Stability

I haven't posted anything in soo long! Sorry about that. The latest (and greatest) news involves R. :) Yesterday afternoon, Jeff and I had a conference with R's teacher, math teacher, and speech therapist. We came in and one of the first things the therapist told us was that she was going to go slow since it was obvious that both of us are running on very little sleep. This has been a HUGE challenge in our home for several reasons. One is that L is teething (he has managed to get one tooth out so far and working on more) and that cuts into his sleep. I'm just thankful that they only go thru this painful ordeal once and don't remember anything later. The other challenge is that J hasn't been sleeping through the night every night either. It's almost like he and L have this unknown code between them that if one does sleep thru the night, the other will wake up at 1, 2, or 3 am and cry about something (ie: growing pains, wet the bed, bad dream, etc)... One of these days, we WILL get a full week of uninterrupted sleep! Anywho, R's therapist said that all of the teachers have agreed that they don't think R needs special assistance anymore. This means that, next year, she won't be pulled out of her class for speech therapy, counseling, or small group math class. This is a huge accomplishment for her. When she was test last year, she was struggling to put a whole sentence together that made sense (ie: given the beginning of a sentence and then asked to finish it) and she stuttered a lot. The stuttering made it really frustrating for her in trying to get out what she wanted to say. She still does stutter a little (especially when she's really excited about something) but she kinda stops to think about what she's going to say next. One thing that the teachers said that really hit home for me is that R is much more confident about herself. She's happy and willing to work hard at whatever task she's given. It will take her a while to figure things out but, she tries hard and it's paying off. They also said that a large part of her self confidence is because there's stability at home. If Jeff and I hadn't met and married, that stability would still be off track, even now. The fact that Jeff had been able to be at home in the mornings and take her to school and then be able to pick her up (or walk her home) in the afternoons made a big difference. She is finally coming out of her shell more and it's beautiful to watch. Sometime last year, R asked me "When this daddy dies, are we going to move back to Dallas?" That question hit hard for Jeff and I both. After I told her that I wasn't planning on that happening for a long, long time from now, she seemed more willing to let her guard down a bit. Jeff has been awesome in taking the time to reach out to all 3 of the children and to answer R's questions. Case in point: We have a neighbor who lives catercorner to us. They have a daughter who is in 1st grade (I'll call her M) and she and R have been two peas in a pod since we moved her. They HAVE to see each other at least once a day (even if it's only for 15 - 30 minutes). Last year, M lost her Grammy to cancer. Grammy used to keep M whenever M's mom had to be out during the evening. Last week, M's mom had to go to be gone for about an hour and a half and we had both girls over and playing in the back yard. They (and J) get along great and everything was fine until about the last 30 minutes or so. M started getting homesick and missing her grammy. She hurt her finger somehow and that started the tears. It also got R to missing Donovan. They cried together, M's mom came home and M went home and R came in sobbing hard (right at the same time of feeding L). Got L down to play, Jeff and I got R to her room and let her cry and talk it out. Once the tears had dried up, R started asking the hard questions that we adults have a hard time with (ie: Can he see me? Why can't I see him? When am I going to see him? How can he see me in heaven? etc). Jeff made things simple enough that she was happy with the answers. Then, back to the normal routine of supper, homework, etc. I am so thankful that R feels comfortable enough to ask Jeff those tough questions. I am also thankful that the teachers at Sidney Deener Elementary School are willing to take students from where they are to where they need to be academically. Blessed. More to follow...