Busy week and a big day

Man, has this been a busy week! Preparing for my mom to fly out from Maine, my son's yearly IEP meeting, grading like a maniac, working on pages for upcoming articles and blog posts...whew! Thank goodness for four-day weekends. I can now get caught up.

First, you should head over to Sketch Support to check out this week's page. Here it is:



The details of how I did the heart as well as the original sketch are on Sketch Support.

And the big day? Well, 7 years ago this guy was born:


He is such a funny guy. He could barely sleep last night in excitement for today, then he woke up super early this morning. He asked me, "What's special about being 7?" I told him 7 is a magical number, there are 7 days in the week, and it means he's in first grade. Then I asked him what he thought was special about it, and he said, "The other numbers are scared of it." I asked him why and he said, "Because 7-8-9." (Say it out loud.) What a card.

This past year has been up and down, not uncommon for first graders but complicated due to his autism. I dreaded the IEP, but it was a positive experience, focusing very much on problem solving, rather than what he can't do. That warmed my heart. His biggest challenge is developing flexibility in routines and the ability to take other perspectives.

About a week ago, I was sharing with a teacher colleague at the high school some of my anxieties about his challenging year. She is a communication teacher who works with students with autism, and her words reassured me. She drew a series of circle in the air with her finger that moved gradually upward and said, "This is how kids with autism progress. It's not a straight line." Her words reassured me and inspired this page:




I used the Studio Calico January kit Who's Who for this page. The journaling is basic: Two steps forward and one step back is still Progress. I debated journaling more extensively, detailing what's happened this year, but I didn't want to right now. Today I wanted to focus on his progress, so there it is.

Happy Birthday, Dominic.