A Sad Day at CID!

Because of Parent Teacher conferences a few weeks ago, my school had Friday, Feb. 12th off - which happened to be Luke's last day at CID...our home away from home for the past three years (and three years with Jack too!) I was SO excited that I could be the one to share his last day at CID with him! :)

While I was there I figured I would take some pics of what Dan saw every Wednesday and what Nana saw every Friday for the past year! Here is the observation room to Luke's class!And here is what his classroom looks like - well, at least what all observers would see!!!
It was also fitting that his best buddy, Ella, was the only other child there that day!!! CID themes EVERYTHING they do and this week's theme was cleaning! They LOVED playing in rice only to clean it up with the vacuum! Who knew Luke would enjoy cleaning so much...but look at his smile!
Since it was Luke's birthday the next day, we brought cupcakes to share! Look how Luke and Ella are out of their seats checking out the cupcakes! Too cute!
I couldn't only bring cupcakes for the class though! Instead, I brought a Peggy Brown cake for the entire staff with this sentiment...
I found out while I was there that the majority of the teachers there were competing in a Biggest Loser type competition - whoops on the cake! However, it was too funny when I received an e-mail from Luke's teacher, Ms. Natalie that said that the majority of the sheet cake was gone by lunch!!!

Here are Luke, Ella and their teachers singing their "goodbye" song...for Luke it was his last time! :(
One final shot...me with Luke, Ms. Natalie and Ms. Amy! So LONG, CID, we'll miss you!!!
One thing that I am super excited about though is that Ms. Natalie and I have e-mailed each other a few times already! I have no doubt that our closeness to CID will continue long into the future!!!

Saying SO LONG to Sarah!

We have been very fortunate to have such amazing support throughout our "journey" with Luke and his deafness! One amazing woman is Sarah, a Deaf/Hard of Hearing teacher from Illinois School for the Deaf! She has been with Luke since he was just about a month old - either visiting our home or daycare for weekly visits!

It worked out beautifully that right after Luke and I returned from visiting his new school (see post below), we were meeting with Sarah for our very last visit!!! Luke ALWAYS asks for Sarah and I know that ALL the children in daycare LOVE when she would come to work with Luke...even the daycare teachers said they were going to miss her!!!

I don't think I have ever really taken any pictures of the two in action, as Sarah had just become a fixture in our lives. I guess now that I wish I would have! Check out the love in Luke's eyes as he is looking up at Sarah while they were playing their game!
As a parting gift, Ms. Sarah gave Luke some FUN gifts!!! Thankfully he posed for a quick pic before he dug into the bag!
After Luke gave Sarah her gift, it was time to say "goodbye!" Thankfully Sarah quickly flew out the door and I closed it before the tears were a streamin!

Ms. Sarah - thanks for ALL that you have done for Luke and our entire family!!! We LOVE you!!!

Luke's NEW School!

Again, playing catch up! Good thing I had some time today without the boys - except for Dan who is home sick - since I just got back from Jack's Young Author's ceremony (info to come on that in a few posts!!!)

Okay, so Luke turned three on February 13th and with that birthday came the end of his days at Central Institute for the Deaf! But, when one door closes another door opens - in this case it was to Scott Elementary School! In order to get Luke used to going to the "big school" by himself, I took him there to meet his new teachers and see his new classroom!

Here is the BIG SCHOOL!
In typical Morra boy fashion, Luke was a tad bit nervous at first!!! Check out this pic!!!
But once the scissors and glue were pulled out for the students to make a Valentine's Day card, he quickly opened up!!!!
Look how happy he is with his card that he made for DADDY...what the heck?
Then it was time for snack and he was in full swing!!! I knew he would be ready for school!!!
When we got home we made a language book that he could take with him - pictures of the bus, the classroom, and all the teachers he would meet!

UPDATE: The first day getting onto the bus was a bit rough. His daycare teacher, Ms. Laycee even called me - crying - telling me that she had put him on the bus and that he screamed out to her, "Don't leave me, Laycee!" He did survive though and absolutely LOVES it!!! In fact, tomorrow he gets to go on a field trip with Nana and his class!