September Updates

It's been so long since I've blogged that I'm surprised I still remembered my blog username and password! Things have just been busy lately. I went back to work on September 6th, Natalie is in tumbling, taking dance lessons, and goes to choir practice on Sundays plus has homework to complete. Nathan is up every three hours around the clock to eat. On top of all of this I am still in grad school trying to keep up with assignments and attempting to stay current with all of the changes in our elementary school curriculum. The blog is taking a back seat to everything else.

Natalie, as I've mentioned, is in a couple of different extracurricular activities. She really likes her dance class this year because it's tap, ballet, and jazz. She was terrified of jazz at first and then realized it's a lot of fun. She's getting better at tumbling although it's a steep learning curve and will take a while to master. Children's choir at church is on Sundays and she is enjoying learning new songs and playing the African drums.

She is also enjoying school immensely and is learning to be tolerant and patient with the students in her class. This year her class is following a collaborative model where students with special needs are in the same classroom all day with the regular ed students. Children with special needs have been in regular classrooms for years, but this year they don't have to leave their classroom for extra help because the help comes to them. The special ed teacher and the instructional assistants work with all of the children in the class so everyone benefits. So, Natalie has about three different teachers in her room at any given time. Lately she's been complaining about one particular special needs student who won't follow the rules and who scribbles outside the lines when she colors, but I've been talking with Natalie about being compassionate towards her because she probably feels frustration and left out since she cannot do what the rest of the class can. I'm not sure at her age if she completely understands, but it's good for her to start to learn tolerance, acceptance of others, and patience.

Nathan is doing well now that we have him on reflux medicine. He was spitting up at night and it was waking him up quite frequently, but now it's pretty much under control. He has an appointment coming up next week with the pediatric urologist and continues to take amoxicilan daily to prevent a urine infection. He seems to like daycare (as much as a ten week old can) and loves looking at all of the colorful streamers with animals hanging from the ceiling. At home he's loving the ceiling fan and the pot rack. Simple pleasures!