The boys have been settling into the school routine. Here are some updates from the oldest to the youngest. Sorry it is so long!
Chase: Chase has had the hardest time transitioning to school starting. He was very unhappy about changing schools so that did not help. Homework has been a beating!! His teacher apparently sent out an email about shortening the homework amount but the email did not make it to us. As a result, he did double the amount of homework this week. Chase is making great grades, but he has to work for them. I hope he can keep up the hard work. He also has a "binder-signing happy" teacher. He has had his binder signed twice for little minor things. That is devastating to him. Chase is really maturing before my eyes, and it is painful to watch. I remember that awkward time. He knows things now and he sees the world through older eyes. Makes me sad that he is leaving his childhood behind. He cares so much about his appearance now. It is torture to him to have to wear a shirt with a collar. He will not wear it one second longer than he has to wear it. He and Nate continue to have such a wonderful and special bond. I don't know how I would do it without Chase helping so much with Nate. Chase has also developed a very caring relationship with Cade. Chase has always struggled with Cade because he did not understand why Cade acts the way he does sometimes. Chase went with me to one of Cade's therapy sessions and a light bulb went off! He truly gets Cade now and understands why he is the way he is. Chase is now super patient, helpful, and loving towards Cade. He helps Cade when Cade is having a hard time. He wants to be the one to help with Cade's brushing therapy. I even heard him standing up for his brother to someone! It has been wonderful!
Dylan: There is not a lot to write about Dylan. He is loving school!! He loves learning and does very well. Everyday is a great day for him. He has a good friend in his class so he is happy. He and Cade now wear the same size in pants. That could get interesting. Dylan is the same sweet, silly, daydreaming boy as always.
Cade: There is always something to write about Cade :-) He had a cavity filled at the dentist. He proceeded to suck and bite his lip so badly that it became very swollen and painful. That caused a lot of problems for a few days. He has been having good days at school and bad days at school. Most days he has at least one small meltdown. I never thought that I would be glad that we are a half-day Kindergarten district, but I am. God knew what he was doing! The good news is that Cade is bright and can already read (simple words and his colors). I hope that helps his confidence. He is having meltdowns at school. He hit his head one day and started screaming. Then he noticed that everyone was staring at him so he started crying and saying, "Why are they looking at me, stop looking at me". That made me so very sad. He is struggling some with his fine motor skills. When he has had enough of trying he will just start drawing circles and scribbling. I am going to ask his therapist what we can do to help with that. His kindergarten teacher continues to be fantastic!!! God truly answered my prayers. I was talking on the phone with my dad the other day when I had an epiphany. I "understand" that God gave me Cade for a reason but I had not been feeling in my heart that I was the best mom for Cade. When I was talking to my dad, I suddenly saw that I am the perfect mom for Cade. I will love him no matter what. I am willing to search out therapies, ideas, or whatever will help him. I am patient (most of the time) and calm (again, most of the time) so his meltdowns do not disturb me like they do some other people. Most importantly, I am open-minded about sensory issues and I truly understand that he is not behaving badly. I have been told that Cade could be fixed by some good old-fashioned discipline. I know that is not true. We have spanked our kids in the past. (I have found that the longer I am a parent the less I spank - we only spank now in very rare instances, safety related usually) Out of all our children, Cade has been spanked the most because we were trying everything to help him. Old fashioned discipline is not the answer for him. After we truly understood what was going on with him, we really felt some guilt. I am starting to ramble some, but the gist is that I know that I really can give Cade what he needs. He started museum school on Monday and he absolutely loves it! He was so very excited when I picked him up. He hid something behind his back and told me that he had a thousand rocks behind his back. He showed me a bag of sand and told me about how sand was made. He also made a hermit crab out of a pasta shell and some clay. He loves it. I was worried that museum school would be too much for him to handle, but he had the best time and cannot wait until next week. I told his teacher about SPD at meet the teacher and she knew exactly what it was! When we came on Monday, she remembered Cade and specifically asked me if flashes bother him because they were going to take some pictures. I am thrilled that someone so knowledgeable is his teacher.
Nate: Nate continues to crack us up!! He is just so much fun and so full of joy. He adores his brothers. He loves shoes, phones, and singing. That doesn't sound very manly, does it? He makes us laugh and brings so much joy to our lives. He started preschool today. He was thrilled to be taking his backpack but he was less than thrilled to go into the classroom. He cried and cried. I stayed in the hallway until he settled down. I am sure he will love it soon.
Nate had the best time playing with the car shooter. He loves cars right now.
Nate going to preschool. He was thrilled to have his backpack. See him holding tight to his 2 bears.
Cade's beautiful lip, this picture does not do the grossness justice.
Nate will put on whatever shoes he finds. Here he is in Cade's socks and shoes.
Cade's hermit crab
Nate talking on the phone
He was so excited that he could not stand it!
Here he is already trying to crawl into bed.
Soooo happy!
I asked him to close his eyes and pretend like he was asleep and he did it!
