Busy Busy Busy!

We have decided to take a trip to Disney! We are going in February. The trip is more for Andrew and I since we have never had a vacation but what better place to get away for a week with a toddler than Disney World! I feel like a kid the night before Christmas and I have 5 months left to go... Looking very forward to the trip.

This week was a very busy week. We had a meeting for parents interested in the Integrated Learning System on Tuesday night. It confirmed our commitment to the program and we look forward to starting it after Eli passes his hearing and vision test. There was a lot of information and we are very excited to give this a try.

Eli has been a VERY active 3 year old this week. I know all toddlers have good weeks and bad weeks. This one was not our very best. He has had such a hard time focusing on any one activity for a period of time. If we are at home, he is usually OK but when we go somewhere outside of his comfort zone then he is a whole new child. He gets so wound up over everything around him that he goes into melt down mode. I know so much of this is typical little boy but it also does not take much for him to get over stimulated and throw a tantrum.

We had OT on Thursday. He was not as cooperative as what he usually is but Cindy is so patient in working with him and what his needs are that we worked through it. She keeps giving me ideas on how I can work with him outside of the house which is where we have our biggest issues. After OT we worked with Katie for speech. He was so good! Katie and I were very pleased with his progress. He followed directions well and transitioned from one task to another with ease which is HUGE for him. He also did not have to take as many breaks and was able to work through the session without getting angry or having a meltdown. He even worked in a normal play classroom. We have not been able to do that because he would get too distracted in those rooms before. So all in all, it was a great week. I am already able to see a HUGE improvement in his speech and so can others around him. He is trying very hard to pronounce all of his words clearly. (Although, sometimes I like the way he says some of his words wrong.)

We are meeting next week for his 2nd eval for the school system. I am very excited to start that also. Although I only work 2 days a week, we have speech and OT every week, school 3 days a week, and now a second speech class every week, I am one busy mama! I love it but the weekends sure are nice to be able to relax with the family.

On a different note, Eli has slept in the bed with me since he was very little. He hated his crib. We transformed his crib into a big boy bed. He liked it better but still liked our room the best. I actually enjoyed him sleeping with me because Andrew works nights 1/2 of each months. I enjoyed having him close to me with the dog in the room. For some reason I felt safe. I have known that it is probably for the best that he sleeps in his own bed soon because 3 of us in a queen bed was not the best night sleep anymore. Last week, I was putting him down for a nap in my room and he told me he wanted to go sleep in his big boy bed. I was just sure that he didn't mean it and he was going to say anything to get out of bed but we tried it and he went to sleep in his bed! For the last 6 nights he has voluntarily slept in his own room.  I am sleeping so much better but I miss my boy at night! I am so glad it became his idea to sleep in his bed instead of having to force it.

So that is what has been going on in the Thomas house for the last week.

-Brittany