Word Wall

This is the time when I wish I had a digital camera that worked.

Derek's teacher has a "Word Wall": a place where she posts words that the whole class knows how to read - two are added every week. (He's starting to read. Have I mentioned that this blows my mind?) Derek made his own "Word Wall" at home this weekend. It has the words "I", "am" "the" and "little." I is quite clear. Am is almost legible. But the other two are pretty much jibberish. Eh. It's fun that he's taking things home.

He's also very excited about lunch. He's playing at packing a lunch and reinacting the school routine at home. He sets his lunch out and puts his lunch box in a laundry basket. He'll pack a lunch for me and make me sit down too. He tells me to "Eat your sandwich." (Notice correct pronoun!)

Other things from school showing up at home: telling the dog to say the months of the year, pretending to hand me pennies and dimes and telling me how much they're worth, "Sit on chairs, not under tables," a new clean up song. Perhaps they sing "Allouette" at school because he's often humming the tune. He doesn't tell me directly, rather he'll reinact things or say seemingly random echolalic phrases and that's how I know something about what's happening. I need to be a bit of a detective. I'm not sure how he feels about the things he is reinacting at home. Are these things he enjoys or things that cause him anxiety?

At home, he's decided that The Blow's "Bonus Album" is his favorite CD and insists on having it playing whenever we drive somewhere. He's also displaying some new play scenarios, like his figures going to the Harley store. He's added motorcycles to his list of things he can/will draw. We stand the drawings up and there's your Harley store. He also loves going on motorcycle rides with Allen. A couple weeks ago they went to the park together on the motorcycle while I was working and when I came home Derek was very talkative and engaged.

That's all for now, but I got a list at home of blog topics, including a reaction to the book "George and Sam" and some thoughts about Derek's diagnosis on the year and a half aniversary.