Alex's new best friend . . . Carter the therapy dog!

Alex's teacher trains therapy dogs, and today one of them, Carter, came for a visit. Alex was scared of him at first (his normal reaction around dogs), but quickly warmed up, thanks to the expert help of his teacher and EA. Here is the note that his teacher sent with the video: "Here is the video of Alex and Carter.  I am amazed at how quickly Alex became comfortable with him.  I loved watching Alex handle the leash.  Too bad I don't have video of him walking Carter."

Apparently Alex "walked the dog" during recess by holding onto the leash. I put that in quotes because Alex came home talking about walking the dog, but in reality it sounds like the dog walked him, pulling him all over the playground! Anyway, here is the video of Alex petting the dog in the classroom:

'Thank you for your assistance': Orphanage elevators working again

Well, Alex is home sick today (actually he looks completely fine, but he was hot in the middle of the night, so he is staying home as a precaution -- loving playing video games and being waited on by Dad, lol).

But I wanted to get online and let you know that we got an e-mail from the orphanage today, thanking us for the $600, which they used to fix the elevators (!):

Дорогие Джеральд и Сьюзен!

     Спасибо огромное Вам за оказание помощи это дало нам возможность отремонтировать лифты, на которых подымают деток на колясках на второй этаж.

     Мы рады, что Саша приобрел семью, счастье и любовь в Вашей семье.

     Вышлите на e-mail Ваше семейное фото.

     С уважением Татьяна Ивановна, дети, сотрудники.

Here is the same message as translated by Google (assuming you don't read Russian!):

Dear Gerald and Susan!

Thank you very much for your assistance it gave us the opportunity to repair the elevators, which are raising kids in wheelchairs on the second floor.

We are delighted that Alex has acquired family, happiness and love in your family.

Send e-mail to your family photos.

Yours Tatiana, children, employees.

Amazing to think that $600 would help them get the elevators fixed, but wow, what an important contribution -- so much safer than going up and down all those stairs! Thank you to all who contributed to the cause. We will be continuing to look for opportunities to help them out again, and will post here when we do so.

A;ex at school

Here is some video of Alex at school...a few short clips of him at work, followed by a couple of longer, low-quality clips of him singing very enthusiastically in the school musical.