Natalie's First School Year Comes to an End

Natalie has finished her first year of preschool---where does the time go? Here is a look at her classroom and her absolutely adorable little friends. What a fun classroom---we can't wait to get back there in August. Until then, Natalie is attending summer school three days a week until the end of July. The school days are just a bit longer, but the school time isn't as structured as it is during the regular school year. She doesn't get as much therapy---they are just focused on maintaining her skills from the regular school year.



Natalie did lots of fun things during the school day, and I know she enjoys every minute that she is there. It's good on so many levels...good that she is learning new skills, making new friends, going to new places and having new experiences. Here she is playing with one of her "sound puzzles."

This is Natalie's aide, Tracy. We LOVE her! She is so kind and caring and takes such good care of our little girl. It takes special people to do the work they do in the classroom with these little kiddos---and Tracy is one of the best. Isn't she beautiful?? :) We will see her again in August, as she will be Natalie's aide again next year.

Natalie is becoming much more accepting of normal foods, although she still doesn't exclusively spoon feed. She has learned lots of new great skills in school this year, and now she is doing a good job of eating pudding, graham crackers and some other foods. I would love to get her away from the bottle in the next year. That would be wonderful! :)
We have a date set for Mayo Clinic--it's August 16th. Natalie will see a neurologist there, but I'm not sure who else she is scheduled to see at this point. We are anticipating a letter in the mail tomorrow to explain what is planned for her. We are really excited to meet a new neurologist who can get a fresh take on what's going on in Natalie's head. I'll have much more on that later.


Tomorrow is also a big day for Natalie---she gets to ride her favorite horse, Lucy, again! It's the hippotherapy program that she took part in last year. I'm excited to see what she thinks of it this year. We haven't seen her physical therapist, Nancy, since Natalie started school. We're looking forward to seeing her again as well. I will hopefully have pictures for you tomorrow!


This is a photo from last year: