Glasses....

We finally picked up Jonathan's glasses yesterday. He put them on in the store and four seconds later started rubbing his eyes and saying they hurt.  (to be expected, since they are correcting a muscle weakness)

So I had him wear them for an hour on, hour off a few times yesterday... once they were on, I'd let him play an iPad game for a little bit to make him forget about them (plus it forced him to focus on something close up, which is what the glasses are for) He did well! I'm hopeful he'll wear them a little longer each day....

Four-Year Well Visit...

Jonathan had his four-year well visit today! I had forgotten it was the awful one where they get a ton of shots. Oy. He got four... hoping he doesn't spike a fever tomorrow. Uuuuugh.

He weighs 37-1/2 pounds and is 40-1/4 inches tall... 63rd and 47th percentiles, so he has held true to being right in between his two older brothers growth-wise.  He grew THREE inches over the last year!!!!

He was super chatty with the doctor and it was adorably cute. :)  No concerns except that the doctor is happy we are still being followed by OT because he noticed some of the motor planning stuff while J was walking around the exam room. Otherwise, he's really healthy and looks good! :)

ETA: I looked up the other boys' 4-year-checkup numbers.... WOW....
Ben was only 32 pounds and 33 inches tall.  What?!?!? I always knew he was tiny... but never realized how small he was compared to other kids back then. Yikes.

Simon was 43 pounds and 42 inches tall. Craziness!!

All's Well...

Jonathan had a great second day of school yesterday. Walked in like he was leading a parade. Waved to people, said hello.... went right into the classroom. Told me when I picked him up that he had fun! YAY!

Had a conference with Simon's teacher already.... seems things are going okay! She said he's getting his papers where they need to be (huge, HUGE issue last year). She wanted to know more about what he struggled with last year and how to draw him out a little. (he doesn't often speak to teachers unless spoken to) She did say he is raising his hand now and participating, so that's good. He's also starting and finishing classwork without prompting.  I really, really like her.... her classroom structure and the way she naturally goes about keeping the kids on task and prompting with visual cues is really helpful for him. I'm optimistic about continuing to make lots of forward strides with him and school this year!

Ben is doing well... though I continue to be sort of unimpressed by 5th grade. He didn't even have any homework last night.... or much at all on any other night. Apparently there was a sub in math, which explained that one.... but he rarely has any other homework other than math. Really? Middle school is going to be a jarring experience for him if the demands don't pick up a little here....  They've implemented this online grading system, so I can check in on his grades a couple times a week. I like it and it's really helpful to keep tabs on quizzes and things. Simon has this too, but it really makes no sense for the grades below fourth. So the teachers aren't even sure what they are going to do with it for the little guys.

Waiting on Jonathan's glasses to come in. He keeps asking about them. LOL.

OH! We are also waiting on a swingset to be delivered for the backyard! We hemmed and hawed about this for a few years, but finally caved. The boys helped customize it... Simon asked for a "pirate bridge" (like the ramp thing with ropes on the side), so we added that... and Ben wanted three swings,  so we swapped out a trapeze swing for a third swing. He also wanted monkey bars, so we made sure the model we picked had those. Jonathan is excited about the slide. :)

Other than that, no news around here.... just trying to get my life organized lately!

First Day!

Dropoff did not go wonderfully well, but apparently he got over it quickly. I enjoyed my quiet morning in the school library immensely. OH how I have missed my routine!

Things didn't tank until we went IN though... so outside, he was pretty happy!  Ignore the silly faces... he was running around making exploding noises. Just caught him in the middle. ;)

Here he is with his buddy, LIllian. They aren't in the same class for the first time ever. They'll still see each other on the playground though. :)

Pickup was great. He had a great day and had lots to say. The teacher (a sub.... his real teacher had to attend a funeral today... but thankfully, the sub was familiar and well-liked) said her whole class did great and you never would have known it was the first day!

Preschool Visit Day!

Today was peek at your seat for preschool. Jonathan was less than enthused. My expectations were low.... but he actually did great! Posed for a picture on the steps....

He went right into his classroom and said hello to his teacher and, to my surprise, pleasantly answered a few questions about his summer.  About 30 minutes in, I left the room to go out to the parents' meeting and he didn't bat an eye.

I have high hopes for a non-dramatic first day!

I had prepared his teacher for the worst.... but maybe he'll surprise us all! :) We'll see! Monday is the big day!

Two for Three....

After Jonathan's preschool vision screening in February, I got a phone call. It was the woman who ran it calling to tell me that something weird had cropped up during the screening.... that Jonathan had different visual acuity in each eye. (or something like that) The discrepancy is an indication of strabismus, she said. This caught my attention because this is why I had eye surgery when I was 18 months old and then wore glasses until I was 10. At the advice of our pediatrician, we had the two older kids screened really early by an ophthalmologist to make sure they showed no sign of it since tends to run in families. They were both fine... Ben is near-sighted now and wears glasses, but that's unrelated. Simon will eventually need glasses for the same reason...

I had planned on taking Jonathan soon anyway, but the vision people recommended I take him a.s.a.p.
I had never noticed any eye crossing at ALL, plus, I knew he hadn't been especially cooperative for the screening AND the other two kids had been fine, so I procrastinated a little.... between other commitments and the doctor's busy schedule, we didn't end up going until today.

He did great. Complied with everything they asked him to do.  Even handled the eye drops like a pro!

Well, turns out, he is far-sighted! His one eye turns in a bit when he is trying to focus on things that are close. She said it's really mild and that I never would have noticed it until it got worse, (which it would have) and that it was an EXCELLENT catch on the part of the vision screening people.

We left with a prescription for glasses, which she says will correct the problem and he'll eventually grow out of it, hopefully....

I took him out to lunch for being so good and the glasses place was right next door, so we went and and took care of it while we were out. They'll be in next week! He chose little red ones.... super cute! :)
He was mad we couldn't leave with them today, so I think getting him to wear them might not be an issue!  Whew!

Seriously though... how cute is this!? He was very serious about the whole thing.... but he was really happy... don't let the lack of smile fool you! ;)

History Repeating Itself....

So when swim season was in full swing, Ben was ALL gung ho about winter swimming. We talked about it at length, because last year, I got suckered into signing him up for winter team and he ended up crying through three weeks of it before we gave up.

This year, I was very careful. He said he wanted to keep swimming and I talked to his coach and a bunch of the other parents who all suggested this stroke clinic at a nearby college. His coach used to run it and it is now run by a friend of his. He said it's great.... Ben would get to swim with other kids and that adds a little competitive element without the pressure of winter team. (which is commitment level WAY above summer team)  We looked over the brochure together.... we talked about it. I showed him a photo of the pool where it's held. He was all excited. I said, "Are you SURE? I do not want to go through what you put me through with this last year!" "Yes, I'm sure." he said.

Then, this weekend, I reminded him that next weekend is the start of the first session and he FREAKED. "You didn't tell me it was a deep pool!" "It will be cold!" "I'm not doing it!!!"

ARRRRRGH. I already told him he IS doing it.... he is signed up for six weeks and he IS doing those six weeks.

This makes me so mad. I wish this indoor stuff started up while we still had the momentum of summer team going for us. He was SO excited just a two months ago.

Hoping one or two of his summer teammates show up... I know some of them do this clinic. But it's four sessions from now until spring, so they might not be doing THIS particular one. So we'll see....  there's really nothing else for him to do. He can't really do the private lessons anymore at the place the other boys do them... they have nothing left to teach him. What he needs to be doing now is fine-tuning his strokes and working on speed and turns.....

Back to School Night....

Back to school night was uneventful.

I went to fifth grade first and they presented as a team, as they do from 3rd on up. Lots going on this year field trip wise and special activity-wise. Philadelphia, Marshy Point, BSO and like two other things.

In the spring they have the big "Your Changing Body" and an HIV/AIDS unit. Ugh. We're pretty open about talking about all that at home, but something about it being presented to 10-11-year-olds at school weirds me out a little.  (probably just that I have a kid old enough to be partaking in such a unit...)

They've changed "GT" to "AA". I guess "Gifted and Talented" was no longer politically correct. Ben's math teacher confirmed for everyone that the "AA" class gets homework on the weekends. (he had homework over Labor Day weekend and was not happy about this. LOL)

Ben has a seriously bad attitude so far about fifth grade in general. There is none of the excitement he had last year. I don't know why this is, but hope it's just him getting back in the swing of things and that it changes soon. I already miss his teachers from last year and I think he does too They were a great bunch and he was almost always excited about what they were learning and came home with stories. This year, not much so far. His best friend also was pulled out to be homeschooled, so I'm sure that is part of it.

Second grade was great. It's just nice to sit at your child's desk in their classroom... to look around at the bulletin boards and book centers and all that. I miss that when they start presenting as a team. I love his teacher. I just think it's going to be a good year all around there. She wants to meet with me next week to go over his IEP and reports and whatnot, so that's great!

He'll learn cursive this year, which he's excited about.

I learned he doesn't switch for math, so stays with his teacher all day. A handful of other kids from other classes come in. I'm relieved he doesn't switch. Consistency is good....

All in all, not much new.... just trying to get everyone in a good routine!