I guess you can say I have taken a summer break from the ole blog. Recently it has been more a case of writers block/being lazy. In fact, I started this post two week ago and am just now getting back to it. However, there has been some exciting things to take place since the last entry.
One huge bit of news is that Samuel has finally started ABA Therapy. He began in early August and the therapist comes three days a week to our house for two hours at a time. The therapist has quickly developed a rapport with him. I've only had the opportunity to be present once during a session, but it was evident that Samuel seemed to be doing well with it. April has been to all of them and she says that it is coming along good. Samuel has to work pretty hard during these two hours and I think he gets tired at times, but he seems to be making progress. There have a been a few tantrums that he has thrown during the sessions, but he consistently overcomes them fairly quickly and gets back to it. We are looking forward to seeing the impact that it will make on him!
Anyone that regularly attends the 11:00 am service at First Christian knows that Samuel is captivated with the Sound Room. He loves staring at the dozens of buttons/knobs that are on the sound board. Each Sunday without failure he enters the sanctuary and runs straight to the Sound Room. I'm terrified that he is going to start playing with a bunch of buttons that will mess up the sound/video for the entire service. However, mostly he just likes to sit down and stare at them. Ken, Cindy, and Bailey are incredibly patient with him. Some weeks after he sits there a few minutes, he will tell the room "bye" and move on to sit down in the pew. Other weeks are not so smooth. We've had a couple of times that he has had to be taken outside the building to calm down. One time I took him to the car and had to let him sit for 20 minutes before he finally calmed down enough so we could go back in for the service. Last week, we decided to attend the 8:30 service (which meant going to Church before Sunday School) and it threw him all off. He did not like the idea of walking into the sanctuary first, so April ended-up taking him to the Sunday School room and having to miss the service. As parents, we have to remind ourselves that sometimes we can't just do things on the fly with Samuel. He has his routine and it is probably going to be difficult when that is broken.
We are very excited that Samuel will be going to Richlands Primary for Pre-K this year. This is the same school that Cameron attends and it's less than two miles from our house. Today, he visited his classroom and met his teachers/classmates. His teacher assistant is the same one he had last year and his teacher is someone that also transferred from his old school who already knew him. They had it set-up where we visited the classroom first, then the parents went to the Media Center to complete a parent orientation while the children remained with the teachers in the class. April and I were nervous that Samuel would not like us leaving him. However, when we came back to the classroom over an hour later, he was playing and perfectly content. The teacher said he was good the whole time and didn't seem to mind us not being there. His first day of class is September 6 and he will attend five half days a week. We are hopeful that he will adjust well to the new environment and show great progress the upcoming year.
Thank you for taking time to read. We greatly appreciate all the kind words and assistance we receive on a daily basis! God has richly blessed us in may ways!
Till Next Time,
Brian
