First week

First full week ahead for Reuben as a first grader. He couldn't resist using his sign again.

I hear from Kristina who joined him in class that he befriended a group of girls in his class who helped encourage him to drink his formula, then bonding with him over the Berenstein Bears. The girls help him drink and in return he reads to them. Nice idea.

He also took great pleasure in telling his classmates about his new H&M footwear.

His favourite part of the day he tells me was Maths, yet he'll now be referring to it as "Math". That's a hole grammatically discussion, but where do you stand?

At home, we worked on Spanish from a book that just arrived from Amazon today and added tasks completed to the new chore chart. The promise of a magnetic token appears to be motivating for both of them.

In other news, Callum Black Knight costume arrived but would routinely fit an 8 year old. Let's try that again...

Let me take a brief moment to just remember how much Reuben has endured to get to this stage. It wouldn't have been expected that he could not only start school in an age-appropriate grade, but keep up with what was asked of him and follow at an age appropriate level. No, I didn't ever wish to adjust the expectations based on what he's been through, on his diagnosis and disabilities, those expectations always remained high fuelled by his own desire to learn, but a total of a year spent in the ICU would take its toll on anyone. I just marvel at what a sweet and lovely boy he is, how utterly giving and patient, how great an observer as a means to learn, how desiring he is to make others happy. I can only echo what I've always felt, that something quite extraordinary goes on in Reuben's mind and I don't envisage that time and the onset of privacy will ever yield its answers.

And here's Reuben's reading aged 4 and 9 months from nearly 2 years ago.
Reuben reads.