Two Exciting Things

One, Talan peed in the potty yesterday for the first time! Second, check out my star husband at http://www.matcotoolsracing.com/ scroll down to the bottom of the page! That is it! Short and sweet.

Assessments

I took both boys to get assessed by the Post Falls School District today. Mason has made quite a bit of improvement since the one in August. He is average, falling into the 53-55% for the three areas: motor, speech and academics. He knows 13 capital letters of the alphabet and 9 lower case letters. If a child knows less than 8 letters, they are referred to a "catch-up" program during the summer prior to Kindergarten. So Mason doesn't qualify for that, which is good news. They saw some non-compliant behaviors while testing him but they were able to get him back on track. He just gets bored or frustrated and gives up and says "I don't know". They did not have suspicion of ADD or anything like that. They thought he was a very typical 5 year old boy. All great news. They gave me some advice about things I can do to help further make sure he is ready for Kindergarten. One of which was to call the PF Kindergarten and ask specifically what their expectations are for Mason so I can see if we need to work on any specific area etc.
I also had Talan tested for Gross Motor skills. They know he is already receiving Speech Therapy through the school district. He scored in the 93%. Obviously, no issues there. They observed that Talan just needs more confidence in his abilities (like riding a big wheel) and then he can do the work to make the pedals go. Ironically, I just bought him a big wheel two days ago as that is what he picked out when we went for a "treat" at the thrift store (it was $1.99).

So I am feeling much better about where my boys are at. It is so unsettling to think they are deficient or behind or being labeled negatively. The director of the assessment said she would speak with Teacher Pam next week to make sure that she understood Mason's results. I am so grateful!

I treated the boys to an excursion to McDonald's with Missy and Mason Paul. They had such a wonderful time playing. Talan was very excited to have us watch him climb to the very top. He adores Missy and sat in her lap and asked her to carry him. I am so glad we have such nice friends in our lives. We ran into my friend Susan's husband Rick with their two kids Conner and Lily. So all 5 kids were being crazy in the jungle gym. It was quite cute and funny. Glad to know I am not the only one to use McDonald's for escape! I am so tired of the cold weather and being cooped up indoors.

We had a nice afternoon nap and then Aunt B came to visit us. Talan was playing with his Grover doll and wrapping Grover in his blue blanket. I tried to get Mason to get a letter "G" for Grover but he came back with a "U". :( Barclay is taking us all to a Monster Truck show in Spokane tomorrow night. Apparently there is a Batman truck! Exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is good for these two guys.

Mason asked me this morning what time our flight was and I just had to laugh. Our flight isn't until March 30th so I can only imagine that this will be a frequent topic in our household until that day arrives. Mason smiled when I told him it was a long way away. We called Grandma Jutta to tell her how silly and excited we are for our visit. There are so many things I want to do while we are in CA that I am not sure we can cram it all into 7 days. It certainly something nice to look forward to.....there never is anything quite like "home".

Kid's Carnival at the Resort

I signed the boys up for a kid's carnival at the resort today. Thank goodness Joe came with us as it was very crowded and the boys had quite different interests so we did a lot of dividing and conquering. I saw tons of friends there. Reminds you that yes this is a small town. It was really fun and the whole experience was nice. The boys were too shy to try to dance, there were some break dancers there to teach the kids cool moves. :) Joe and I watched while the boys ran up and down some stairs.

Our babysitter Daniel came over and babysat for us while we went on a double date with Matt and Keira. We ate at Market Grill which was yummy (Joe and I ordered sushi) and then we had coffee at Starbucks. We then played Texas Hold 'Em at Matt and Keira's place. We had a lot of fun and laughs. A really nice evening. Poor Daniel said that Mason was really bad tonight. Not listening, throwing fits and being defiant. Joe and I both tried to tell her that Mason is just testing her and that she did a great job. She actually put both boys to sleep which no babysitter has ever done for us period. It doesn't matter how late we come home, we have always found the boys still up. So huge kudos to her for that.

Joe is driving her home as I write this blog. I have had a great day. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. :) Love, Brianna

Uggg, I have laryngitis

So I can't talk but I have so much to say. Aunt B brought a beautiful 2 month old baby over today for a brief visit. Talan was so doting! He wanted to hold the baby, feed the baby, keep the baby warm and he shared his most prized possession: his blue blanket! He was a bit too exuberant for my liking but it was very sweet to watch.

Talan is talking non-stop now. It is amazing how much he says. The babysitter, Becky, at our gym commented on it this morning (Talan was the only child there so he had her all to himself). She said it was exhausting. I know, that is what I think. Sometimes Talan doesn't make sense but on he goes about whatever he is thinking about. I really think speech therapy twice a week is helping a lot.

Mason continues to be getting quite a few thumbs down at school. I am starting to think I need to find a different place for him. He needs an environment that can handle, foster and channel his high energy rough oriented play. Baptist pre-school is not it. My new care-giver DiAnna has been a wonderful resource for looking into some things for me as she has had five children herself and many with "special" needs. Her youngest daughter is 6 and she has Downs Syndrome. I am feeling like I really scored with DiAnna. She works with Mason on the alphabet and Talan with his speech therapy homework. She writes me progress reports daily explaining what they did, how long they napped, etc. I really like her. She even made us dinner the night Joe flew home because she knew I'd be too busy to think of it (she is right!).

I had my Microbiology exam on Thursday. I think I did well but as it was fill in the blank I am hoping that she is open to some creative answers. :) I wasn't always sure what she was asking for so, cross your fingers, I did ok. One question she asked what kind of environment Extreme Halophiles (salt loving) live in? I put hostile because these are the guys that can live where no other organism can due to the high salt levels! The correct answer, my friends told me, was hypotonic. That is what I meant!

So Joe did finally secure the boys and I three flights to Marin for Spring Break. All on points! Yippee. Well not totally free because of about $75 of taxes and security fees but much better than the $679 I was seeing when I looked at flights on Southwest. So, we are landing Monday March 30th at 10:30pm and leaving Tuesday April 7th at 9am. I am missing two days of school but this is ok. I am allowed to miss one lab in CNA and one lecture in Microbiology won't kill me (I hope).

I can't wait to see everyone. I have promised Mason a visit to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. I was also thinking I would like to take the boys on a ferry ride to SF and to the aquarium at Pier 39. If the weather cooperates, I would love a day at Stinson Beach. Of course, I want to hike every morning if possible. I have been missing Mt. Tam. :) And, of course, time with my folks and friends. Whatever happens and works out will be great. I am really looking forward to it. I haven't been to Marin since Heather's wedding in August and that was a short visit.

Ok, I need to go pick up the boys. They are at a Kid's night at Church of the Nazareen. Once a month, there is a kid's night (really a date night). I am afraid I am not much of a date in my current state. It sure is much quieter around here. :) LOL

Week's Update

Well, its been quite the week. Joe will be home tomorrow night. Thank God. I wouldn't have made it through the week with out my new care giver DiAnna and my weekend babysitter Daniel. I have been trying to study for my first Microbiology exam next week but it is going in bits and spurts. It is a lot of material to memorize particularly the Latin names of about 30 microbes, what disease they cause, what shape they are and a bunch of other things that wouldn't interest most people. Since the test is not just multiple choice, I need to know how to spell these names correctly on top of everything else. For example, Treponema pallidum is the causative agent of Syphilis and is a spirochete and is Gram -. Fascinating stuff. Actually, lab last week was really interesting. We got to see microbes move around under the microscope. Amazing that these guys are all around us and yet most of us have no idea anything about them.

Well, I finally unloaded Barclay's camera so I will attach some more photos of the Birthday Party. We just got a belated present yesterday from Lori which was pretty exciting. The giant Batman balloon finally deflated on Thursday which was our most obvious reminder of the big day. Mason is already talking about his birthday party (we had about a two month reprieve). He would like to have his at the Fun Guy. So, I guess that means Talan's party was a hit. :)

A Mobius Day

Joe and I have been preparing all week for his departure today. Stock piling food, doing mounds of laundry, securing a babysitter while I am in class and anything else that we can think of to make my life less stressful while he is away. So, today was the day. We drove him to the airport at 12:30pm. I had packed lots of food and snacks because I had decided since we'd be in Spokane, we would hit up the Mobius Science Museum. We have been there twice before and loved it. I bought a year membership because I thought that we would be driving Joe to the airport lots of times this year.

We spent over to over two hours there. We all had an absolute blast. I took over 70 photos and videos. We explored every inch of the museum. Mason played with some boys the entire time so I was basically just with Talan although we checked in with each other frequently. The boys were very unhappy when we left but I did try to cheer them up with multiple rides up and down the escalator and then finally we took the elevator to our parking level. Talan fell asleep on the way home. He and I took a nap while Mason enjoyed a movie. Since Mason did not nap, I was able to get both boys in bed before 9pm! Remarkable! So I am blogging quickly and then I am going to wrap up this day as it will be a busy week.

Oh, and we are dieting again. No flour or sugar. Not fun but making it work. I am tired of being heavy. I just want my energy back. All the time I spend in the gym is helping build muscle and I do feel generally more "alive" but I would love to not feel like I need a nap everyday. That would be really good study time. Which I need right about now! :)