Bits of January

January has been a busy busy month
But I wanted to write down some bits of January so I dont forget

Snow

We are getting a LOT of snow

Especially in our cabin

DH is just sooooo cool when he puts the snow chains on the car tires - I am seriously impressed

We have inches and inches of snow and R having recently read a book on snow gives me random bits of information about it -

"Snow is cold , Snow is wet"

We have been noticing how much he likes books on facts , rather than stories. This is the exact opposite of me as a child

Since we are trying to teach him the "wh" questions we have switched to books with facts and he just eats them up

But of course we will need to get back to stories as this is what he really needs to get
Friend

One of our close friends is visitng from South Africa

Lots of fun chatting and drinking endless cups of ginger tea. He loves to take walks which is so awesome.

DH , I and he have known each other now for almost 16 years and he is practically family

He has just returned from South Africa and wants to experience the great american road trip.

He plans to  drive the 140 all the way to the Grand Canyon.

We have loads of fun planning out various road trip options.

America is brimming with such stunning  beauty wherever you turn, that we are spoiled for choice .

We have told him, though, that if he feels homesick and  wants to come back the guest bedroom will be made up and ready for him

Travel

Unfortunately I need to travel a lot this month .

This gives me such pangs of guilt - especially since R is having loads of testing these two weeks and his therapist and teacher write in their notes that R appeared stressed and anxious . And that miraculously he has amazing days the day after I return. My cup of guilt runneth over.

Thank goodness DH is a SAHD- and a pretty amazing one at that -  as it provides our sensitive child with a stable base

Wedding Anniversary

We have been married for 12 years this January and I can honestly say that our marriage is just wonderful

Have you ever seen pictures of an Indian wedding ?

Well in the Indian culture the bride wears red and gold ornaments , the groom rides on horse and god of fire is witness to your wedding vows

People talk about the first year of marriage as the best .. but I feel like I am loving our marriage more as time passes .
I think we become smarter as we grow older

In our 20's if someone were to ask us the question  of who we would want to be on a deserted island with - we say that we would want to be with Brad Pitt

In our 30's on  we know that if we were ever on a deserted island, I would want to be with someone who could fish, light a fire, make us smile, love us and be a friend

Progress

Despite the stress, R continues to slowly and steadily progress

He is very interested in number sequences now and makes number patterns . he counts in 3's and 5's and 10's

Here he is making a set in 3's so  1,4,7 and 2,5,8 and 3,6,9 - then he reverses them. The interesting thing is that he can start from where-ever - so its not a memorized pattern

We have our Therapist team meeting on Sunday

We make amazing chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing - that I urge them to take home as I know I will devour them willy nilly

His speech therapist has done an evaluation

At present he has an expressive language of 3 years 6 months  and a receptive language of 3 years and 8 months

We are overjoyed ( especially since our therapist told us that R was stressed during the test ( as I was out of town and did not answer many things that he knows )

Not too  long ago I remember crying over a report which stated baldly that  his  receptive language was 6 months and expressive was 0 months ( yes his expressive language was that of a new born )

Even a year ago, he was at 1.5 years

His ABLLS are also being conducted and he has made dramatic progress in that as well

Yes chronologically he is 6 years and 2 months old - so he is still very behind - we are well  aware of this

But we have truly shifted our focus

We look at the distance he has traveled and are so proud of him and so grateful to God

For he works so hard and has such courage

As one of my favorite sayings goes.

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us."