School is so much fun, he's going twice!

Note: This was supposed to have posted in August, but for some reason it didn't. So I am reposting it now.

NEWS FLASH: Burrito is NOT going to Hawaii.

But his mom and dad are.

John will get to put his flexibility to the test in the next week, as mom and dad leave to play golf. Well, okay, Eric will be playing golf. Joyce said something about a spa, but, well, how boring is that?! Let's talk golf. Eric will be playing several times, including one of the Kapalua courses. He will also be testing out his new driver, and hoping that United Airlines chooses *not* to mangle his clubs, as they are wont to do.

John will be having a vacation of his own, of sorts. He starts out with Aunt Karen, his Godmother, then goes to stay with Aunt Amy and Uncle Bryant the Goofball. From there, it's back home, where Claire (one of our babysitters, who helpfully lives across the street) will housesit. Three locations in 8 days. He's in such good shape these days that we think he'll do well. We've talked this up for a while, and he seems to get it.

On to the point of this post:

For the fall, John will be going to two preschools. Currently, he attends Laurel's day care program but goes to Clearview Elementary's autism and other special needs class. He's done so well in that environment that we've decided to kick it up a notch. John will attend Laurel's "mainstream" preschool in the morning, and will go to the afternoon session at Clearview. He seems excited about this, although there is some bad news.

You remember Paul? Paul is John's twin. Although they don't look alike, they dress the same (Hey, I'm wearing a Thomas shirt too!) and act the same and do the same things. Well, the good news is that Paul will be on the same schedule as John. He will soon start going to Laurel, and will be in John's class. They get to ride the bus together to and from Clearview. Here's the bad part. We, along with Paul's parents, have decided that the twins should *not* be in the same class at Clearview. This will take some adjustment on Burrito's part, but we're optimistic that he can do it. Our feeling is that John and Paul (insert Beatles joke here) play together almost exclusively, and are not developing adequate social skills apart from just those they use with each other. So, time to force the issue.

I know in the last message I promised more frequent updates. This is not a pipe dream, though I can tell you that there won't be many updates while we're on our trip. Work for both Eric and Joyce has been, well, busy is too mild. Fear not, we won't keep on neglecting this.

I am also mindful that I have manifestly FAILED to post beach trip pics. I will do that, probably next month when I have the forthocming Hawaii pics ready. In the meantime, here are a few "action shots" of John:

A walk on the beach with Burrito is hard work. Really, it takes a lot out of a kid to work this hard.

After pushing that truck back and forth, he managed to even get wet.

Ever see Fantasy Island? Remember Tattoo, who used to start with "the plane, boss, the plane."? Well, there were lots of planes, most of which were carrying ads for local restaurants. John found them.

Finally, John didn't just run around and play at the beach. He wore himself out. Often.