Mei mei and Jie jie (big sister and little sister) doing things together! Showing off their summer PJ's and neat head towels just right for after bath wet hair--all handmade courtesy of their beloved Grandma Baumann.
We've certainly had a busy few weeks. Finally got the van in today for an estimated 3 week repair (all paid for by the insurance company of the other party who was at fault) and picked up our rental. First Andrew drove home a Dodge Ram extended cab truck which not only reeked of cigarette smoke, but barely fit in the garage. Yes, it did meet our criteria of space for 3 car seats, however anything extra and necessary such as a stroller would have had to be stored in the open bed in the back. Not acceptable. So, back we all went and were able to swap for a 2009 Chevrolet Traverse (I can't say I'd heard of it before). It's an SUV with 3 rows of seats, new car smell, and best of all, it fits in the garage with room to spare.
Next on the list was finishing up Sydney's year of dance with the big recital last Tuesday. She seemed to enjoy herself, although I do find myself wondering if all the time, practice, money and effort it took was worth her 1 1/2 minutes on stage! During the performance she ended up spending most of her time back stage eating snacks, watching videos, making crafts, and coloring. I wish there would have been a way for her to have seen some of the nearly 2 hour performance, because she would have LOVED it. Even Kaylee was mesmerized. Jackson could have cared less. Once his juice and snacks were done he was ready to go!
I've also been potty training BOTH Kaylee and Jackson. We had stopped for a few months, but once we got back from Cincinnati I started with Kaylee again. But once Jackson, AKA "Mr. Copycat", saw what was going on he too wanted to participate. Here's what I've learned so far after nearly 2 weeks of intensive work:
1. Kaylee is doing fantastic and we're so thankful she's able to physically have normal bladder function. She's dry most of the day with minimal accidents and even asks to go to the toilet when we're in public.
2. Jackson amazingly stays 100% dry with no accidents (and no reminders to go either) ONLY if he's completely bare from the waist down! However, as naked little boys aren't socially acceptable in public in our culture this restricts us to when we're home and people aren't visiting us! Unfortunately, the very second a covering is put on that little bottom area, be it trainer pants or diapers, something happens to his brain, and he completetly forgets/doesn't care about going to the toilet anymore.
Still, progress is being made, our diaper expenses are rapidly decreasing, and we're no longer contributing such waste to the landfill.
Sydney and I have officially begun homeschooling. I've purchased a few books, one of them being "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and we've started working our way through it. A really good introduction to daily discipline and routine for all of us. Not to mention it only takes us about 10 minutes a day which is really all the longer her attention span is.
Jackson had another speech evaluation today. The first place where he's been going since January told us back in April that he'd caught up to where he should be and he didn't need any more therapy. (What really threw up a red flag for me was when the therapist told me that because Jackson can't say "d" yet (as in "Daddy" which is one of the initial sounds for a child) it must be a physical defect and there was nothing she could do for him!). What a load of nonsense.
He's also been getting therapy 2 x/month through Early Childhood Intervention who completely disagreed with the first therapist. So to help us with these conflicting opinions we had a third therapist come to our home and do an evaluation. I don't have the official stats and reports yet, but she says she certainly feels he needs more therapy. His lips and tongue are weak, and he's starting to compensate for sounds he can't say yet by using his throat to make noise. If these bad habits aren't corrected early on it could lead to years of trying to undo them. Not to mention he's not saying some sounds that most kids his age are saying.
Oh, and to add to all this excitement, we've had several severe storms come through our area which knocked out our power. We had no electricity from 6:30 pm last night until 2:20 pm this afternoon. So not fun!
Jennifer
