Henry's teacher e-mailed me back that same afternoon. She said I should feel free to contact her anytime, and explained that they'll also be sending home this form to report on Henry's day:

It looked like she circled the faces on this one, but subsequent forms have been self-evaluations by Henry, and all has been smiley faces.

She also said Henry is a joy to have in class. Well, duh. You can save all that teacher-y sunshine-y stuff for another mom, Miss C. Has he pinched anybody yet? I guess, on that front, no news will just be good news.

Friday evening Henry actually said "I'm going to miss my school. I'm going to miss my teachers." (!!!) I'm not going to put too much stock into that, as I think he was just plugging something in to his "I'm going to miss..." repetition. But it was still nice to hear.
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Thomas has been quite into coloring lately. For the past month or so he colors in the morning, colors in the evening, brings coloring books in the car... It's nice to see our huge collection of coloring books actually getting colored in. (Henry just likes to look at them.) I worry slightly when Tommy cries about something not being quite right- like he colored outside the lines, but he doesn't seem to be overly compulsive about it most of the time.

The other day he picked up something that Henry had made in school last year and said "why does Henry color so messy? Oh, I know, it's because he's autistic."

I did a double-take, but then said, "well, that's true. He's not as good at some things as you are. Some things, like coloring, are just harder for him, and that's because he's autistic." Well that was easier than I thought. Now Henry's younger brother understands his disability.

I know it's not really that simple, but then again, it is. To Tommy, Henry is Henry and Henry is also "autism", so Tommy knows about autism. I hope he will someday understand the kid next to him just a little bit better, like our friend Brian does. (Brian's mom's blog is private, so I can't link to it.)

This week Tommy started fall soccer, and also goes back to preschool. He is now one of the bigger kids in both settings, and although he was worried, as always, about being shy, he really wasn't shy at all. He's growing up.
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And just when I think I might be getting a grip on things, I'm really not. Henry had his 9-year checkup yesterday, and daddy took him. (Henry's doing fine. 15th percentile as always :-) Then today I realized I needed to get Thomas' medical form signed before he starts preschool. Oh, how dumb am I? I should have sent it along with them yesterday.

I faxed it over, only to have the doctor's office call and tell me that Thomas' last checkup was in February of '07. His 3-year checkup. I never took him for a 4-year checkup. Hello, youngest child, welcome to neglect.

So I need to hurry up and get him in for a checkup tomorrow so that he can go to preschool. 2 well-child visits to the doctor's office in one week. Not the most efficient way to operate, but it's all we've got.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.