Back to school has already come!

Wow, how did that happen?  Where did summer go?  Seriously, where did it go?

Things wrapped up well.  K completed Fast ForWord and the initial word from his evaluation with the Speech and Hearing Center is that he is still presenting with deficits but he has improved overall.  That is always a relief when you invest a lot of time and money into a program.  He goes for his language re-evaluation in about 10 days.

The FM transmitter has officially been purchased and is being used in the classroom.  There is another boy in K's class who has APD who does not have the transmitter so I encouraged the teacher to seat them together.  I had a fantastic meeting with the Dean of Students and K's teacher before school started.  She is new to the school but has been teaching for a while.  She has a great attitude, asked great questions and has even used an FM transmitter in her classrooms previously.  All good news!

We have met with a Child Psychologist a few times to work on family dynamics, discipline, and tantrums post APD diagnosis.  We have been struggling to figure out where to draw the line, where to cut slack, what are reasonable expectations, etc.  She has recommended a couple of books that we have found interesting...Quirky Kids by Peri Klass and Explosive Child by Ross Greene.  Like all such books not 100% applicable but enough nuggets and ideas to help us along the path as a family.

T started 2 day a week preschool last week.  I thought he would cry and make a scene at drop-off like he does at nursery when we go to church.  For some reason he did great!  Don't interpret that as complaint ;-)  We are relieved and excited.  He has also started potty training which is mind boggling for us considering K didn't really show any progress in that until after 3 1/2.  Another one of those moments where we realize how many signs we missed when K was younger.

I'm busy with work but that is par for the course.  Great projects, great work, just busy.

It is hard to not make comparisons

So, K and T are 4 years and 2 days apart age-wise.  I've talked a lot about K and his challenges.  We didn't really get started on figuring all of it out until he was 4 which was when we moved him from a daycare to the parochial pre-school.  What a journey it has been since.

T is a blossoming 2 year old.  He is learning and developing and essentially bursting at the seams.  It makes me realize what we missed with K.  I cannot go back and change the past but given early intervention is the key, it does make me want to bang my head against the wall quite a bit.

T is delayed in teething but seemingly not so on anything else.  He can count to 12, he can count down from 10 (to blastoff), he can recognize about 10 letters, he easily recognize shapes in the world (as opposed to identifying on a shape puzzle).  His words are exploding, his reasoning is impressive, and to top it off his physical capabilities are rapidly approaching K's.

M and I work hard to give the boys their individual time to allow each of them to shine in the way that is most relevant to them.  It is hard but appreciated.  K shines so much when we spend the one-on-one time and he isn't competing.  You can tell that he can tell that he is different than T.  It breaks my heart but it is only the first of many times that he will learn this and have to cope.  So, we work on developing his confidence and skills.

I worry about what is to come.  Kids are cruel.  I worry about accomodations at school causing him to be picked on by peers.  Hopefully his extrovert nature will help overcome that.  We will cross the bridge when we come to it.  He was pretty down by the end of the school year 'I can't know how to do that' was creeping back into his lexicon.  It breaks a mother's heart but at the same time strengthens the resolve to provide tools.

He is thriving in camp right now.  He came home beaming about the fish he caught today.  He is red faced and absolutely exhausted by the end of the day.  Saturday he took a 2 hour nap for the first time in ages.  Our hope is to restore his confidence over the summer with fun activities that help push his core muscles and gross motor not to mention help with APD by forcing bilateral involvement.  Fast ForWord should help establish more solid footing before school starts on a more academic level.

On another note, a colleague lost her son far too early.  It has made me hug and hold my boys even more closely.  Please keep the family of Henry Louis Granju in your thoughts and prayers.   You can read more on his mother's blog  http://mamapundit.com/    Some of the reason I fear how cruel kids are is that I could see K wanting to fit in and falling in with the wrong crowd.

My initial consult with the Child Psych regarding K is in late June.  Stay tuned.

Happy Birthday Baby!

I am playing catch up on my baby’s birthday. How is he two? Seriously, how did THAT happen? He was just an 8 pound, 8 ounce baby who looked so scrawny to us (K was 9 pounds, 13 ounces). Really, it was just yesterday. Or not. Sigh.

So, the baby days are officially over. I can no longer deny it. Thomas has turned 2 and Kevin has turned 6. It is amazing to think that I have a school boy and toddler verging on little boy. I don’t shed tears but yet there is a certain coming to terms that has to happen. I’m not one of those people who just melts at the sight of an infant but yet there is something, regardless of how finished you are with the phase, that you have to deal with emotionally.

Kevin’s OT is trying to raise money for intensive therapy for her daughter. I’m passing on much of our hand-me-downs and baby gear to her in preparation for a large garage sale she is having.If you would like to know more, please visit http://www.sendclaire.com/ to get the details. The nickel tour is that her daughter had a stroke around the time of birth and the therapy they want to pursue isn’t covered by insurance and will cost more than $30k in less than a year. It is cathartic having our baby stuff become useful again. It helps the transition.

We had a couple of friends over to celebrate with T. He had a good time with a friend’s little boy A. They played quite well together. Thomas is a big two year old and he towered over A, who turned 2 in October, but thankfully T didn’t intimidate him.

Happy, belated, birthday little man. I love you SO much and am so glad you came into our lives. I look forward to every day that I get to spend with you, just as I do with your big brother.

Finally succumbed to starting a blog

So, I got an e-mail today, in my slowly dying yahoo inbox, saying the website we have used to capture the boys early years is shutting down this year. What to do? What to do?

Yep, the answer I came up with was to go ahead and do it. I've been dragging my feet for quite a while. Should I? Shouldn't I?

Well, I did and here we are.

Welcome to my first foray into blogging. The name is somewhat self explanatory ;-) I am the Yankee and my husband of 7 years, M, and two little boys, K and T, are the three Southern Gentlemen (most of the time). Both boys have birthdays later this month when they will turn 6 and 2 respectively. We live in East Tennessee and love it.