Busy!

I haven’t had a chance to post much lately – we took a road trip last weekend to see some good old friends, so I didn’t get around to posting last weekend, and this week has been busy!  We’ve been fighting rounds of colds here (thank you, preschool) and enjoying getting into bed early now that it’s dark by 6!  But things are going well over all.  We had a great time in Charlotte. I lived there before I moved to DC, and I rarely get a chance to see my friends there, so it was so nice to spend time with them! 

Charlie’s drama skills are improving by the day. He’s trying to figure out what we will respond to, and seems to think crying is a sure bet. When he stubs a toe or bumps his head, he often lets out a big, dramatic, tearless “boo hoo” and waits for someone to come rushing to him. He’s figured out that mama is an easier sell than daddy, and more likely to deliver the sympathy he’s looking for (all he wants is an, Oh, poor buddy, are you okay?" and he’s back to his business). It’s pretty funny.

This week, I had Charlie’s first parent-teacher conference, to hear how he’s progressing with his goals. The conversation was primarily about his skill level, which goals he’s already come close to meeting (fine motor), which skills he still has some work on (gross motor), and which goals are still quite a ways out for him (speech). He’s going to be assessed and surely will be approved for individualized speech therapy within the classroom, so hopefully that will start shortly. And we’re having him evaluated for private speech therapy at Children’s Hospital in December. We cannot qualify for any more home therapy through the county since Charlie’s in the school system now, but we don’t feel like he’s going to get quite the attention he needs just in school, and the teacher agrees outside therapy would probably be very helpful.

The teacher talked a lot about each goal and how he’s coming along, but she hadn’t mentioned his general behavior and demeanor. He’s been testing us a lot lately, so I was a little nervous to broach the subject, but I’m glad I did!  She laughed and said, I could show you some problem kids!  But Charlie’s not one of them – he’s just a ray of sunshine every day, and we miss him on Tuesdays and Thursdays when he’s not here.  It was music to my ears to hear that he’s a good boy at  school. She said it’s not just that he’s well-behaved, but also that he’s got a great personality and keeps the teachers laughing – which I love. He’s definitely got his daddy’s sense of humor, which will probably get him in trouble at some point in the future but is also very entertaining!

I was asked if I would share Charlie’s story in the “New Moms Need” blog on the March of Dimes website, so that they could publish it during Prematurity Awareness Month.  It’s nice to think that other parents of preemies might take comfort in Charlie’s successes. Sometimes when we focus too much on what he isn’t doing yet or what we need to work on, we forget just how far he’s come. Reliving those early moments is a great reminder to me of how well he’s doing!  Here’s a link to the post: http://newsmomsneed.marchofdimes.com/?p=8468

Lastly, here’s a glimpse of my attempts to get a decent photo for this year’s Christmas card. I decided to do a mini photo shoot one evening while George was working late. It goes without saying, I’m sure, that getting a rambunctious 2 1/2 year old to sit still for a photo is NOT easy. Here are some of the funny results:

Thanks Gram for the Christmas sweater!