Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Being Broke and Loving It
I'm always so worried about money, thinking "I should go back to work now. I should look for a job. But is it worth it to have to pay for child care? How will I make it without the boys' disability benefits? " Worry, worry, worry. Yesterday, after running errands all day, Spencer and I got Alex off the bus and went to the park. Playing with my boys outside in the fresh air, watching them climb and run, hearing their laughter, I thought "Being able to do this is worth being broke." I'm going to hang on for as long as I can and enjoy every minute of it!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Alex's Communication
Last night my sister walked outside with Alex in her arms and he said "I see the car," with absolutely no prompting. Today I handed him a book, "Peekaboo Zoo," and upon seeing the animals on the front cover he said "Zebra!".
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Alex and Spencer Update
Alex started school on February 11th. He loves it! He gets so excited when we pull into the parking lot in the morning and wants to run down the hallway to his classroom when we get inside. His class has eleven children. Five of them are universal pre-K students, the other six are special needs students. There's only one other child who is under the age of four. In addition to the teacher there are four full-time aides and one "lunch aide" (who is actually there for four hours). I'm very pleased the with adult-to-student ratio. In the afternoon it gets even better, because some of the children are only there for half the day. Alex gets plenty of one-on-one time. He sees his physical and occupational therapists twice a week. Right now the center is short on speech pathologists, so he doesn't have individual speech therapy sessions, but it's a language intensive program and I'm not worried.
In the few weeks that Alex has been there I have noticed that he pays a lot more attention to people coming and going, saying "hi" and "goodbye" more readily than in the past. He is also eating much better with a utensil. He is pointing to and labeling pictures in books. I've discovered that he thinks of himself as "Ally," not Alex; it's how he always refers to himself. Alex comes home in the evening very tired and usually doesn't want to interact directly with Spencer and me much, but he is still full of hugs and kisses for both of us. He shows that he misses us in his own, loving way.
Spencer is busy learning all kinds of new and fun things. His newest passion is puzzles. He is working on 12 piece jigsaw puzzles and actually doing quite well. He will focus on a puzzle for nearly half an hour without getting distracted or frustrated. I'm really amazed. Spencer continues to lag behind in his speech and language and is now receiving speech therapy twice a week. He continues to receive physical therapy once a week. He still runs like a much younger child and doesn't jump with two feet in the air (a 24 month skill). In all other respects he is pretty much caught up to his peers. At his appointment with the developmental pediatrician two weeks ago the doctor was amazed at the progress Spencer has made since his last visit six months ago. He no longer has to visit her unless a concern comes up.
Spencer gets to go to a preschool setting three times a week for four hours. I help out my sister with childcare and in return he gets to be with his peers in a creative learning environment. It is good for him; even his speech therapist has commented on how it's helped his language. He and Alex are about the same size now. Spencer has had a voracious appetite ever since he recovered from his Christmas stomach virus. Judging by the size of his belly I expect a good growth spurt this spring.
Just 29 days until Alex and Spencer's third birthday. My how the time has flown! They're not babies anymore, they're not even toddlers. My boys are pre-schoolers!
In the few weeks that Alex has been there I have noticed that he pays a lot more attention to people coming and going, saying "hi" and "goodbye" more readily than in the past. He is also eating much better with a utensil. He is pointing to and labeling pictures in books. I've discovered that he thinks of himself as "Ally," not Alex; it's how he always refers to himself. Alex comes home in the evening very tired and usually doesn't want to interact directly with Spencer and me much, but he is still full of hugs and kisses for both of us. He shows that he misses us in his own, loving way.
Spencer is busy learning all kinds of new and fun things. His newest passion is puzzles. He is working on 12 piece jigsaw puzzles and actually doing quite well. He will focus on a puzzle for nearly half an hour without getting distracted or frustrated. I'm really amazed. Spencer continues to lag behind in his speech and language and is now receiving speech therapy twice a week. He continues to receive physical therapy once a week. He still runs like a much younger child and doesn't jump with two feet in the air (a 24 month skill). In all other respects he is pretty much caught up to his peers. At his appointment with the developmental pediatrician two weeks ago the doctor was amazed at the progress Spencer has made since his last visit six months ago. He no longer has to visit her unless a concern comes up.
Spencer gets to go to a preschool setting three times a week for four hours. I help out my sister with childcare and in return he gets to be with his peers in a creative learning environment. It is good for him; even his speech therapist has commented on how it's helped his language. He and Alex are about the same size now. Spencer has had a voracious appetite ever since he recovered from his Christmas stomach virus. Judging by the size of his belly I expect a good growth spurt this spring.
Just 29 days until Alex and Spencer's third birthday. My how the time has flown! They're not babies anymore, they're not even toddlers. My boys are pre-schoolers!
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