The Latest Happenings for the Boys!

The weather is sure holding true to spring-like conditions! Yesterday afternoon was not bad, but back to the rain and gloom today. I will be glad when we have sunshine for several days in a row, with temps that allow for windows to be opened and clothes to be hung out to dry! Instead, we have mud puddles that are just begging for little boys to jump in them!! Hopefully, we will only see rain and not stormy weather. I'm pretty sure everyone has picked up enough tree limbs and branches to last this season.

Now for a little update on Matthew. I am so excited about the differences I am seeing in Matthew in the last couple of weeks or so. Not only that, but I'm excited that other people are noticing the differences as well! At school Matthew is becoming much more independent, and he WANTS it that way. They have reported that he is watching the other students and is wanting to do some of the things they are. He is feeding himself exceptionally well now, and he is branching out and trying new foods a little more often. He has recently eaten cooked carrots and a bagel with cream cheese! He was on the computer the other day for a lengthy period and even used headphones...that had always been a NO-NO for him before! Tuesday when I went in to pick him up he was using the potty...and laughing about it! (He had used it the week before as well!) It did make us a few minutes late for speech at WKU, but hey, when a boy's got to go, a boy's got to go!! And his verbalizations!!!!!! Even my Mamaw noticed that Matthew was talking more. He is using words to request what he wants and I love it!! He also jabbers a lot and we don't really understand it, but sometimes by the look on his face, it's probably a good thing that we can't! He is continuing to do well at WKU as well. He has been in really good moods the last few days I've picked him up from KAP and they have told me how wonderful he's been. Tuesday the staff said he had been laughing and dancing! Can you imagine...Matthew cuttin' a rug!! I'm sure it wasn't "dancing" per say, but it was his own version!! He enjoyed swinging in his swing for a while yesterday evening, and I think he enjoyed digging his shoes in the mud even more! Needless to say, shoes, socks and pants came off before he came in the house =)

Jacob is well, Jacob! He is 6 going on 16 if I've ever seen it! We CAN understand everything he says, and sometimes that's not such a good thing!! He's developed the first grade smarty mouth that I'm pretty sure those in my generation didn't acquire until at least the fourth grade!! There's lots of threatening with no baseball going on right now, and thankfully that works fairly well. Don't get me wrong...Jacob is a wonderful little boy and is very smart and sweet!!! He, like most all other children I know, has his moments of which I would like to revert him back to the sweet little baby that I could pop a pacifier into!! ;p He is loving being able to be outside a little and I hope the weather fairs up enough we can spend a lot of spring break outdoors. There will have to be a lot of bribery for Matthew though! Jacob got his report card today and it was good! He has 104.6 in spelling, 96.2 in math and 85.3 in reading. His reading grade was down a good bit, but he had a couple of tests with low grades. In all honesty for him, one of those tests in particular, I had trouble with the answers!! First grade is not as easy as it once was!! He made a big jump though in his STAR reading level...from 1.9 to 2.7! And, he has 27.4 AR points. The one thing that I've noticed and will probably have to talk to his teacher about to make sure there doesn't need to be any intervention, is his "completes a task on time" It has went from an "always" to "most of the time" to "some of the time". I asked him, as I do often, if he was having trouble getting all his work done, and this was his explanation..."Yes, I am. (Insert girl's name) talks to me and I try to ignore he so I can get my work done, but then she'll tell on me for ignoring her, so I HAVE to talk to her." When I just now asked about her again, he said, "Yeah, I try to ignore her so I can get my work done, but maybe she just don't like boys. Besides, one time, she didn't even share her crayon with me." hhummm...I wonder....could this have anything to do with "Accepts responsibility for own actions" being a "most of the time" instead of an "always"?? Just a thought!! =) (I have spoke with his teacher about this a couple of times in the past and she has assured me that it is due to him trying to get everything 'just right'. I will talk to her again and make sure it hasn't turned into more of a problem though.) Last week Jacob was the only one to make 100 on his reading test, and this week he made a 93. He told my mom that was a bad grade! I said, "Well, he was wanting to make 100 again." As, he had told me this morning. She said, "Yeah, I know, just like you." Oh gosh, I hope I'm not creating one of THOSE!

I hope this weekend is not a total wash-out! The rain makes me not want to do anything productive! Let's see...curling up on the couch and watching Twilight for the billionth time don't sound bad! =)