Friday, March 25, 2011

Julian



And Julian's pic didn't make it in the long post so he gets one of his very own. He really is such a sweet little guy, very mellow. I had to do an emergency home visit Wed morning, I had no choice but to drop him off with a sitter that he doesn't know at all and dash. I came back 2 hours later to him refusing to leave her side and crying when I picked him up to leave. I think he would go home with the mail man if I let him! He just loves everyone, and tagging along with his siblings. Still no talking after 4 months of speech therapy, he can say mama and sign more, other then that he has various noises he makes when he really wants something, and he has gotten excellent at making all sorts of expressions to get his point across. I was getting worried that when his IEP expired in early June, that he wouldn't qualify for speech therapy anymore, but at this rate, he isn't close to meeting a single goal so the chance of that happening is rapidly disappearing. He is able to understand more and more of what we say, he can follow simple instructions now, nod no, but he just does not verbally communicate often. He is fairly quiet and rarely even babbles, I guess it remains to be seen if this is just him, his low muscle tone affecting his speech this much, a combo of both, or something else.

March



So this is what happens with 3 children. You start going through pics of the last several months and realize that some how one child got the short end of the stick. This is the only picture I could find of Gabrielle, oops. She has preferred to be on the other side of the camera and I could show probably 200 pictures that she has taken with the camera! She actually started going to preschool again here and there. At Madeline's school in the amazing little preschool room they have where they grind their own grain for snacks. Heck, I want to go there! It's my kind of place where the kids run around bare foot and explore up the hillside and out of sight at times. My goal for now is just to keep it low key, end this school year on a good note so that when next August rolls around, Gabrielle has a new sibling, and school starts back up that she will have pleasant memories of previously attending. Mostly since I do need childcare on days I work and finding a sitter is hard enough now, forget if I had 3 small children for them to watch.



I love this picture. And I also see that Madeline and Julian will have the same body type.




Still loving snowboarding. This was her 1st place prize for a race, 2nd place came in at double her time... She discovered the terrain park late this season and is learning how to jump and ride the rails. She came home last weekend after having flown by and passed ski patrol on a sleep slope, sounds about right, there are not too many adults that can keep up with her now. I certainly couldn't anymore. Next year I guess it is snowboarding team time, more then likely at Telluride which will require quite the commitment. Telluride has the extreme backcountry runs that Ryan prefers and the closer option doesn't.




Yep! New as of this week, she can really read! Madeline has been reading for a few months but at the see spot run level. She reads with her therapist but rarely has chosen to at home. I've never pushed but rather left easy reader books lying around, sometimes she will ask to read to me, but not often. I guess the unschooler inside of me isn't completely dead because I've just waited, wanting her to do it on her own. She discovered this fairy book series a couple months ago, they are not easy reader, but rather advanced. I've been reading them to her here and there but back to the 3 children thing, there isn't always enough time to read as much as she'd like. We did our weekly trip to the library on Tuesday and she found one of the fairy books there. And this is what she did with it! I cried. It has been 2 long years working towards this, 4-5 hours of language therapy a week. She read 20 pages that night and has read every chance she has got since. For the first and last time tonight, I pulled into the driveway only to turn around and drive the 45 minutes round trip back to school because she left her book in the desk. I couldn't bear to left her go all weekend without it when she is so excited about reading.




Halfway through all ready, And yes there is only one in there, I can't count how many times I've been asked that. It is going to be a long summer I think, if I am already this big and waddling around in March.