First Report Card, First Sentences, First Food

I've been meaning to write this post for an entire week, but life has been getting the better of me. We decided, more or less on a whim, to redo the floors in most of the upstairs, so my life was hijacked by remodeling. More on that later with before and after pictures. However, today I want to brag on my boys a little.

Max received his first report card last week and got glowing marks from his teacher. She wrote that he is a pleasure to have in class and contributes often. When we met with her for conferences this week, she also said that he's in the highest reading group and is doing very well in all his other subjects. I was concerned about putting him in school this year, wondering how he'd do, but he's done nothing but thrive. He's made some great new friends, his reading has grown by leaps and bounds, and he seems to be genuinely enjoying himself. I couldn't ask for much more.

Luke started using sentences this week, in other exciting news. He's still behind in his speech, but he'll be restarting speech therapy at a new clinic soon. And, for the first time, he's been trying to speak more on his own. This week especially he's been stringing two word sentences together such as "daddy go" and "more wa-wa (water)". It's a big milestone for him, and it gives me a little more hope that he'll start talking to us eventually.

For his part, Jack is talking up a little babble storm lately. After getting the go ahead and debating over what to try first, we started him on oat cereal this week. Man, that boy loves, loves, loves his food! Because Luke is slightly allergic to oat, banana, and avocado and I'm reluctant to use rice cereal because of potential arsenic levels, it was quite the task to decide what Jack's first food should be. However, he's doing very well with the oat so far. Unfortunately, it hasn't helped his sleeping yet, and he's still up three or four times every night. I'm trying to be patient, but it's getting harder and harder with each passing week. Sleep is, by far, my favorite activity.

I'm so proud of my boys and all their many accomplishments. We are so blessed with our three musketeers!