Out of Touch

I have been very lost in the day to day goings on of our life and have not been keeping up on the blog.
This year has flown by and now it is December it is just crazy!.
Our life has changed with preschoolers. Now we have to get up at a set time and get out the door and to school on time. That can be challenging with any children, but you throw SPD into the mix and it becomes a little harder.
Both Haven and Alec love, love, love their preschool. And we had our first of many parent-teacher conferences. Haven is doing really well in class. I am so proud of her! She hasn't had a melt down yet in school. Her teacher says she is easily distracted and has to be re-directed alot, but that is to be expected for a toddler with SPD.
But on the home front life has not been so rosy. Haven was able to keep it together in school but would loose control the minute she came home. We would have hour long meltdowns. It got to the point I was ready to pull her out of school and try again next year. Her teacher has been a great help, because she has a child with ADHD and understands some of the challenges we face. Giving Haven time to adjust to this new schedule and challenges wasn't easy but I'm glad we did it. She is really blossoming and maturing.

It has also helped that we have a new OT that I feel is a better fit for Haven's needs. Unfortunately our appointments are pretty sporadic until after the first of the year. With Ms. Shannon's direction we got a pretty good sized indoor trampoline. Both kids love jumping on it and Haven will now go jump on her own when she is loosing control. I made her a weighted vest for meal time (one of our other big challenges).  The simple vest with bean bags sewn on to it has made a HUGE difference in keeping her more focused and making meal time more pleasant for the whole family.

Haven is now writing letters! She is such a smart girl and always amazes me even when she is frustrating me:).
Alec is about to turn 3 years old! No way!! My baby is so big now. He is now taller than Haven by a smidgen. He is a puzzle master. The boy can put together a 45 piece puzzle so fast and he will then go help Haven with hers. He is my funny, kind, happy boy, but I can't believe how fast he has grown up. It has been good for him to go to school for a morning without Haven and make friends on his own. He needs to a chance to be Alec, not just Haven's brother. He still feels responsible for Haven's safety...we are working on that daily. Someone so young shouldn't have to worry about that, just play. But it just shows what a truly amazing child he is.

They both are super excited about Christmas and Santa. It has been fun to decorate the house and introduce them to Christmas carols. Of course their favorite is Santa Claus is coming to town.

Recently somethings have happened to people close to me that have helped me realize how blessed I am and start to look at my life differently.

 Haven's weighted vest. I'm no Martha Stewart, but it turned out pretty cute.

 The puzzle master at work.

Writing her name.