This week we have been saying goodbye to each of Connor's Early Intervention Therapists. Connor turns 3 on Sunday which means that Early Intervention Services end and he starts preschool on Monday! We have completed the stressful process of writing his IEP and he is all ready to go on Monday. I cannot believe my little baby is turning 3 and truly is a big boy!
I am not really sure how I feel about his Early Support Services ending, but I can tell you that I am very thankful to each member of his team up until this point. They have all been very helpful for the time that they were here. His PT has been coming since Connor was about 6 months old. So for the last 2 1/2 years she has come every single week to work with Connor on gross motor skills. She has been so supportive along the way encouraging Connor to move onto the next skill as well as giving Jeff and I guidance for things that may come up in Connor's education and life in general along the way. We are truly going to miss seeing his PT each week.
On one hand it will be nice to not always have to try to rush around and clean the house in the morning because someone is coming in, but honestly I may miss the company! For the past year we have had PT once a week, ST once a week, Education once a week, and OT twice a month. In addition to that, we have had a vision therapist once a month since Connor was 4 months old as well as feeding therapist and nutritionist every 2 months for the past few years. It felt like someone was always here!
We said goodbye to his OT on Monday. Connor has always loved it when she comes because she works on self feeding skills so he is able to have a snack =) For his last visit, she brought him munchkins and he was very excited by this. He has only tried a munchkin once before and at the time was not too interested. Well he has developed a huge sweet tooth over the past year or so and munchkins were certainly a special treat. He enjoyed 3 yummy jelly munchkins before saying goodbye to his OT.
Today we said goodbye to his PT this morning and then his Educator and Vision Therapist this afternoon. He gave every one of them a big hug and kiss and waved goodbye as they walked out the door. I think he is sad to see them leave, but happy to be moving on to the next stage in his life and start preschool next week!
This has been a very natural part of his life since he was born. Connor's Early Intervention started when he was just 6 weeks old so he does not know life any other way. They have all become part of the family. It will certainly be a big adjustment! It was very nice reminiscing today over how far Connor has come over the past 3 years. We talked about his helmet which I had forgotten all about. It seemed like such a big deal at the time, but now I never even think about it. We talked about all of his surgeries and how he was such a champ at recovery. We discussed how much progress he has made in every aspect, but especially in gross motor. He worked so hard at each milestone, from rolling over to sitting, his adorable army crawl to finally crawling on hands and knees and then standing and now finally walking. They have gone through each of these steps with Connor and I and it is sad to be saying goodbye! We remembered the days when he would throw everything including toys when he was done playing but did not know how to tell us yet and his glasses. He is now much better at communicating that he is all done with a task and he finally wears his glasses somewhat consistently at least when playing!
Friday is our very last visit with his speech therapist and then we are all done and it is time to move on to school! I really cannot believe my little guy who has gone through so much in his short life is going off to preschool. He will be going for 4 mornings a week, but I really am going to miss him!
Thank you so much to his entire Early Intervention Support Team. We love all of you and thank you for your support!!
Connor and his PT
