The Seattle teachers strike lasted just over a week, so Lucas went back to school on Thursday, September 14. We were ready to hold out in support of the teachers if they needed it, but fortunately the district gave in on a lot of their key demands. The teachers got an important raise, and they set national precedent on issues like guaranteeing district-wide minimums for recess, detaching teacher evaluations from standardized testing, and creating school-based racial equity teams.
And… Lucas is now in full-swing first grade! Day one started off with great news — our favorite bus driver from preschool is back on our route. Even though it’s been three years since he drove Lucas to pre-school, Lucas has seen Victor over the years, and he let out a big “HellOOOO Victor!” when he saw him. Lucas also likes his teacher, though we’ve been nervous for her. She is a new teacher, so we’ve worried that she won’t be able to improvise and creatively integrate Lucas into the classroom in the way his very seasoned kindergarten teacher did. But Krista met with her last week and she was very open to our input. So we’re holding out hope that, even if things can’t be as magically wonderful as they were in kindergarten, it’ll still be a good year.
The transition to school involves a lot of work for us, though much less this year than last year (when he was starting at a new school). It’s nice to already know the staff, and that he feels so comfortable at school. 
Lucas’s team includes his teacher, his aide, the special ed teacher, and three therapists, and we’ve needed to catch all of them up on his learning over the summer.
Of course, as Lucas gets more able and interested in speaking for himself, he’s able to help. It took us a few days to get all his gear in to school, but when we finally got his dynavox communication device set up he tore into it. We weren’t there, but his OT and aide were gushing with shock and praise, having seen his glacial pace at one-fingered typing back in the spring. And on Wednesday, when Krista was in Lucas’s class for a while, his teacher asked if anyone had questions. One girl raised her hand and asked how Lucas eats. Krista asked Lucas if he wanted to tell the class what he eats, and he corrected her saying, “I want to tell her HOW I eat.” Awesome. So she turned it over to Lucas, interested to hear what he would say. “I eat through a tube,” he said matter-of-factly. That seemed to be enough for everyone, and they moved on to their daily calendar activities.
Meanwhile, Ida is doing amazing things like sitting, eating solid foods, and playing with more toys. Though she’s still a little tipsy, sitting up on her own feels like a big accomplishment given her slightly low muscle tone, and its exciting to see her continue to get stronger. She also has an amazing, somewhat guttural 
laugh that is irresistible. We can make her laugh by making funny sounds, wiggling her around to music, or tossing her up in the air.
Every day Lucas gets home from school, sees his sister sitting on the couch playing with blocks or bouncing around in her jumper, and he exclaims “Hi Ida!” She barely fits in his wheelchair with him nowadays and is often too wiggly to snuggle for long, but he’ll still let her slip in for the occasional cute photo… and then he’ll say “awww!” as soon as we get the shot, followed by “I want to see it!!”
