Summer Pictures!!!!!!

It's Labor Day, the unofficial end to summer.  Although I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my family this summer, I am ready to have fall here.  I am not a hot weather person and am really looking forward to fall.  I am also looking forward to having a schedule again.  We have really been kind of flying by the seat of our pants with our schedule.  The only real schedule we had was Michael going to school the month of July, but after that, we just did what ever we felt like.  As wonderful as it was to not really have to do anything at any specific time, I am really looking forward to being on a routine.  We really did much more, but these are just a few of our pictures from the summer.

Tomorrow, the twins start a drop off group at EI and then we have orientation for Michael in the afternoon.  Wednesday, Michael starts pre-school every day for 5 hours.  It sounds like a lot, but he handles it so well and I really think he has benefitted from this extra school time!  I am trying to set up play dates for the twins.  I am thinking that it will help them socialize and maybe even learn to talk more! 

Michael Kennebunk Beach

Eva Rose Kennebunk Beach

Thomas Kennebunk Beach

Swinging in big kid swings

Thomas in the fire truck at touch a truck

Eva Rose in the fire truck at touch a truck

Michael in the fire truck at touch a truck

Hurricane Irene (thankfully we missed a lot of damage.  These were boats in Swampscott Beach) 

Date night at Fenway Park

Hiking in Breakheart Reservation after Eva Rose fell and went to the ER for stitches

Eva Rose after stitches

Swinging after stitches

Our newest baby cousin, Hannah

It's been a busy summer!

Amy

First Parent Teacher Phone Conference

Today was my first parent teacher conference ever.  Michael's teacher wanted to talk about his progress and where things stood for the rest of the year and the summer.  During the phone conference I found out that as much as I think Michael is progressing, the teacher thinks that he will do better in a classroom with a teacher:kid ratio of 4:5.  I am thrilled that he is going to be getting a lot more attention, which I absolutely think will be a huge benefit to him.  I am concerned though that he is not progressing as fast as I would like.  the new plan is for Michael to transition into the new classroom and maybe even go to preschool for a full day.  I am really excited about his going to school for a longer day, if he can tolerate it, but I am mostly excited about the teacher to student  ratio.I hope that his speech progresses quickly and he can return to a regular classroom, but I would much rather see this happening now instead of delaying it and have him not be ready for kindergarten.

I know that all kids progress at their own rate, but given that all of my kids have somewhat of a speech delay, I can't  help but wonder if I am doing something wrong or not doing something right while I am at home with them.  I think one of the things that I tend to do is focus on their stronger skill set, their gross motor skills.  Since they tend to be so much more active, I tend to let them do more physical play instead of working on either fine motor skills (which they aren't really delayed in, they just have little to no interest in doing), or a lot of technically cognitive skills.  I need to put together a plan so that I can work on their fine motor skills such as holding a crayon and drawing and their cognitive/language skills.  They tend not to like to sit and read books, so even though I try to read to them, I often get frustrated that they don't want to listen and I don't read to them as much as I should.  This is really ironic since I am and have always been an avid reader.  I am so afraid that I am causing my children to have the dealys that they have.  I will just have to look at what I can do from now on and not look at what I haven't done in the past!

Amy