Glorious Fall

It has been drop dead gorgeous up North.  75 degrees and sunny.  My tomatoes are finally ripening and the apple tree is packed with Haralreds.  I have been running up on Hawk Ridge regularly, which is up behind our house.  I can leave the house and with a little three block warm up be into a trail through the woods that connects to the Superior Hiking Trial.  Eventually you will be able to get from my house to Canada on foot.  For now I just go about 3km and am very happy winding through the pines and oaks, past the raspberries and thimble berries.  On the ridge our family has seen chipmunks galore, multiple cheeky squirrels, a zillion lbb's (little brown birds), deer a-plenty, hawks, eagles, owls, and even two black bears.  It is a magic place.  Usually I run up with the dog.  It used to be our old dog, and I have named my favorite height Lucky Peak after her.  Jack has not earned a landmark yet, but that will come.  I find running clears my head, gets my blood going, and makes my days better.  I have been at it consistently for three years now and would recommend it to anyone with good joints. 

So, we are now at the end of week two of school for Alex.  It has been a long road, with many twists and turns to get here.  Today he was observed by the Autism specialist, Sheila Merzer, that the school hired for better programming for Alex.  We are going to the annual Harvest Fest tonight for North Shore Community School, so I hope to hear more about the day.  We get a communication notebook home every day, and so far it has all been good news.  Alex is happy in his class, and is fully integrated.  He has not needed to be pulled out once due to meltdown or upset.  He does have a full time aide that he shares with another boy, and I don't know yet how much assistance he has been needing.  I will be checking on that shortly.  So far it has been time to get used to the routine and slot in as much as possible.  The Autism specialist is one of the best in the business, and she will have spotted all the places where it looks like Alex is understanding, but he really isn't.  That is the tricky thing about Autism with Alex.  He learns patterns and how things work in one way, but cannot easily transfer that knowledge.  So we are always trying to vary things and figure out where the knowledge gaps are.  We are going out of state early next week, so this is the last day of school for Alex for a week.  I hope to write a bit more once I hear how things have gone this week.  Overall, from our end, he comes home happy and tired.  He sits with the same little friend on the way to school, Lussi, and plays with her at school too.  He also talks about his new friends Issac and Beourn.  Plus he has started reciting some of the school routines at home, like holding up one finger for quiet, two for stand up, and three for go quietly to the door.  Oh, the bus is here, gotta run!