tumble together

Here are a few pictures from Lydia's tumbling class today. This was only her second class. I think she is the youngest and definitely the smallest in her class - it is for children ages 2-5. But we have a lot of fun and she does a great job of following directions!

Brett's friend

We have gone through spells where Brett did not want to participate in Children's Church. It seems like a lot of kids go through this, and the teachers have always been very understanding and helpful. In September, Brett started a new class, where there was a little more teaching time and less free-play, plus a new teacher to get to know, and all of this change brought on some hesitation on his part. But a few weeks into the new routine, things started to improve. One Sunday while I was signing Brett into his class, Brett was reluctant, and the teacher told Brett that "Devon" would be there soon. Brett perked up and went into class. I was curious about "Devon" and the teacher said Brett had made a friend named Devon.

This was exciting news! Brett is a friendly and thoughtful guy, but his speech delay makes it challenging for him to make friends. Later during the the service, I had to go back to the children's program to deal with one of our other kids, so I peeked in Brett's class. Sure enough - Brett was playing with Devon. But Devon wasn't quite what I was expecting - he was not another 3 year old. He was the teen helper for the class and he also happened to be African American.

Over the months, Brett has bonded with Devon. We talk about Devon during the week and on Sunday mornings Brett looks forward to going to church to play with Devon - usually "cars". Yesterday, Brett brought a picture home that he had colored with Devon. The brown faces warmed my heart. I am so thankful that Devon - just an ordinary teen boy - has faithfully helped out in the 3 year olds' class and made a special connection with our son. He does not know what an extraordinary blessing he has been!

tea time

Grandma and Grandpa gave Lydia an adorable little tea set for Christmas. It's porcelain and has some small pieces, so it stays tucked away from little hands except on the occasion that two little boys are taking naps and Momma and Lydia are the only ones awake. Today was our second tea time, and Lydia remembered how to set everything up and just what to do. She invited Elmo and Rocky (our cat) to join us for tea time. Rocky declined. But I realized something got lost in translation when Lydia asked Elmo if he would like more ice cream...

"disability"

Simply put, this word could just mean "not-able". Using this definition, I suppose most people are "not-able" to do something. I have very poor eyesight. On numerous occasions, my glasses have fallen off my nightstand and I have had to ask Bryan to help me find them in the morning, because my vision is so impaired that I couldn't even locate them. Without corrective lenses, my life would be severely impacted.

But I don't consider myself to have a disability or to be disabled. These words seem too strong - have too much connotation to them. Maybe society's negative image of persons with disability has too much influence on my interpretation of the word. Or maybe I'm struggling to come to terms with my child's condition.

There's just something about that word and describing my son with it that seems too...permanent.

I've been putting it off...and cleverly tip-toeing around it. But it's on my to-do list this week to face it head on. Our health insurance coverage is not fitting the needs of our son very well. It wants to dictate how much therapy Brett needs, and it is nowhere close to the amount of therapy his professionals anticipate him needing. (insert a post I will never write about my ever-changing views on health care) So we are searching for any possible way to get our son the help he needs. That includes applying for a state-issued supplemental insurance. Part of this process is filling out a 7-page "Childen's Disability Worksheet" that the State Medical Review Team will spend 6-8 weeks determining if our son qualifies for assistance based on their criteria.

Much of the application requires us to explain how our son is a hardship to us. But he's not a hardship. He's perfect. (Maybe not perfect. A perfect child would not have peed on my new-to-me dining room chair today. But after the anger subsides, a mom can overlook such things.) He's one of our most treasured gifts from God. And yet it's true that he has a lot of obstacles to overcome. Ones that I wish I could wave a magic wand and make them disappear. But until I find my magic wand, I guess I will have to face reality - one fill-in-the blank question at a time.

little man's best friends

Reggie has two best friends. One is "Cookie", who was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa. The other is a dog he got for Christmas from Great Grandma and Grandpa. He named the dog "Sitka", after my parents' little white dog. (But he can't say "Sitka" - he says "Kaka"!) He carries Sitka and Cookie around much of the day, and he sleeps on his stomach with one under each arm!

hooray for hand-me-downs!

Except for the socks, everything the kids are wearing in this picture was handed down to us. We are very fortunate to have boys clothes passed on to us from my nephews and girls clothes passed on to us from a friend. I'm amused that the boys get to wear matching outfits! My nephews are 2.5 years apart, so on occasion when they had matching clothes, they fit our boys at the same time. (Brett is just growing into his pants; Reggie won't be wearing his much longer.) The blog has featured Lydia's "Elmo shirt" a lot because it is one of her favorites, along with her "soccer shirt" (she's wearing it in the previous post). If one of those shirts is clean, she wears it - and they were both handed down to us!

(I also like this picture because it compares the kids' heights!)

it's a girl

My theory has been debunked by a two-year-old...I thought girls were conditioned to be "girly"...we have not conditioned this little girl to be girly. But lately its been all about pink, picking out what to wear, and peer relationships!

Tonight, Lydia and I had our first "girls' night out". We went to the mall to exchange some socks that she got for Christmas that were too small. Then we were off to the food court for some bad Chinese food. (Lydia ate a won ton and drank lemonade to her heart's content.) Next, we spent some time in the toddler play area. Lydia quickly abandoned the slide and the rest of the time she spent chasing around girls with pink shirts and long hair who were a little older than her. As we were walking out of the mall, we stopped in the Claire's. I don't think I've been in a Claire's in over a decade! Lydia instantly focused her attention on a pink butterfly hair clip complete with a shiny jewel. "I want butterfly! I want butterfly!" she exclaimed. It was obvious we were not leaving the store without it - and it is obvious that as much as our Lydia loves roughhousing with her brothers, we have a "girly" girl on our hands!

somersaults

We're so proud - we could do somersaults! Here's Brett's $600 somersault! (hahaha)

Lydia's somersault needs a little work. I'm excited she's starting a tumbling class in a few weeks. That one's through community education and only cost $48...

(Maybe I should send this video to our insurance as an argument for the value of OT.)

four and a half photos

Here are four and a half of my favorite photos from Christmas:We went to my brother's mother-in-law's house on the lake on Christmas. The kids haven't been there in over a year and were looking for something familiar when they first arrived: Grandpa!

Reggie in action!Lydia riding the three-wheeler with my brother. Brett refused to ride it, but after a little coercion, he road with me in a sled behind the three-wheeler. (Don't have a picture of it, though.)

Reggie and my grandpa quickly warmed up to each other!

And here is the "half" a picture. Somebody forgot the memory card in his wii, so we have exactly four pictures of Brett doing goofy things on Daddy's lap while we tried to get a family picture at our Christmas with Bryan's family. We had a great time - but only a half a photo to remember it...