Five years old

I have to trick Pasquale into looking at the camera too, he's as bad as Anah. His wife Marissa, our special guest on Christmas, "L", Anah and Jonathan.

Amanda opening her robe. Goofy kid wanted to try it out.

He's got the right idea, just the wrong spot.

Bob opening our waffle iron...yummy.

That's what goes under your chin...Mommy in one of her rare photos...ugh.

Haha, caught ya lookin'

Never smiles for a pic, won't look up at you either, so you have to just snap them, that's why she never looks happy, lol.

Don't know what she had been eating, but it looks more like it ate her ;o)

His favorite present? Tissue paper....sigh.

My big 13 year old.

Doesn't it just look like he wants to get into mischief? Well believe me, he usually does!

I can't believe it...my baby is five years old now!!! Where did the time go? He came home to us at 22mos. and just turned five on Thursday. Jonathan definitely doesn't look five, more like 2 1/2 or 3, just grew into 3T clothes finally, but five he is. I must admit to being sad for a couple days, you see, he is almost certainly our last child. I know, at my age (50 this year) I'd be crazy to think about having more, especially with my health issues of late, but I can't help it...I LOVE babies, especially those with that little something extra!

And since Jonathan turned five we have to make plans for the next school year, starting in Sept. We are applying for him to go to Anah's private school, but there will only be 4 openings in the entire school and well over 50 applications for admission. I'm almost certain other children will have greater need d/t age, unwillingness of school districts to provide therapy etc., but I don't want to have to start a whole new group of therapists/agency for a year and then have him start school when he's six. I think that is the way it will have to go, since we have no intention of putting him in any other school for one year and then transferring him. Jonathan would not do well with all that change and we are finally seeing some improvement in his head banging and that much change would certainly put him in overload. The change of therapists coming to our home will be overload enough!

I did want to brag a bit today though, he fed himself breakfast and dinner, as well as went pee pee on the potty!!! I know some of you are probably thinking "big deal, I should hope so by age five!", but believe me, it IS a big deal. Our little guy has had so many sensory issues we couldn't get him to touch food or pick up a spoon for years! Now he will pick up the food with his hand and put it in his mouth. We can still only give him one or two pieces at a time, or he'll cram it all in, but it's huge progress. He is also holding the spoon by himself, without throwing it (which is a constant with him, with anything really) and scooping food out of the bowl and putting it in his mouth! Yippee!! He is even scraping the side of the bowl to get the food in one place so he can scoop it easier. This all has happened almost literally over night. I guess he just decided he was sick of waiting on us feeding him and figured he'd do it himself so he didn't have to wait, lol. He also isn't throwing his drink cup, all huge progress.

Then since we were on a roll, I thought I'd try him on the potty...sure enough, our big boy went pee pee, he wanted to celebrate by playing in his pee, but Mommy wouldn't let him ;o) (aren't I mean?). As sad as I have been the past couple days, today I am rejoicing in all Jonathan's achievements. He has come so far and is doing so well. He is signing and trying to communicate more, usually in response to a question asked by us, but still, we're moving forward. He is beautiful and perfect just the way God made him.

Speaking of beautiful and perfect, Anah is also doing well. Her verbal communication has not progressed much, but she is almost always making eye contact, will point to things, will shake her head yes now instead of exclusively no and will even say yes or no (when she wants to). She will say "hi Dad" or "bye Dad", the rest of us are not so privileged. We had decided to get some kind of communication device after the holidays, since her speech did not "take off" when she started school, apparently her speech therapist at school felt the same way. Anah will be getting a Dynavox to trial for a month, if it works well and she seems to like it/use it, we will purchase it, insurance should pay for most of it. I'm anxious to see if this will spur her on to decide she wants to talk, she does have the physical ability, she just needs to be motivated and so far she hasn't been.

Anah is a peanut also, she is 13 and is just getting into a size 8 slim and still wears a size 13 shoe. She does, however, have a 13 yo attitude! Apparently THAT isn't delayed! She has always been a spitfire, now she is even more so and has learned to roll her eyes!! I wonder where she could have learned that from....Joey???

Joey is doing well. His homeschooling is progressing well, he's started to take on more responsibility in regards to Jonathan and the dog. His 13 yo attitude is also very strong, but he does seem to be working on curbing it a bit more, which I'm very thankful for. He was just at a christian teen snow camp this past weekend, he had a blast! He went tubing and sledding, had times of devotion and worship, played games, ate and fellowshipped with his fellow teens, many from our church, what teen could ask for more?

I know I'm a terrible blogger and if I can figure out how to download pics with my new camera, I'll post some so you can see just how grown up my three littles are getting.

My three bigs are all doing well, the usual young adult stuff, I'll take the three littles ANY day, but I love them all dearly and am one blessed Momma (and wife)!