I can't believe the kids have been back at school for two months now. Time is literally flying by. Things have been going really well and our little family of four is settling in nicely. Goose is working so hard at school. She has been motivated and willing to work with us each evening practicing her reading and math. We too have been working hard advocating for her with the school district. This year she received a 504 plan and after several meetings with the school she has some much needed accommodations to help her succeed. I'm already seeing a huge difference in her anxiety, reducing our family schedule has provided her with a sense of security as well as some much needed down time. Right now she does swimming for a half hour on Friday nights as well as Brownies every other Friday. This means that Monday through Thursday we have nothing on our schedule. We can come home and she has time to play, relax, and even invite friends over (which of course she loves.) We pushed their bedtime back to 8:00 p.m. (which is still really hard for us sense our evening routine goes so smooth.) Most evenings they are in bed by 7:30. Each night we have time for homework without feeling rushed and we eat dinner together as a family without feeling rushed and then we can spend time together before bed. It wasn't an easy decision to take a break from therapy or to pull the kids out of a wonderful program at our church midweek, but we really felt like this was what she needed. Swimming is coming to an end so we told her she had the option of signing up again or she could choose to do something else like gymnastics or karate. She has expressed an interest in playing basketball so we told her that would be a great activity to commit to in January. I wasn't even thinking about having her participate in Brownies (we tried it in kindergarten but she didn't like it) but most of her friends are in it so we felt like it was a great way for her to socialize with her friends outside of school. Its also a great program and will have her selling the best cookies ever.
Bubba is doing great in kindergarten. I get to work in his classroom a couple times a month and it amazes me how well he does. I'm not really sure what I expected. He is after all my baby and has a speech delay that often times fools one into thinking he is younger then he is. But even his speech is coming along so well. He is making tons of friends and wants to have play dates all the time. He is learning so much and loves coming home and doing his "homework." His fall soccer season is ending soon. He has been a trooper this season. I don't really think soccer is his favorite but he goes each week and does his best. A lot of his friends are on the team and his dad is the coach so I'm sure that's his big motivator. We are going to sign him up for swimming next, which he loves. He continues to go to physical therapy once a week and is working on building his core muscle strength, endurance and balance. It's hard work for him but he is doing really well. He continues to be obsessed with Star Wars, and can't get enough of playing the Wii.
We have been busy enjoying all that fall has to offer, pumpkin patches, fun fairs, pumpkin carving, falling leaves, apples, and so much more. The weather has been amazing so the kids have been able to play outside for the last two weeks. Soon enough there will be snow on the ground and Christmas will be on everyones mind. I've even started some shopping. Sometimes I wish time would slow down. I miss the toddler stage and long for the days I held my children in my arms. I can still hold them and do, but as they are getting bigger it doesn't last as long because they have important things to do. I want them to stay little for as long as possible.
