I am waaayy behind on updating our blog so, I'm going to try very hard to bring everything up to date.
I'm not sure what I was doing at the time, but for some reason I found pictures on one of our other cameras and this was on there. Daddy took some pictures and they are sooo cute! I'm so glad that I found them. Good job Daddy at capturing this moment.
How fun to wear Christmas stockings on your feet! Great idea Jaden :) You are so sweet!
Last June Jaden was evaluated by the school system to see if he qualified for speech services. He had been receiving speech therapy (with a WONDERFUL therapist) from BACH. But, BACH only provides services to children under 3. The good news was that the school personnel who conducted the evaluations did not feel that Jaden needed the extra help at that time.
They did make sure to tell me that even though they don't qualify at this time doesn't mean that they won't later. We were very happy at the progress he had made to that point and felt that starting preschool in the fall would help to move things along a little more "naturally". We thought that the interaction with the other children and the desire to communicate to play with them, etc... would encourage him to continue to develop his language skills.
While Jaden is pretty vocal and interactive at home turns out he is very shy and quiet at school. He isn't really exhibiting the kind of behavior we had hoped for. He needs to actually talk in order for his speech to be reinforced, corrected, etc... Fortunately, a speech therapist came to the school to do evaluations. I was not surprised when I got a phone call about my little Jaden. She felt that he would benefit from some extra help - particularly on his articulation.
So, he had another evaluation. The good news is that his language and comprehension are actually a little above his age level (3 years 10 mos.) but his articulation is WAY below (2 years 4 mos.) The speech therapist believes he has something called apraxia. He is going to speech therapy two days a week now. We are hoping that we can give him the support he needs now so that by the time he starts school his speech skills will be indiscernible from his peers. In just two sessions he's already mastered the "d" sound. Now, we'll be building on that and practicing lots at home. He's going to need to work really hard but we know he will be great!
I will be anxious to post updates on his progress. But I'll admit I'll be a little sad when the day comes that he doesn't say "all-wight" anymore :)
This year we celebrated at Sweet & Sassy. This is the girliest of all "girl" stores. A little girl's dream! Anna was talking about it for weeks before her birthday. She was so excited about sending out invitations and getting dolled up.
So, I was looking forward to watching her have a great time. When we got there the young ladies who worked there took the girls behind the curtain to pick out their dresses. Jessica came out first - looking so cute and full of smiles. Then came Anna. What a transformation - no smile. In fact, a pout. I have no idea what happened. One minute things were going good then next - this ->
Nicole getting her hair done.
Ari's turn - hair and nails all at once!
Jessica getting her hair done with her make up already applied. Beautiful!
The finished product! Her hair looked so cool. I wish I could do this for her :)
Lots and lots of glitter today. Here is is all over her hands!
Little Miss Nicole - she's a regular at getting glammed up!
Next, they took the girls back behind the curtain again and this time they all came out on the stage to sing and dance...except Anna....
Hey, at least the girls had a good time!
We moved into the cake room to have some pizza, special cupcakes, and open presents. Anna's smile came back :)
I know that I am very late at posting these. But, finally here they are - Pictures from my little photo shoot with my SEVEN year old little girl!!! When I look at these pictures I have a hard time believing she is SEVEN! She looks so much older but seems so much younger in my mind. I think I have her frozen forever as the little baby I used to rock in my arms not so long ago...
There really weren't any "great" ones of us with everyone looking at the camera and forget everyone smiling. It's just very hard at this age for everyone to cooperate - especially when cousins Justin and Alex were being so silly. We had a lot of fun trying though and I'm grateful to Aunt Kelli for taking these for us. We'll work on getting some more this year.
But, these were probably the best of the bunch.
We were so excited this year to get to go to Jaden's school and watch him in his first Christmas program. He was a donkey in the manger scene and he was soooo cute! He stood up there very bravely and participated with his class. They sang "Silent Night" and "Happy Birthday Jesus!" and a couple of other songs. Afterward, we all got to munch on some yummy cookies and pink lemonade.
Me and my boys!!
We went out to the beach today to get out of the house for a bit. I didn't expect it to be as beautiful as it was. In the summer time the beach can be kinda nasty - the water is usually more of a "brown". But today it was gorgeous. It was a very clear, sunny day in the mid-60's. The kids had a lot of fun playing around in the sand up near the dunes. Usually we can't get them away from the water.
I know our friends and family up north are all bundled up with lots and lots of snow outside. I've seen many of my friend's blog and facebook posts of snowmen and snow angels. Here's our version: The Sand Angel...
Happy Holidays!I have been so busy the past few weeks getting ready for Christmas and trying to start up a little photography business (check out my website: http://www.julietyreephoto.com/ -this has taken a LOT of time as well). But I have been taking notes and pictures that I hope to post soon to update every one on what we've been up to down south :)
Yesterday, I got this note from Jaden (given to him from Anna):
In case you can't read it, the note says "Jaden poopt". She sent him in to tell me he needed his diaper changed.
I asked him if he did and he nodded. LOL!
It's so funny what she's coming up with now that she's reading and writing :)
