It's been a good week...an exciting week, really. We survived our first two 8-hour days at Kollege/work. Isaac seems to play well there and he is certainly well liked. All the talking toddlers in his room welcome him with a chorus of "Hi Isaac!!" when we arrive; the others run/crawl to tackle him. :) The eight hour days are certainly less stressful for me at work as I don't feel rushed into squeezing all my responsibilities into 3 or 4 hour chunks. And the Lord has blessed our short time together in the evenings with QUALITY time of laughter and wrestling on the floor and reading our Bible stories together.
We also had our first Physical Therapy, Cognitive Therapy, & Speech Therapy appointments this week. All three therapists were SUPER impressed with how far Isaac has come even since his initial evaluation 3 weeks ago. His Speech Therapist crossed off three of Isaac's communication goals in the first 5minutes she was here! Because he is doing so well, I anticipate that the physical & occupational therapy will most likely be extended to just once or twice per month so we can focus on speech therapy. Isaac's Cognitive Therapist (special ed teacher) will be joining him at Kollege once per week to assess how he is interacting with other kids and other social skills. I'm thankful that his Kollege teachers are eager to host Isaac's therapy friends.
On the communication front, Isaac continues to amaze with his ability to pick up new signs. His current favorite is 'monkey'. I'm not sure if it is because it is a good excuse to scratch his armpit in public or because his mother "oooo-ah-ah-ah"'s like a monkey when he does it...really not sure who has trained who on that one! Here is what is in his arsenal thus far:
What's exciting is that he is starting to form little sentences: "More banana please", "Music all done", "More monkey" It just thrills my heart to know that his hands are able to tell me what's going on in that little noggin of his. My nightly prayer for the Lord to open up the lines of communication is being faithfully answered. I'll be particularly excited when I see his hands say "Oh Mother dearest, why don't you put your feet up while I empty the dishwasher". (Am I setting my expectations too high? Do sons ever say that?!)
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Des & Ange, 10 & 6 weeks old.
(How cute are we?!) |
The SUPER exciting event of the week was the arrival of Auntie Ange & Cousin Xander from Minnesota. This was the first visit for them both and Xander's first plane flight. What a treat to have them both! Because Ange & I have been BFFs since the womb (fetal friends!) and our mothers grew up
together, I've always wanted our children (daughters really) to grow up loving another too. When I was matched with Isaac just 29 days before Xander was born I was THRILLED. We would raise our sons together! "Together" was loosely abided by this weekend as it took all 5 days to get the boys on the same nap schedule; Ange & I spent a lot of time passing each other in the hallway---one putting a boy down, the other getting a boy up. :) That, and Isaac hasn't quite mastered the skill of "gentle touching". *sigh* I want him to keep his ninja skills just not his cousins' faces. We'll get there...until then there was quite the dance to keep the boys apart. One up, one down, legs & pillows & pumpkins strategically placed between them and quick belly slides across the toy-laden floor to grab a set of hands (ahem, Isaac's) before they grabbed a handful of hair (Xander's). While there is 375 days between them, Xander (the younger of the two) already has nearly 5 pounds on Isaac...he'll have his payback someday!
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| Storey time with Auntie Ange |
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| Auntie Ange & Isaac! |
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| Isaac wins again... |
