Rowan is Starting Preschool, Ian is snowboarding

Earlier this month, Jeff and I met with Rowan's early childhood team to discuss his placement in the early childhood special ed preschool starting in February. We decided to place him in the 3 day a week program to give him as much help with his language and communication skills as possible. He will be able to start the day after his third birthday. The week before that, we will bring Rowan to meet with his new teachers and see his new classroom. I still get anxious about him riding on a bus (well, it is really a van) without one of us there to get him on and off, but I'm slowly getting over that. Linda will walk him out and the bus assistant will get him on the bus and strapped in, and preschool is just down the road from Linda's. Rowan loves pointing out "Ian's school" as we go by each morning, so we plan to do a few drive by's of "Rowan's school" so he can recognize that building too.

Rowan will be the 7th child to join this early threes preschool this year, with a staff of four adults...the early childhood teacher, speech therapist, and 2 paras. There is also an occupational therapist that comes in to assist the kids with fine motor activities. We are excited to see how this new experience helps Rowan progress.
This will replace the once a week home visits from the early childhood teacher and speech therapist, but we plan to continue to bring him to his biweekly therapy sessions in Eden Prairie at Therapy For Me where he gets speech and fine motor help.

Ian has started his ski club trips. Today with no school he is up near Duluth at Spirit Mountain. Ian was interested in snowboarding, so he took a lesson and loved it. Thanks to his loving parents who gave him the ski club membership for Christmas, and his various grandparents who generously supplied him with all new gear, he is now officially considering himself a snowboarder. I gave him the advice to not get on any hills that he really can't handle, so hopefully he makes it through the winter without any major injuries. One requirement we gave him: he must wear a helmet. This made him happy on his last trip when he fell, hit his head, and put 2 dents in his helmet. I have a feeling he'll do great with this. I've always thought an individual sport would be best for him.

More to come on Rowan's preschool experience and Ian's snowboarding adventures...