gotta go back, back, back to school

We found out yesterday that Alden will be in a different class this year! I'm so pleased as I was not a big fan of his other teacher. He is going into the second grade but he will be in the 3-5 class. All the children we met who he will be in class with were verbal so he will actually have someone to talk to this year! His friend Joey (the only friend he ever talks about because I guess Joey is verbal as well) will also be in his class. He wasn't sure about moving across the hall at first but once he saw the new toys they had he was game. I personally thought the room was laid out in a much more aesthetically pleasing way. There was a large space in the middle of the floor instead of all sorts of shelves all over the place like his previous class.

I can see him growing a lot in this environment. Especially since I noticed that they will be using technology this year! He will get to work with an iPad in class instead of just the computer in ST and OT. He will also have his communication device that I'm going to go program at the seminar tomorrow.

We will still be having an IEP meeting at the beginning of the year (likely in October to give him a chance to settle into a new environment) and we will still be pushing for at least one inclusion class. We feel it's important that he grows up with neuro-typical peers as well.

Waking up for school tomorrow should be interesting because I keep forgetting he has to get up at 5:50 to get out to the bus on time. We haven't bothered fixing our schedule yet. Oops!

are you talkin to me?

I somehow forgot in all the Disney excitement to mention that Alden was chosen for a study! He will be using a Vantage Communication Device for a month as a trial to see how well he learns from it. The people from the center in charge of the study came by today to videotape him for the "before" and they were absolutely STUNNED at how well he did with it. I always tell people he's a computer nerd but they don't really believe me for some reason. Anyway it's a really cool touch screen device and I am going to the parent training seminar on Thursday to learn how to customize it specifically for him. I'm very pleased that he was selected and I'm even more pleased that he showed them how quickly he picks up on things related to electronics.

School starts back on Thursday and I am absolutely DREADING getting up that early to put him on the bus. We have NOT been getting back on schedule like we should be. Guess we'll have to start that tonight. I've written his teacher a note that we need an IEP ASAP because he mastered all of his short term goals relating to regular classroom speech over the summer! He is really taking off!

Disney World!

We just got in from Disney and we had an absolute BLAST! Alden was great the entire time. When we got to the resort he actually thought it was Disney World because there were 30 foot statues of all his favorite characters, two pools, an arcade, a food court, and a shop. He was SO sad when we left but once we got into the park he was excited again.

His favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear Star Command ride in Magic Kingdom. The only ride he didn't like was Dinosaurs in Animal Kingdom, and to be honest none of us liked it. All for different reasons. It hurt Tim's back, it was too loud for Alden, Josh didn't like that the guy was screaming over the already loud dinosaurs, and Lynnda & I didn't like that we were being jerked around (quite forcefully) in complete darkness.

I think my favorite ride was probably Aerosmith's Rockin Rollercoaster. Josh and I rode it on one of the nights we got to stay late in the park (for staying in a Disney Resort) and I was SO scared. I ended up loving it. I absolutely HATED Soarin' apparently I am NOT a hang-glider.

Alden only needed his headphones a handful of times. We forgot them during Fantasmic but he just covered his hands with his ears and really enjoyed the show.

He used them during the Nemo Musical which he absolutely loved. So he sat through his first musical and his first movie in a theater. He used his headphones during it too, the Muppets had crickets chirping in their movie and for some reason he is VERY sensitive to that sound lately.

I had a headache the first day from all the 3D stuff but I really enjoyed it regardless.

Josh didn't like Expedition Everest because when you go up to the top and then you go backward it jerks you really hard and it hurt his back. The photo of us from that ride was hilarious, I'm screaming with my hands in the air & he's grimacing in pain. A perfect analogy for our relationship.

Noteable things Alden enjoyed: Kali River Rapids, Star Tours, Fantasmic, Teacups. Those were the ones you could tell he was having the best time on (Besides the Toy Story rides of course).

The night of his dinner he absolutely insisted we go ride Buzz Lightyear again. So we ran to the other side of the park, rode the ride, within 5 minutes...ran back out, then had to pee and then we RAN back to the other side of the park and made it JUST in time.

He LOVED his character dinner, he jumped up and joined the Friendship Day Parade with Pooh and his friends, marching & clapping while going in a circle all over the restaurant. The dinner was seriously overpriced, but you CANNOT put a price on seeing your child participate in something like that, especially when they are not one to join in group activities! It was so adorable.

I think the longest we waited in line was maybe 5 minutes. That was for Alladin because they didn't have FastPass or disability pass. It was absolutely AMAZING. Sadly we didn't get to ride Pirates of the Carribean or Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Pirates was broken and Ariel was being updated.

That's all I can think of right now, I'm pretty brain dead from doing an 8 hour trip home today. I'm going to unwind with a glass of wine and catch up on some TV. I'll update more later if I think of anything that was particularly awesome (which it all was)!

Here's a breakdown of what we did in the parks. (more for me than for you)
Day One
Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours
Muppet Vision 3D
Met Handy Manny, Leo & Annie

Day Two
Magic Kingdom
Buzz Lightyear Star Command
Met Chip & Dale
Peter Pan's Flight
It's A Small World
The Magic Carpets of Alladin
Mad Teaparty
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Splash Mountain
The Many Adventures of Winne the Pooh

went swimming in the Fantasia pool


Hollywood Studios
Fantasmic
Aerosmith's Rockin RollerCoaster*

Day Three
Epcot
Soarin
Inoventions

Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours

Magic Kingdom
Character Dinner with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore
Buzz Lightyear Star Command
Wishes Fireworks

Day Four
Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
Kali River Rapids
Finding Nemo the Musical
Dinosaur
Triceratops Spin
Met Baloo
Everest Expedition*

Epcot
Illuminations

Disney or Bust!

So we are leaving sometime tomorrow to drive part of the way to Disney. 10 hours is a lot of sitting/driving so we decided to break it up into two days of travel. I *think* I have everything packed (except things like toothbrushes etc that we'll need tomorrow before leaving). The iPods, portable DVD player, Nintendo DSi, and our phones are all charging right now so I'll have to grab them in the morning when I pack the daily essentials.

We've been buying cheap toys here & there to lay out every morning of the trip for Alden "from Mickey & friends" to find in the hotel room. Josh is out grabbing a few more right now. **Edit make that a LOT more things. He just sent me a picture and HOLY CRAP! lol

I probably won't have a chance to update till we get back so see you all then!!!