March Madness...

Mr. Sam O'Sheidy - St. Patrick's Day
Waiting patiently...

Sensory Room Fun

Sam & Gabby with Mrs. Costello - Pre School Teacher at River Street

This month has turned out to be kind of crazy in the Sheidy house. There is so much going on and so little time to accomplish everything on our "to do" list. While we are busy with small home projects and trying to get the camper ready to leave for RI on April 10th, there is still the daily same ol' stuff. I often feel like I'm a recorder being played and rewound and played again constantly. On top of it all, we are preparing for Sam's informal PPT that will be held on May 7th. As I had mentioned in previous posts, this is the meeting that we sit down with the Town of Tolland and Sam's school and decide if he will stay at River Street or transfer to district here in Tolland at the elementary school. If you know Sam, then you know he's not ready to leave River Street. I'm hoping that after the PPT in May, that the end result will be a victory for Sam. Bring it on!! I'm so ready to take on Tolland!!

Sam had his monthly review yesterday. Unfortunately, the little man was a little off...kind of distracted and not focused. I was pleased however, to see Sam working so hard on pronouncing some of the tough syllables that have been giving him so much trouble, such as the letter M. After many attempts of saying "Moo" and "Gum", he had some great success with getting those cute little lips closed enough to do it. He's also now drawing a square and a circle with prompting, and identifying new letters such as Q, F, V & D. He continues to learn how to count objects and is doing better with tracing his name. Sam's teacher informed me that he is spending more time with the "typical" peers at school. He's involved with their circle time, snack time and recess and he absolutely loves it. He actually even has a best friend there and his name is Chris who is also on the Autism Spectrum, but spends most of the time with typical peers. He talks about Chris all the time! We were excited to run into Sam's former Birth to 3 teacher Patty, while at Sam's review. Patty began working with Sam from the age of 15 months right up until he turned 3. She was there to help get us through some of the toughest times, especially when Sam was diagnosed. She was thrilled to see all the progress Sam has made over the past 2 years at River Street.

We've enjoyed some fun visits from our very close friends the Baker's and Sam loves them! He's always asking for Don, Kathy & Krissy. We are so fortunate to have reconnected with them after having lost touch for too long. We aren't having any problem making new memories, especially with our Wii bowling tournaments!

We had a great visit to Maine to visit Uncle Mike, Aunt Doreen, David, Rebecca and Uncle Marc a couple of weeks ago. Sam and Gabby were both great and didn't want to leave as usual. We all love going up there and we couldn't believe how much snow they still had! We even left in the midst of a snow storm. Hopefully, they will start to see some green on the ground very soon.

I've been in touch with my sister-in-law Kim and thankfully, she will be coming very soon to spend the night with Sam & Gabby so that Adam and I can get away for a whole night...Alone! Adam and I have never had a night away from the kids. We are long overdue! Thanks Kim! You don't know how much we appreciate it. Now, where should Adam and I go?????

It's so nice to see the trees budding and the birds chirping. Happy Spring to you all!!!