First week of speech...

So we've completed our first week of speech therapy. It's amazing how adding just one small thing to our usually empty schedule makes me feel super busy (lol). I had actually called the school last week to find out what kind of time line they were looking at for beginning the program. I wanted to make sure they hadn't forgotten about us or lost Jakob's paperwork in the shuffle (things like that tend to happen around here). The speech therapist assured me they hadn't forgotten about us. The school had acquired a new portable for speech and it didn't have smoke alarms or air conditioning. Seeing as how it's now a couple of days from October and it's still 93-94 degrees and muggy outside air conditioning is a must. She told me they'd be ready to start the program on Monday@ 9:00am. Thankfully Jakob woke up so easily Monday morning (which is rare, he's usually super grouchy if I wake him up) and ate his breakfast right up. I kinda dressed him up a little since it was his first day and styled his hair :) I know he can be a handful sometimes so I wanted the therapist to at least think he's super adorable...sometimes that makes up for the stubbornness, believe me, I know from experience. We arrived at the school about 8:50 and someone from the office showed us where the building is. 9:00 passed. Then 9:05. Finally the therapist came out and said that the other two children who were supposed to come didn't show. She asked me to come in with Jakob. I was really looking forward to 30 minutes of reading a book or browsing facebook uninterrupted, in 30 minutes I could even write a blog! I was also looking forward to letting someone work with Jakob without me being there. You know how sometimes kids are so much easier to work with when mom or dad aren't around. Well Monday that was not to be. We sat in the floor and the therapist tried to get Jakob to say words like "more", "please"and "all done." These are all words that I know he can say. Sometimes he even uses them at home, but usually not when you tell him to. We're working on please but pretty much the only time he'll say please is when he wants his shirt off (he'll say "off please") or if he really wants a snack he'll say "cookie please" or "cheerios please." Jakob was much more interested in all the boxes and bins of toys on every shelf than just sitting down and playing with one thing. Eventually she brought out a bag of tiles and there were pictures on them. She layed one down in front of Jakob and said "dog" and he said "dog" she looked at me like (yay!) then she said "ladybug" and he said "ladybug" she did a couple more and he repeated then she said "plane" and laid down an airplane tile. Jakob didn't say it. She said "oh, you don't want that one" and took it away. When she took it away Jakob said "airplane" and she was very happy with that. Anyways, day one was pretty much just Jakob getting to know Miss Blackburn and Miss Blackburn getting to know Jakob.
On Wednesday we showed up about 10 mins early again. This time another lady came walking up with a young boy by the hand. I figured this is probably one of Jakob's "friends" that will be taking speech with him. The lady and the boy were conversing in Spanish. (There is a large immigrant population in our town. There are a lot of children at this elementary school getting speech therapy just to learn to speak English. When we went on Wednesday there was a girl about 8 or 9 years old learning English words.) The new child in Jakob's speech therapy doesn't speak much English at all. He's about 3 years old just like Jakey. When Jakob saw him he got the biggest smile on his face and ran up to him. Everything this little boy did Jakob did. Everywhere this little boy went Jakob wanted to go also. I was sitting there hoping that they would encourage each other to participate and not the other way around. This time the boys went in without their moms. After the therapy was done the teacher came out and said both boys did very well. She said she learned with Jakob when he's being whiny she has to use a firm voice and tell him to stop and he'll stop. She said when Jakob would fuss the other little boy would pat his back and say "oh,it's ok" which is good for the other little boy too because he's learning to speak to others in English. Anyways, our first week of speech went very well and I think it's going to be a big help to Jakey.

Also, I got the ok from the cardiologist. My heart is healthy and strong. Thank goodness for that news. The doc said he's fairly certain my thyroid issues are causing the heart pains/palpitations. Jeremy applied for a job back home (not with his previous employer) and another one is supposed to open soon. There's also an opening coming near St. Augustine for Jeremy's current employer so we're kind of excited that we may be able to move away from here soon!!! Just praying about it and trying to be patient. Thanks for the prayers. Please remember to pray for my friend Dana as she's going through IVF again and trying for another baby.