A Hodgepodge of Successes

Ahhh...where to begin? Parent/Teacher conferences were a few nights ago.  My boys, both in general education classes, are doing really well and holding their own. They struggle, SMILE with keeping pace with his classmates and WINK with reading comprehension, but they're making strides. Going forward, I'm sure there will be more issues and changes to IEPs, but I've learned to be adaptable which is a miracle right there. 

But the best part of the night was the three hour play-date my boys had with a few kids from the boys' school. Don't misunderstand, it was horribly awkward. WINK was a social disaster but our 8 yr old and 6 yr old guests didn't seem to notice. The important thing is that WINK tried to initiate conversations and tried to respond to what they were saying. AND THAT'S PROGRESS! Soon, our guests decided that it was time for my living-room to double as a coliseum for a Gladiator-type ball fight. I'm talking bouncy balls (the kind you sit on and bounce) being swung around like maces and smaller balls being thrown like grenades. Yes, it was potentially dangerous. Sure, it was not my shining Mommy moment. But it was so AMAZING and....little boyish. I swallowed my nerves, sat on my hands, and prayed no one broke a nose. But I let it happen because WINK needed to see it through. He needed to be successful.   SMILE didn't play. Instead, he grabbed his Paper Jams guitar and ROCKED OUT with his little self.

 But the next day's success was all about my sweet SMILE and his speech therapy re-evaluation. Back in September, SMILE's speech delays (processing what he hears and being able to express his own thoughts) meant that he performed on the same level as a 4 year old (he was almost 6 at the time). Now, five months later from the original testing date, he is performing on a 5 year 3 month level. That's a huge jump! There's still a delay and he'll continue with therapy, but he's going to make it. Just today, SMILE woke up because he had a bad dream. He crawled into bed with DAD and I but when I asked him to tell me about the dream, he said, "Actually Mommy, I don't want to talk about it."   My little guy has so much to say, so many beautiful and wonderful thoughts, and I'm so excited because people will soon get to hear them all.