Lots of Firsts for Bradon

The past couple of months have brought a lot of change to our little Bradon's life.  His older brothers started school at the end of July, but Bradon's preschool runs on D track and so he didn't start until the end of August.  This is him on his first day of school.  He wasn't the least bit excited even though he had already been over to the school to meet his teacher, the aides and the speech therapist who are all very nice.  I could barely coax a smile out of my normally smiley little boy.

 I drove him to school the first couple of days because we were having issues getting the bus scheduled to pick him up.  He clung to me desperately at the school at drop off time, but once he held his teacher's hand he walked calmly into the school.  They said he did great.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

That same week I had (insanely) scheduled Bradon to have his first dental exam.  We found a really nifty pediatric dental office with great reviews in South Jordan and he and Tanner were both so excited when they walked in to find this adorable little play area.

Wow, this dentist thing is not bad at all.

Unfortunately that was about the last time he smiled.  He did not want the hygienist going anywhere near his mouth, but she was super kind and patient with him.  When the dentist came in he had me hold him on my lap and them tip him backwards into the dentist's lap.  He did the examination and cleaning in this position and it worked like a charm.  Hopefully next time he'll do a little better.

The next week it was time for Bradon to start riding the bus to school.  We talked about the bus, read stories about riding a bus and I sang songs about the bus in hopes that this would translate into him being excited about riding the bus.  He was excited until a real school bus showed up outside of our house.  He would not go near the thing so I had to carry him kicking and screaming to the steps of the bus.  Once there he spread his legs wide into the door frame to try and block me from putting inside.  The bus aide came forward and took him into the bus crying all the way.  It about broke my heart to put my three year old on that bus, but with Tanner's kindergarten schedule it's practically a necessity.  When the bus driver brought him home in the afternoon she said that he only cried until they got up around the corner and then he settled down.  I'm sure he was wondering if the bus was ever going to bring him back home to the people that he knows and loves.  Thankfully it did.

The next time Bri had a great/brilliant idea for helping Bradon get on the bus.  He asked Bradon if he wanted to give his bus driver and aide a treat and Bradon really lit up at the idea.  He got on the bus without a problem and it's been smooth sailing ever since.  Some days he's not really excited about going to school, but he hasn't cried about it either.

Check out his smile as he waits for his bus.

And here's a picture of him with his kind bus driver.

Bye, bye Bradon!  We'll see you soon!

School has been going well for Bradon and I can already see some progress in his speech.  He's starting to put some words together into simple sentences and he's using some new words that I haven't heard before.  He's a tough little guy and I think he'll make a lot of progress this year.