a few things

Just a few thoughts:

* Tonight at dinner I told John that he gets to start speech therapy at the elementary school down the road. He will start going twice a week and he was genuinely excited. I decided to give it to him straight and I told him that it was speech therapy and that the therapist would work with him on his words and language. He said, "can I go in the morning?" with a smile--so I think he's looking forward to being back in the school setting.

* What I didn't anticipate with that exchange is that Havilah would feel left out. She wanted to go too, poor thing, but of course that can't happen. She looked into her bowl of food and started to cry to herself very softly. Then when I asked her what she was feeling, she tried to hide that she was crying. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she just turned three: her emotions and social awareness are so keen, more than I expect for someone who is so tiny.

* I took the older two to the doctor today for check ups. I promised "no shots!" but we left the doctor's office with no less than one urine analysis, two TB tests (which are shots), three vaccinations, two flu shots, and two orders for blood draws later this week. Oops...I hope they forgive me sometime this month.

* Fall is coming to the desert! It's still a million degrees during the day but I can OPEN MY WINDOWS in the mornings and take un-scorching walks after sunset!! I'm a little excited.

* Mimi and Papa are coming for a visit in one short month! Hooray for grandparent time!

* I've been working through this Bible study with a friend and finding it challenging and encouraging at the same time.

* David is full on walking and I swear that baby will start talking next week. He never stops jabbering! I guess he has to get with the program or get run over! (-:

~E

John is 5!

John is five years old...how is that possible? Weren't we just living in Floyd Light Apartments (loved that apartment...such sweet memories) with little chubby John learning to crawl around? No? Maybe he's zooming up and down the sloped sidewalks on his Razor (muttering "Whoah, that's awesome. Yeah, that's amazing" to himself), growing taller every day, and sometimes giving me a glimpse of what he'll be like at fifteen. And when I'm blogging about his fifteenth birthday...that will be the day.

Here's a story that illustrates a paradox with John: last week, we went to the doctor's office for Billy and the office is next door to the hospital. It was raining that afternoon and we had to park at the far end of the parking lot. John was thrilled to see that an elderly gentleman was driving a little shuttle cart around, taking folks to the front door. John said, "Mom, can I ask him for a ride?" I said yes so he ran toward the man yelling, "Can we get on? Can we ride?" The man was good humored and we climbed on for a ride. John commented on everything: the rain, the ride, the hospital.... Finally, the man asked John, "Are you a chatterbox?" to which John said "no" (and probably thought "a whatbox?"). The elderly man grinned and said "could have fooled me!"

My boy was accused of being a chatterbox! His speech disorder is still present, it's still obvious to anyone who talks to him for more than three minutes...but he's beating it. That kid loves to talk! He and Hava chatter all day. And though our mother/son conversations are limited by his vocabulary, we are starting to be able to talk together about his thoughts and ideas.

John loves to be active, spend time with his dad, cuddle, hear stories, ride his Razor and new bicycle, play with his siblings, help me cook, and go to library story time. And yes, Jenny is still loved. What a sweet (big!) boy!