Gustav and kids update

Gustav really did put the smack down on our little city. At our house we were without power just short of two weeks which was much less time than I would have initially estimated.

And then after the lights came back on, I was thrown into trying to juggle William's full therapy schedule, getting Margaret to and from Mother's Day Out, and attempting not to let our house sink further into chaos. I've only been marginally successful. All of you other Mommies who have a full plate of therapy, a clean house, and a JOB... my hat is off to you. I really DO NOT understand how you fit it all in. That being said, I am looking forward to the day I can work again. I really miss doing something for myself. And before you ask, no I'm not planning on going back to grad school. Just not worth it in the grand scheme of my life right now. Maybe when I'm old and have time to be bored again...

How are the kids? Great!

Margaret has matured so much. I just can't believe how much of a child she is now. I miss my little baby girl! But she loves "school" and all things learning. Her creativity continues to surprise me. I just didn't realize how clever children are at this young age. Margaret loves to help me clean up little spills and dust. She is a great storyteller and can also sing decently on key. Her greatest strength continues to be her love for reading and numbers. Is she reading? A little. We don't really push it so I probably underestimate how much she actually knows. But I have to say, she is much more on par with her peers now and that makes me happy. While I loved the amazement in people's eyes when they realized that my 12 month old knew her alphabet, it is a sigh of relief to me that she is more on par with her peers now in pre-reading skills. The best thing of all is that she starting to enjoy interaction with other children... and will play with her brother from time to time. He loves it and so do I.

William has gotten huge. His 24m clothing is getting to be a bit too little for him and 2Ts are just right... he is 20 months adjusted. So, he is about 95% on the SPQD CP growth chart. While this is awesome that he is so healthy, it is really hard on my old bones. He is so hard to hold now. I'm guessing about 28 pounds and maybe 36-37 inches. But that is all ragdoll weight. When he is in my arms, he is usually completely relaxed so I get now help from him at all. And then if he gets excited for any reason and stiffens up, his weight is easier to hold, but he is so long that it is just awkward. Consequently, my carpal tunnel is keeping me up at night and my elbows hurt during the day.

Developmentally, William is still making slow steady progress. He has started to tolerate being put on the floor for a few minutes at a time now. I'm am hoping that he will learn to roll now that he has the opportunity. There are some sounds that we are calling words now. William consistently says "Addie" which means "Daddy" and he will say "Ahg" for "again" sometimes. He is trying so hard to talk but it really is exhausting for him. And it is slow going with ST right now b/c he won't stop crying during therapy. I know that given the opportunity he would be able to use a simple choice communicator to tell us what he wanted between two things. He is getting some switches for his birthday. What a lucky boy. ;)

We still have no approvals from insurance for any type of equipment for William. November 20th will mark a year since he was first measured for a seating system. Yep, that's right. I've been holding him for his entire life so far. Now we know why my elbows really hurt.