had speech therapy. He did great! He really loved playing with Miss Kristin and he seemed to be improving quickly! We are so grateful that there are services out there to help our lil man learn ways to be better understood.