Ups and Downs...

Wednesday I took Stephen to an evaluation to see if he will qualify for preschool services related to his speech delay. We no longer think he has a delay, but you know you do what the professionals tell you to do. He has been receiving weekly "Play Therapy" since before he turned two. He loves this time each week with Kelly, and has had a ball with her. In the last 6 months, he has gone from putting only two words together, to becoming a little conversationalist. He knows his colors, most of his shapes, and pretty much tells you anything you want to know. So, back to the evaluation. I guess a lot of the kids that the ladies at the evaluation center see are poor, disadvantaged kids, and that may be me making a BIG assumption. I don't say that to lessen their reaction to Stephen, but they were very impressed with him. The psychologist said that he has "a very high IQ" that he is "very smart for his age". If I recall correctly, she based it on his reasoning skills and his pretend play. Yes, of course we know this already!! So...no, he does not need any additional help before beginning school. The speech therapist said that the articulation that he is missing will come as he develops further. He can't do "f's" so fork is sork, goldfish is goldsish, you get the picture. Anyway, that was the up.

This is the down. Silas is majorly struggling with 2nd grade, mostly the reading. Problem is, you have to be able to read well to do EVERYTHING else...like math problem sheets, science, social studies, etc. He is "Zoning out" on his teacher. She says he has "serious attention issues". He is SO not interested in what is going on in the class. I/We really don't want to go down the A.D.D. road, because we don't think that's it. However, it may be that we have to just to get that angle eliminated (hopefully). He can sit and play a board game, pretend play for HOURS, and remember things I don't remember. But....we will just have to take it one day at a time. Thankfully he doesn't seem to hate school, so that's a good thing. He is so smart and creative and you just hate to squelch that in order to make him "conform" to the structure of school. If I wasn't working, we'd be homeschooling...

Fall is HERE!!

It's that time of year where the leaves are changing and we had to break out the winter clothes! The view of our backyard has been very pretty this year! The boys enjoyed some scooter time when we got home from church and I made them suffer through a photo session, which resulted in the new blog header---I took at least 15 shots to get the one on the header! That's boys for you!!

Our new screened porch...

We're SO excited our new addition is done! We have been able to enjoy it some before the weather turns cold. Our deck was old and splintered, we never used it because the sun stayed on it from 10 in the morning until sunset, so we bit the bullet and turned it into a screened in porch. The boys LOVE it, and have used it every afternoon it has been warm enough. It will be wonderful this Spring, we're glad we got it done so quick!

Stephen....the silly side!!!

Had a photo session for Stephen today, man I needed a sedative after that one! There's more poses, but I'm not posting those yet. I did this session so that Nikole could have some new shots for the birth mother retreat she is going on in Nov that is sponsored by our agency, Christian Adoption Services. I think she will like them!