At last

Today was a new day for Tyler in a lot of ways. On Thursdays he is usually in the toddler room with Carter and me, as the next room up, Room 237, is for older 2 year olds and 3 year olds. Most of these kids are also mostly potty trained or in the process of potty training (which Tyler is not). The toddler room is a pretty big room and on Thursdays can have as many as 40 kids in there from 15 months of age to about 2.5-3 years old. Tyler usually has more meltdowns in this room and gets more into his sensory seeking modes. So I asked my boss if he could move up to Room 237 a little early.

Today was his first day in his new room. He did FANTASTIC!!!!! At one point I went and checked on him. It was perfect timing as the kids were sitting down and reading a story. Tyler was sitting there pointing to animals he saw in the book and talking!!! He was interacting during circle time! He had never done this before. Usually in the toddler room he doesn't even talk (on other days he is in a smaller toddler room, Room 230, and that's where he had some improvements, but that room isn't open on Thursdays).I had tears in my eyes watching him. Another staff member also told me at this time that he had been great all day. When they were playing with playdoh he was making it into giraffes and monkeys and talking up a storm. They even had planned on having another worker shadow Tyler to make sure he did ok on his first day, but she ended up switching rooms because Tyler didn't need any help at all.

When Tyler was brought to me at the end of the morning his teacher told me she saw a Tyler she had never seen before. He was talking and saying so many words she never knew that he knew. When she took him potty (he at least sits and "tries" at church) he said he was all done. She asked him if he wanted to try anymore and he said "no thank you". She was blown away. Now I know today was a little different because there was only five kids in that class today (usually there are 10-12). But I was still so excited to see how happy he was at the end of the day. That he didn't need to be calmed down once because he was too over stimulated. That, at last, the little sweet chatter box boy that I know at home is also at church.