Roots of Empathy

I can't believe how quickly the past year has truly gone.  We were SO FORTUNATE to be a part of the Roots of Empathy program over the past school year and I always meant to post about it - and now that it's come to an end - I realize how much I've actually dropped the ball on that idea!   I loved the program so much and there were definitely a few tears the last day.  I encourage you to check out the website that I linked to as it really is an amazing idea!  Anywhos...this past Friday was Jackson's last visit at the school.  To think, last September/October he wasn't sitting up, he had his funny comb over, and he couldn't interact with them much at all.  On Friday, he sat and ate cake with them and played with balloons and passed a ball around with all his 'buddies'.  Wow.  I feel so fortunate.  I especially want to thank Mel - who was the Roots instructor and a dear friend of mine.  It would not have been the same without her by our side.  The Grade 2 class was fabulous!  We will miss them dearly - I can't wait to go back for a visit :)

 The pictures were hard to crop and take as I couldn't have any of his buddies in them!  Ah...privacy!  But, you get the idea how he now crawls around the blanket looking for play mates and how he got cheeky and laid down (sometimes even pulling the blanket over his face for a game of peek-a-boo!).  They also decorated the classroom for his birthday and I thought that was just so sweet.  Sigh...we will miss the experience tremendously!