yesterday i got to spend the whole day at preschool with my beautiful boy.  the reason i stayed this time was because the school district's Augmentative Team was having a meeting about connor to figure out the best possible ways to help him achieve his potential at school.  but, before the meeting i got to squeeze in some playtime with my sweet boy!  sensory room, here we come!!

 first i got to see him swing:)

i really want one of these hanging from our living room ceiling.....would be nice, don't you think??  they brought the feeder chair in to put on the swing so he could swing all by himself. (the backpack is his feeding pump, he's hooked up to it all day, so it swings when he does:)

yay for swinging!  i don't even have to teach him to pump his legs because they're always pumping anyway. :)

next i took him over the the corner where the fiber optic lights are.......i think he absolutely loves these.  he just looks and looks at them, and will reach out to try and touch them too.

 these are the coolest things ever, they keep changing color.

 might i add that everything in the sensory room is under a blacklight effect, and the lights are off so it's completely dark, except for the different lights and other glowing things. 

it's awesome :)

 connor gets very relaxed in this corner, partly because of the lights and because of that giant beanbag he's laying on.  it's different than most beanbags.  it's firmer and the cover is made out of i want to say like a leather material.  

he loves it. 

next up.........BALL PIT!!   

connor loves the ball pit. (me too!)

 there's something about the feeling of being submerged and surrounded that is very comforting and relaxing.

 relaxing enough to take a little snooze...

he can't escape my kisses, even in the ball pit <3

 mommy wishes we could've stayed in there all day.

but our time was soon up, time for other kids to play.

i absolutely love that sensory room and think it's so wonderful for the kids at school.  it's amazing to see the effects it can have on some of the kids.  i know connor loves it.  

the next part of the day was our meeting with the Augmentative Team.....i was excited for this meeting, excited to see what others had to say about my little boy and anxious to see how they could possibly help him.

the meeting went well.  it lasted for over an hour and we were able to come up with some new and exciting ideas that will hopefully help connor reach his potential.  one thing that was said several times during that meeting was how smart my son is!  i know it's not the most important thing, and as i told them, i'm not concerned about him getting into Harvard or anything, but it is really awesome to hear that they see something in my child that i have seen all along.  he really is such a smart, hardworking boy and i am so proud of him.  he may learn and express his knowledge differently than other children, but he is learning and he does know things.  a lot of things. 

there are lots of new things and ideas and technology that we are going to try out.  there are new switches and communicative devices that they are just introducing to him.  we are going to try some new computer programs that can be used with these devices.  they are going to try out some high tech eye gazing systems to see if he can possibly use his eye gaze to control the computer screen.  he will have to be able to hold his head still and just move his eyes in order for this to work, but it might be possible with the right stability.  we'll see, but all these possibilities and ideas are very exciting to think about.  i want my son to be able to express as much as he can, i know he has so much going on that sweet little head of his, and it would be so neat to be able to help him get some of that out.  and if none of this works, i'm okay with that too.  i just love him.  so much.  

i need to say that i'm so incredibly grateful for connor's teachers and therapists and nurses and helpers and everyone that works with him at school.  we have been so blessed to be able to have the best people possible working with my sweet boy.  they truly care about him, and you can tell.  they truly see something in him and want to bring it out.  they take time out of their day to brainstorm and think and worry about finding things to help him.  i have so much love for them all, and am so thankful for the way they treat my son.  it's going to be so hard when he has to move on to kindergarten next year.  i might just want to keep him in preschool indefinitely.....we love preschool!!