Flourishing

If you've read my previous post, then you know we were in the process of moving. Well, with the awesome help of my brother-in-law and nephews on move-in day, Hubster and I are all moved in, yay!!  We are busy setting up our new little place in our new town.  Pictures are going up, boxes are going out, we're learning our way around the area, and the kiddos are having a blast.

Hubster and I felt God gave us a word about moving to our new corner of the world.  We feel like we've been in survival mode for the past three years and we were tired of being tired, tired of contending for everything in our life.  And God gave both of us the word FLOURISH to mark our time here.  Not that everything would be easy, but that this was where we could find a little more rest, a little more fruit in the kiddos progress with all the extra therapies, the amazing school Kiddo is going to, and who knows what else the flourishing entails, but we are looking forward to it.

And in fact, we see the fruit already.  Kiddo has only been in school for a week, but he is communicating so much more.   He is telling us what he learned in school.  He is telling us the things he is doing in school.  They may only be one or two word answers about what he did at school, but he is telling us.  He is excited to go to school, excited about his Minion backpack and Star Wars lunchbox with his beloved peanut butter and jelly inside, excited to play and learn and to make friends.  He's playing more with his toys and Little Brother, and not even asking for his tablet, a device he was addicted to and we needed to limit.  It's like he's becoming more aware of the world and he wants to soak it all up.  Totally random, but the other day I heard him in the bathroom and went to check on him.   I was amazed, because he was peeing standing up, toilet seat up and all, as he's always insisted on sitting to do his thing.  He saw me, grinned proudly and said "Pee stand up.  Big boy!"  Yes, Kiddo, you are right, and I'm guessing you learned this from your peers, because no matter how much we encouraged, you did not learn this big boy skill from us.  He is flourishing before our eyes, and we're only two weeks into the school year.  He started his therapies this week, so I'm expecting even more progress.  If this trend continues, well I can't imagine what he will be like on the last day of school.  :)

He may not look happy in the pictures, but Kiddo LOVES school!

I had an IEP meeting for both kiddos, and I couldn't be happier with how things are turning out.  They still need to evaluate Kiddo for PT and OT, so for now they're keeping those services at twice a month, like his previous IEP in our previous county.  But they evaluated him for speech, and they are changing it from two sessions a week for 30 minutes, to four sessions a week for 20 minutes.   Shorter, more frequent speech is what is recommended for children with apraxia, and is exactly what his new speech therapist wants for him.  So he'll essentially get twenty more minutes a week, and twice as often, woot woot!  The therapist wants to do three sessions a week of individual speech, and one session a week in the classroom, working on socially interacting with peers, responding to his teacher, etc, which I think is awesome.  I'm hopeful that the OT and PT evals indicate he qualifies for more services, but if he doesn't, he's getting a lot of opportunity to practice his skills on their playground and in the classroom.  Kiddo's teacher is great and she tells me how smart and sweet Kiddo is.  She insisted on several of his IEP goals being made a little more challenging because she's confident he can master them.  I love everything about that.

As for Little Brother, he qualified for speech twice a week.  So I will be taking him to the elementary school in our district where he will receive speech.  I'm enjoying getting some one on one time with this guy.  We've found a few awesome playgrounds, indoor play areas, and a fabulous preschool story time at the library we plan on going to weekly.

Hubster is all set to go with his grad school class this week.  And I'm registered for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) to get to know some Christian mamas in the area.  I found it awesome to know that this years theme at MOPS is "A Fierce Flourishing."  Coincidence?  I think not.

Anyway, things are going well, we're excited about what the future has in store, and we're looking forward to flourishing fiercely.  :)