TGIF

This has been a busy week! People always ask me how I do it with three toddlers. The answer, plain and simple: I don't know. There are a lot of days when I don't know how I do it either. This has been an extra busy week with lots of activities and changes. I think the tumult is good sometimes--I certainly didn't have time to get bored--but with more on the agenda there's less wiggle room for little kids who have a rough night's sleep or a crabby morning to recuperate with a longer nap or a mellow day at home.

Everyone started speech therapy this week. I am so excited to have that up and running! Gabriel and Abigail are working with one therapist and Amelia is working with another, though this week they were all involved with both therapists so everyone could get to know one another and build a certain amount of comfort with the new visitors. Down the road I hope to have all three kids working with one therapist. Right now, as it worked out with scheduling, we have therapy sessions scheduled four days a week and I have to be flexible with some lunch and naptime routines so the timing, while certainly workable, isn't ideal. I'm hopeful that we can find more optimal days and times in the not too distant future. But aside from scheduling challenges, it looks like we're off to a good start.

I really love Gabe and Abby's therapist. Her name is Sharon and she is really great. She obviously works well with kids and has a great way of engaging everyone, but beyond that she seems warm, professional, and just plain sweet. I could see being friends with her, if that kind of thing naturally develops. If it doesn't I'm fine with that too; I just like her and am excited to have her working with my kids. Amelia's therapist is less appealing to me on a personal level and I was a bit turned off by her initial visit. She seemed a little abrupt and off-putting, almost a little rude. But I do think it's kind of unintentional, like maybe she doesn't have the greatest adult people skills, but she proved to be pleasant enough as the sessions went on. And to her credit, she also did nicely with the kids so I think she will be fine.

The sessions were all fun to watch and participate in. It's all play based and so far it just seems like these new people come into the house with big Santa Claus type bags of toys and we all hang out and play and sing songs and stuff. We're working on eliciting more sounds out of the kids by elongating and exaggerating word pronunciations and using lots of repetition. The playing keeps the kids interested and engaged, and hopefully provides impetus for them to interact and reciprocate both behaviorally and vocally. I was encouraged to get reinforcement for a lot of the things Garrett and I already do, like encouraging them to try using words to ask for what they want and even using sign language to communicate clearly instead of just pointing or grunting or shrieking. I want to develop an ear for my kids' efforts to speak. There were several times when Sharon or Carolyn picked up on vague tones or cadences in Gabriel's babble that could be him actually trying to articulate something resembling words. I could hear it a little when they brought my attention to it, but it made me realize that there are times I'm sure my kids are trying to communicate and I'm just not getting it, or not even realizing that they are really trying. Overall I'm just feeling great relief to have the experts in and working with us now, and I'm excited to see the results as they come.

Other than speech therapy the week still felt busy. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can get outside more. This winter has gone on long enough. We had another snow storm last Monday that dumped about a foot or so. It was mostly gone within a couples days and things have warmed up, slightly, but we haven't had real outdoor weather for months. Last week I tried taking everyone to the playground one sunny day. I just couldn't bear being inside for one more day. Gabriel and Abby and Amelia all loved it, until I think the cold snuck into Abigail's bones because after a great time on the swings with squeals of delight and smiles all around, she soon started crying unconsolably. That was the end of our morning adventure and I had to take my three little popsicles inside. Now that it's March I hope spring is truly on its way!