More stuff

We had Stephen's first Parent-Teacher conference 2 weeks ago, and he is doing really well - better than we were anticipating, actually!  As expected, it is hard to determine what Stephen is actually retaining due to his expressive language delays, but he has made a ton of progress already, especially in areas that we know he is struggling with.  His coloring and drawing are really coming along, and we brainstormed some ideas to make holding the writing utensils a little easier for him, as well as how to get him to work on tracing his letters (which he will do at home, but not at school).  His social skills have progressed the most (more on that in a minute), but the biggest surprise for us has to do with math.  Stephen has been working on drawing shapes (a math skill), and can correctly identify numbers 1-100 (!!!!) with about 45% accuracy.  Stephen is one of 3 kids (out of 8) in his class that are working on 1-100 vs. 1-20.  We are EXTREMELY proud, especially considering that Stephen has previously shown very little interest in his numbers.

Now, about those social skills.  We have always worried about how Stephen is going to develop and maintain good friendships without the ability to really speak to other children.  He is learning to use the iPad program more and more at school, but we still have a long way to go with it.  Well, it appears that we don't have to worry about it.  Stephen frequently seeks out 2 specific boys and one little girl to play with at recess. He LOVES to play chase, and is very good at taking turns being the chaser and the chasee.  His teacher was surprised that Stephen doesn't play with these children outside of school since he seeks them out to play with them so frequently.  We are very excited to watch out little guy grow.

Swimming continues to go well, as you can see.  Sorry about the blur!  He was using the noodle to give him a little extra support as he came up for breaths, since that's still an occasional struggle for him, particularly when he's tired.