Early Childhood

Today Susan (our case worker from Birth to Three) and Theresa (our case worker from the school district) came by to help ease us into transitioning to the school system. When Jeremiah turns three, he is no longer eligible for services from Birth to Three. Luckily, his birthday is the week before school starts, so he doesn't have a "summer vacation" from speech therapy.

Jeremiah will be entering Early Childhood in the fall. He'll be one of six students in a class; there is a teacher, a teacher's assistant, as well as other helpers for the children (including a speech-language pathologist and an occupational therapist) who come in for parts of days. We get to choose how often he'll attend preschool, whether we'll put him on the bus (in a car seat, with other children attending his same school who are also in car seats), and what exactly we wish for him to learn while he's at school. I'm excited for more people to love him and be involved in his life.

I will be signing Isaac up for preschool in the fall as well. I think Jeremiah will go in the morning and Isaac in the afternoon, so I can spend time with each of them individually every day. And hopefully they'll get along better spending less time together, and learning that the rules we have for their behavior towards each other are consistent with their behavior to other children.

Popsicles

Isaac and Jeremiah had a lot of Popsicles while I was in Oregon. Tonight I bought some popsicle molds to make our own. Healthier. Cheaper. Yummier...I hope.

Jeremiah takes us by the hand to the refrigerator, pulls on the fridge door, points up to the freezer, and either signs /more/ or says "pop, pop." And then he gets super excited about his popsicle when we give it to him.

He's so cute and determined we simply cannot resist. Hence the popsicle molds.

Walking with Jeremiah

I like to go on walks with Jeremiah most nights. We point and label objects. We say "Bye!" after we pass (parked) cars. We go and stop on cue. We run together, then take little steps, then big steps. It's fun.

Last night when we were walking, he stopped and said, "Ball!," pointing to...the moon.

I said, "Moon!"

He said, "Ball!"

"Moon! Moon!"

"Ball."

Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Yesterday was Tuesday.

Last night John said something like, "It's fun that today is Tuesday. Except it means that tomorrow's Wednesday." Except it sounded a whole lot stupider when he said it.

Wednesdays are the worst days for us. John's away until a little after 6, then he needs to leave by 6:30 to go to Scouts, and he doesn't get back until sometime after 9 (which is usually closer to 10). I have a hard time keeping the little ones happy and fed and civil(ish), let alone really do anything for me. John doesn't really like to be gone that long (partly because he knows it's hard on me).

So it's nice when I can divide up my day on Wednesday, have someone over or something. Today Kristin came over to do speech with Jeremiah, and I try to be involved so I can learn from someone who knows more than I do. But Isaac was being too rambunctious. So I was mostly refereeing. And it wasn't fun. I guess that it can't always be thrilling.

But then Isaac fell asleep (during a time out he climbed into Jeremiah's crib and I found him asleep when I went to get him out), and Danielle fell asleep, and so Jeremiah played by himself for a little while and I made Indonesian Peanut Chicken and chocolate chip cookies. So when John came home he was pleasantly surprised and we had a nice dinner (yes, with salad, too) and a happy relaxed 25 minutes before he went to Scouts.

Today was Wednesday.

Hnnn and Myee

Jeremiah has speech dyspraxia, which makes it hard for him to say words. He often uses word segments, or doesn't voice vowels (i.e., he always whispers "mom").

When I'm holding Danielle, Jer will come over and look at me, then say, "Hnnn. Hnnn." And it very much means, "I would like to hold my sister and give her hugs and pat her head." He always, always hnnns first. He's telling me what he's going to do, or asking permission. And it's really very sweet.

Today we were leaving church, and Jeremiah started saying "Mye! Myee!" It took me a second, but I realized he was saying "bye" to everyone we passed. Sadly, nobody was saying "bye" in return. And nobody noticed that he was talking. I know that I'm more sensitive to it, and I notice every time Jeremiah says anything. It would just be so great if others noticed as well.

Jer's First Speech Therapy Session

Today Kristin, Jeremiah's speech therapist from Birth to 3, came over. She and Jeremiah played in (not with, but in) the blocks. They scrambled the blocks with their hands until she said "Stop!" and then Jeremiah waited until she said "Go!" to start scrambling them again. He also put blocks back into our box when she said "In!"

Then we got out some wheat and scooped and poured and found alligators and dinosaurs lurking underneath...Isaac helped. Maybe Isaac won't help us during speech next time, but only between sessions.

This week we'll be working on "more." We'll be working on eye contact and either a gesture or movement, possibly a sound, to demonstrate that he wants more of anything. Apple slices, blocks, crackers, bubbles, spinning, running, bouncing. We'll also be working on "Go!" That one will be fun...fun things go.