Super Seannie Super Reader

 Sean has become an absolute super-reader over the last few months.  We have dived head first into the Little House books, which he Ioves and we love reading to him.  When my sister gave him an early birthday present of the whole series last week (so, as Sean says, we don't have to keep going back to the Library for every single one....), he was overcome with joy and couldn't speak!  The other day I read a few chapters to him while the little ones were napping then I had to go lay down myself, still recovering from our trip to St. Louis last weekend.  Unfortunately, we were just at an exciting part of Silver Lake (wolves!). I told Sean he could wait for me to come back down or he could read the chapter himself to see what happens. I came back a little while later, and not only had he read the whole chapter himself (and told me what happened-- Laura and Carrie saw wolves up close, but they didn't chase the girls), but he had proceeded to open the Oxford English Dictionary of Word Histories and was just reading the entries to himself.  We bought him that book after incessant questioning about why certain words are called certain things (for instance, yestday it was "but WHY is a 1 and a 2 called twelve?" Or, "but WHY are they called pants?"... And more importantly, why do I have to wear them?). 

Yesterday we went to the public library pick up our summer reading charts. The program this year is as follows: read 10 books over the course of the summer, win a slew of prizes and treats and river dogs tickets.  Sean read 9 books (out loud) yesterday.  And when I went into their room this morning he was reading a Curious George to jamesie, with three other books already completed at the bottom of his bed.  So, 24 hours after obtaining the reading chart, we can bring it back for our prizes.  This begs the question- are our societal expectations for education (in this case, summer reading) so low that we have to offer bribes and treats and prizes for a modicum of reading a 4 year old can do in one day? 

(This is how Sean ate lunch yesterday- reading a story to us and occasionally remembering to eat. He has the academia lifestyle down already!)

Which leads me to our family summer reading chart. Sean's rules: one star for each book or chapter read out loud, and one star for 5 pages of a workbook.  Cody and I have no idea what he will earn with his stars yet because we don't know how to gauge his pace.  At first I thought for every 10 stars he could earn an ice cream.... But then his chart starting looking like this....

Yes, there are 9 stars on yesterday's square. And I short changed him on stars, too. The first day he had his workbook he did 19 pages.  (That's when the 5:1 ratio was started). 

It's hard not to brag when you have a super reader super seannie on your hands.  But I feel like I can brag because thisis not my doing-- this is innate in him.  I buy him workbooks and tell him to read, but his hunger for words comes from within-- it is not because of our parenting!

Second-ever chapter book! The first was Charlotte's Web.

Reading by headlight with dad.

And not to lose sight of the big picture- he still is only 4 years old, and still likes to do this when he gets his hot little hands on the iPad without out permission!

Apraxia Awareness Day

Today is the first (I think) Apraxia Awareness Day.  And, while I know our blog has been a little Jamesie-heavy lately with his birthday and new speech news, indulge me once more as I write a bit about Apraxia.  Tonight we will go to a first-ever Charleston area apraxia event at a local restaurant and I'm really looking forward to meeting other families and kids in our same situation.  A year ago I had never heard the word apraxia and now I feel like I have to limit our exposure to everything-apraxia so we aren't consumed by it.  I want to help Jamesie and do all we can for him, but I don't want our lives (or his) to be defined by his IEP or how many words he strung together in a sentence today.  I want him to be defined by his heart and his soul and his decisions and the way he is gentle to his sister and pesters his brother and his beautiful softness.  But, the reality is that we do work hard every day and we don't know what to expect in the future.  So, in honor of Jamesie and his hard work and our support team developed over the last year, I have put together a list of hopes for Jamesie in the coming years--some have to do with apraxia and some don't.  For Jamesie, I hope:

-that you can tell us what you want for your next birthday;
-that you can tell kids you meet on the playground your name;
-that you will go to kindergarten and make new friends;
-that your teachers will love you and listen to you with patience;
-that your brother will always be your best friend and will always stick up for you;
-that you will always stick up for your sister;
-that you and your brother will stay up way too late talking;
-that I can take you (for once) to the doctor without having you earn a time out in front of our pediatrician!;
-that you will play soccer and call to your teammates for a pass;
-that you will choose a sport that you like;
-that you will read normally;
-that you will like math;
-that you will ask someone to prom;
-that you will go to college and learn something that makes you want to keep learning;
-that you will be the quiet, observant, hilarious type;
-that you will meet a girl who listens to you because she knows what you have to say is important;
-that you will meet a girl who loves your beautiful, fat lips;
-that you can tell your children about how hard you worked to learn how to talk when they need encouragement.

Really, this list is just a number of selfish wishes I want for my boy.  What I really hope and pray for more than anything else is that Jamesie is the person God made him to be and does what God wants him to do with his life.  I pray that he knows God well enough to ask him what that is.

We have all worked so hard this past year, but Jamesie especially.  It is unbelievable to watch a 2 (now 3) year old develop a motivated work ethic.  I know it's trite, but we are so proud of him.  The communication skills he has gained in the last year have enabled his mischievous, stubborn, funny personality to emerge and despite the increase in discipline, we have loved getting to know him better.  We love you sweet, sweet boy....happy Apraxia Awareness Day everyone!

who knows, maybe Jamesie will become the first American Pope....quiet and thoughtful :)

Add it to the list of milestones today....

Just as soon as I started bragging about our baby crawling and getting her first tooth, she goes and surprises me even more! Tonight at dinner she said her first word (not counting mimicking "hey" when we say it to her) and signed it at the same time! "All done!" She signed it and said it each for the first time- simultaneously!

Annalisa (yes, she has a real name-- we rarely use it) also started purposefully putting poker chips in a slotted box on her own today. It's a little Montessori skill jamesie loved when he was a baby. I'm always amazed when my tiny little babies start doing things on purpose on their own. She's still a newborn, isn't she!? How can she control her own little hands? I was lucky to snap a pic of her latest skill this evening-- enjoy our rapidly developing baby!

Teething and crawling

On Thursday I took jamesie and sis to their well-checks. After a week of sissy uncharacteristically fussing and fussing some more I asked the doctor to look at her teeth (or, rather, gums) and tell me she has a tooth coming in ASAP. Well, he looked and said "i see her swollen gums, but that tooth has a few more weeks to go still. Don't expect it to come through tomorrow, or even this week." Ugh-- a few more weeks of this. Well, mothers, always trust your instinct. The said tooth did poke through just two days later after crying through sean's soccer game saturday morning as i lamented to the other mothers "no, the doctor said the tooth isn't coming any time soon. i swear she's usually so happy...." And, adding to her milestones this week, our little baby girl started crawling right at the 9 month mark as well! It is so cute and she just looks so tiny and petite to be crawling! (She is still at 20th percentile for weight-- just a little whisper of a baby!) Enjoy!

Following in Flannery's Footsteps (that's alliteration, Sean).

Sean is possibly the most literary 4 year old we have ever known.  I could sit here and describe all the books he's reading these days or how he's the smartest kid in his class or how he's taken it upon himself to learn the parts of speech.  But, I will let the pictures do the talking.  The first is a picture of Flannery O'Connor as a small child-- one of Cody's and my sister's favorite authors.  Apparently she was a bibliophile like our son, and also precocious to the point of calling her parents by their first names for her whole life.  Sounds familiar.  She grew up to be a famous author integrating her Catholic faith in her writing.  One could do worse things with a life.  The second picture is of course our little man, pouring over On the Banks of Plum Creek, which he read out loud to me while I folded clothes today:

 

 

First Day of New Speech Class

Now that Jamesie is three he aged out of at-home speech services.  The GREAT news is the charter school right down the street from us agreed to take Jamesie for speech lessons twice a week.  Sean will go to kindergarten there next year and when Jamesie is 4 he'll start K-4 there.  However, since it is charter and Jamesie isn't actually a student there yet, they weren't required by the school district to implement our IEP, so our other option was to go to our "home school" which was actually about 25 minutes away and less than desirable.  Basically, our charter school exactly 1 mile from our home is doing us a big favor by giving him speech lessons.  Even better though, the speech therapist doesn't act like she's doing us a favor, she's so kind and gentle and fun with Jamesie (and Sean!).

The not-so-great news was I was completely emotionally un-prepared for actually leaving Jamesie at his first speech lesson today.  Since he might have another little one in his speech lesson, I can't stay and watch as I have with his speech for the last year.  Leaving him with Ms. Mary to walk down that big hallway was awful.  He was so little in his Curious George hat and converse high tops.  He let go of my hand and took Ms. Mary's and off he went... for his first "school" lesson... without me.  I went and sat for the next thirty minutes in the car, nursed the baby and listened to Mother Angelica on Catholic Radio and let the tears flow.  I wasn't expecting that. 

28 minutes after I left him I was waiting for him to come back to me.  And he did-- all smiles, bouncing and running into the office.  He loved the new friend he made in speech today and said he had fun in his lesson.  He was so excited that he learned Ms. Mary's name that he spent much of the afternoon saying "Maaa-wee!  Maaa-wee!"  For the first time in 3 years of bedtime prayers he said "Hail Ma-wee!" tonight.  When I asked who was Jesus's Mommy he was so excited to yell "Ma-wee!"  He was so proud of himself after his lesson today.  I'm looking forward to this next step in his therapy. Even before we went to school today he had his shoes on for a good hour, saying "ready-to-go-now!" 

Our perseverant little boy :).

 

We are proud of our little guy.  This new speech situation will be good.  If I don't cry every time. 

Well Hello There!

I have no excuses for our month long absence from our blog.  Yes, I've been busy, but we're all busy, right? That's life.  And to make up for it, here's a glimpse of what we've been doing in our buys life over the last month:

Jamesie Turned Three!
Jamesie is just such a joy to our family.  At three years old we usually describe him as "stubborn," but I think I'm going to change the language to "perseverant."  He can persevere to not eat his lunch or conquer the most complicated fine motor challenge.  If he falls while trying some gross-motor challenge he cries, gets a hug and a kiss from his mommy then whimpers through his tears "try again. try again," and sure enough returns to jumping off the bed or the couch or the stairs or the chairs or the footstool....etc., until he masters the skill.  Jamesie loves Thomas the Train, bothering his brother, kissing his sister, sitting on his brother or his brother's chosen toys, cutting with scissors (mostly paper), Mickey Mouse and trucks.  His speech has come so far in the last year. To think that less than a year ago we were teaching him to say "go" or "no" in his speech lessons and now he says full sentences....its just amazing.  Again, he just decides to persevere through each and every lesson, often sitting still for a full hour twice a week, just repeating his words over and over.  Sometimes at about 40-45 minutes he will quietly put his head down in his hands and take a minute to gather himself.  Sometimes if Ms. Mollie and I are talking he will quietly and quickly grab all the treats on the table and stuff them in his mouth before we can do anything about it!  He is sneaky and sweet and just has the softest cheeks and hair a mother could ever wish to kiss.  Here is in on his 3rd birthday:

GG and DaDa brought a special delivery for the Birthday Boy!

I loved Jamesie's birthday because our normally quiet and reserved boy was the center of attention (and head of the table) all day long.  It was great seeing him in that role.  

We all know of Sean's undying love for Greta.  Well, Jamesie now has Cora, his very own special lady-friend.  Cora invited Jamesie to spend the night at her house last week but James was the chivalrous gentleman and politely declined.  Lets hope he has enough self control if the situation ever arises again....in about 14 years....after prom.  Looks like Cora's ready for prom for his birthday.  Dress to impress, girlfriend. Jamesie stole some time away from his birthday to spend time one on one with his lady, and play the Thomas theme song in her ear.  He also got her a juicebox.  

I made this Thomas Cake for our little man. I love him and I prove it by creating character themed birthdays.  

Happy Birthday sweet baby boy!  He is such a lively addition to our family--a spark when we need it and a sweet cuddle bug when we need it. And soft as soft all the time. 

Sean learns and learns and draws and learns:

Sean is now so adept at reading we often find him reading books on his own and whenever we go out in public he is transfixed by all the signs and words he can now read.  Its like a whole new world has opened up to him: "Mom, at Publix, shopping is a pleasure!"  He spends most of his free time reading or drawing lately.  I LOVE his drawings and his artwork.  He just started drawing people which is the sweetest thing in the world.  He drew a family portrait in which Sissy is wearing her baby lion shoes and a hairbow, Cody is wearing an ND shirt and his badge for work, and I am wearing soccer cleats.  Classic. What was once our "homeschool room" has now become our "art room."  What were once plain red walls are now covered in his artwork, mostly portraits of Mickey Mouse and the Clubhouse gang, with the occasional Pope Francis thrown in: 

Meanwhile, Sean keeps an ongoing list of reasons for me to home school him next year for kindergarten, even though we are currently signed up for him to go to the Charter school down the street.  Included in his list are: 1. I will miss my nap (he has not napped in about a year and couldn't care less about his nap at home).  2. I will miss lunch.  I will consider your points in turn, young man and get back to you.  Its still on the table.  

Here are some shots of our genius at work: 

Yes, that is a carseat box, and if you look closely amidst the rubble you will see his little legs poking out of the carseat box because he is drawing inside of it. 

Sissy turns 9 months today!

That means she's been out of me as long as she was in me!  Crazy!  She is amazing.  She is army crawling all over the house, combing the floor for debris to eat, and starting to pull up to her knees on furniture.  She is moments away from crawling on hands and knees and the other day she actually crawled up one step (time to use those baby gates) and then freaked out.  The boys LOVE this little girl.  Last weekend Sean said to GG: "I am just in love with Sissy.  I know, I can't marry her because you can't marry your sister, but I am just in LOVE with her!"  She can do no wrong in their eyes. Lets hope it always stays like that. She is such a good and happy baby all her waking hours.  She is silly and giggly and soft and sweet.  She is affectionate and funny and definitely our most active baby.  

Easter.  She wore a flower the size of her head b/c I couldn't find a bonnet her size. 

Just for fun: 

I hear a baby waking up.  I will try to do more frequent posts so they aren't so long and trying to update an entire month of our lives.  Off to our next adventure--chic fil a and soccer tonight!