eSpecially Ben

Earlier in the week I actually had time to finish my 2009 Christmas scrapbook pages, something that's been on the "to do list" for, well, 9 months. That fact should have been a clue that something was coming. And of course it did, when I woke from a nap (I had time for one of those too) my friend called to deliver the disturbing news. Our school district announced in a meeting this week that they may be closing schools throughout the county. This means displacing students, moving programs and basically a big headache for families and students, not to mention the staff who work at these schools. For us, Logan attends a public Montessori school within walking distance of our home. This is one of the schools slated to close. They plan to move this program to the school Ben attends, about 20 minutes from our home. And what does that do to Ben? Not sure, but probably displaced to another school in the county. So our neighborhood is on fire, getting a plan together to fig

Apple Picking at Sky Top Orchard in Flat Rock, NC - At the end of the day, Ben decided to chomp down on one of the apples he found. Although, sitting in this first photo, Ben started out laying down with the apple. When Ben tired of the apple, he let it roll down the hill. (This may seem like an ordinary thing, but for Ben it took a lot of coordination to eat this apple on his own.)

Ben brought this home from school on Friday. The class is doing a unit on friendship. Earlier in the week, Ben's teacher told me Ben got in trouble for putting Lorena's whole hand in his mouth. The teacher said he likes her a lot - I guess that's one way to get her attention.

This weekend I ran my ninth race of the year - Run for Mercy - at Reedy Creek Park. It was a 5K trail race, organized by an international organization, Mercy . They raised over $21,000 for the local chapter. If you are not familiar with this organization, check it out. They do amazing things for girls in crisis world-wide. And they also know how to plan a race. With "door" prizes, kid games, a fun run, kind-of superheroes ( Captain Salvation , Monkey Joe and the Cow from Chick-Fil-A ), food and drinks, the race was a true family event. The race was well-orchestrated with water available on the trails and volunteers directing us at every turn. I have been running these trails with a friend so I was prepared for the terrain. The best part of the race was Ryan and the three boys cheering me on. It was a big boost to know that they were waiting for me at the finish line. The kids took part in the Fun Run. Sean ended up running way ahead. He rounded the bend and the trees

Ben has ticklish knees and it never fails to get him going! Click here to see other great photos.

Sean is 2 1/2 and his speech is okay, but not great. Probably in time, it would all come together, perhaps needing speech when he reached Kindergarten. But with information and resources at our fingertips, we had his speech tested. As expected, his expressive and receptive language scores were good. Sean's score on the articulation test was  concerning. This was not a surprise because he leaves off the final consonant on most words - Ben is 'Be', Chair is 'Cha' and so on. Another concern is using correct sounds for words. Car sounds like 'Har'. Ben's speech therapist, Kenyatt, can come early and see Sean at our home before Ben's appointment. Sean is very familiar with Kenyatt, and I have introduced the idea to Sean as "his turn" to work with Kenyatt.  When I have tried to show Sean how to make a specific sound, he is eager to learn and tries to move his mouth and tongue to make the sounds. I am glad we have caught this early. I belie

Sean, age 2 1/2, is beginning to scribble. Click here for other works of art.