Mason started pre-school in September. He's attending Ledgemere Country Day School right here in Cape Elizabeth, the very same school that his big brother went to. Ben went there for two years, when he was 3 and 4. Mason, however was able to go this year as a 2 year old, as they now have a toddler (aka: you can come in diapers) program. He is just loving it. The teachers report that he is making new friends, sitting at the table to enjoy snack and making craft projects with the others. I suspect that if you asked Mason what his favorite part of school is, that he mention the sandbox!
He's also been working with his team of therapists on a regular basis throughout the summer and fall. He'd been responding quite well to lots of the Sensory therapy, but the team thought there may be more to his issues than just a sensory component. In September, he was evaluated by a local Pediatric Psychologist for additional input. They had Jay and I fill out lots of questionaires, they spent time reviewing all of the reports from his behavioral, physical and occupational therapy reports and doing lots of one-on-one testing with him at the Doctor's office. Turns out, he's quite bright - we knew he was smart, but he tested very high on many of the cognitive parts of the tests, in fact passed many skills up to the 6 yr old categories!!
However, he fell short in many other areas pertaining to attention, impulsivity, self-care, and a trait they call being "hyper-focused", when he locks in on something trivial that interferes with his functioning. One example of that is when a person leaves our house, he MUST touch all 4 tires on the car, and they MUST beep their horn or he melts down. Doing that becomes so important to him that he can't go on with anything else until that happens. Odd.
Though he's very young to give an actual diagnosis, the Dr. felt very strongly that he will be looking at a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHA) by the time he is 4 or 5. He may even have a bit of an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) component as well.
Sadly, it's an issue that he'll be dealing with for a lifetime, but we feel good about his team of therapists - they're working hard with us to give him some solid tools to help him on his way.
However, even with all the hard work we face with him everyday, he's making great progress...he is out of his crib and 'sleeping' in his big boy bed, he's started potty training - with some success! and he's learning to put on his pants and coat all by himself (he's been removing his own clothes for quite some time...loves to be a nude rude dude!) And, his language skills are amazing - according to his teachers, he's by far, the most verbal and using the most complex thought and sentence structure of any of the kids in his class. It's funny, as 9 months ago we were worried that he'd never speak!Our Emmi girl is now 13 months old! The polar opposite of her brother, her days are filled with sitting quietly and reading books, pouring pretend tea from her new tea set and slowly peeling her books apart. Yes, she's not as busy as her brother, but she can take a book apart with the best of 'em!
She's learning new words daily and, if she's in the mood, will gladly tell you what sounds a fish, a bunny, a bear, an elephant and an owl make. At her one year check-up she weighed in at a whopping 17lbs 4oz, placing her in the 3rd percentile for weight. She's a peanut for sure, and comes by it naturally...she doesn't really like to eat. Thank goodness for baby cereal...she still loves the oatmeal and rice, and on a good day will eat a jar of corn or peas. Other than that, it's kind of hit-or-miss trying to find something she might eat. In an effort to fatten her up, we give her ice cream everyday. She seems to like that, but still won't eat more than a few bites!
The kids had a great time on Halloween - Emerson was a (store-bought) flower and Mason was a (hand-crafted) Safety Cone. Maybe next year Momma can work up enough energy to make both costumes!
All in all, fall is going well here. Ben is currently performing in Twelfth Night at Lehigh, Jay is working his tail off to grow his clients portfolios back to where they were a year ago (with some great susccess) and I'm trying to make sure we all eat and have clean clothes!!
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