Birthday Party

Looking through binoculars ~ trying to find some birds


The kids getting ready to celebrate Earth Day



He eventually fell asleep on the couch ~ I was given instructions that the super hero's by his feet were to go to his bed with him.


the gifts he received from his Pump It Up Party


Getting ready to open his presents



a quick picture of the kids before we headed to the party room


Whoooo...one of his favorites...the super fast slide


Line up at the beginning of the obstacle course


He loved this slide


Looking for trouble:-)


Getting ready to climb the first part of the course


Happy Birthday, Thomas~~ My Little Love:-)

Thomas turned 4 on April 18th ~ I still can't believe he is 4! He is still having some trouble with /f/ at the beginning of a word (when asked how old he is Thomas will say "gore"). So now, after many, many attempts to get him to say FOUR, when he is asked how old he is Thomas will hold up his little hand and show the person 4 fingers ~ much easier than trying to pronounce /f/. I swear when he starts consistently pronouncing /f/ correctly I am going to throw a big "F" party!!! We have been focusing on other speech goals ~ although during the day we make our bunny teeth and practice the /f/ sound~ he tries and gets it when we take it slow but there is still a hint of "g" in there ...it just frustrates him to no end.
On another note...his birthday party (I should say weekend) was fantastic. On the 16th we celebrated his birthday with family and some of his friends from school and home at Pump It Up. I'm not sure how every Pump It Up is ran but the facility here was outstanding! A few of Thomas' friends have special needs and I was a little nervous about how the staff would approach them and if they were going to treat them any different. I was amazed at just how well these young adults interacted with all of the children. They made sure that all of the kids were having fun ~ that each child had their turn and when it came to the obstacle course there were two outstanding staff members that went through the entire course with any child that needed some extra help. Everyone (kids and adults) had a fantastic time.
Saturday my sister in law came over and brought with her half of Toys R Us! lol Our entire living room was full of boxes, wrapping paper and spiderman, batman and any other super hero that TRU had! Thanks again Shelley ~ you came in the nick of time! I have to take a picture of Thomas lugging around his TRU recyclable tree frog bag with half of his super hero guys in it. Jim is starting to get worried that Thomas may turn into a hoarder! lol
On Sunday (his actual birthday) we celebrated his special Day with a trip to the zoo to celebrate Earth Day. We also went to dinner at our local favorite restaurant and I was a bit ticked when I mentioned to our waitress that it was Thomas' birthday and that I would like for them to sing to him (they really don't sing...but they have a little birthday thing they do)and it never happened. I don't think Thomas cared but I did ~ I wrote her a little note on the receipt. Nothing nasty ~ but I got my point across!
Happy 4th Birthday to my Thomas ~ Whose smile and laugh can bring sunshine to my gloomiest day:-)

Birthday time

Thomas' IEP is complete ~ signed and sealed:-) I have a few decisions to make regarding next school year ~should we send Thomas back to his current preschool, send him to a mainstream preschool, do both (one in the morning and the other in the afternoon) or send him to mainstream preschool only but it would be in the Pre-K class. I am currently looking into different preschools in our area.
Thomas turns 4 on the 18th! He has been preparing for this birthday for a long time. We are having a birthday party for him at Pump It Up ~ he has invited his friends from school, their parents and of course, our family! There will definitly be more adults than kids ~ I'm hoping that they all have alot of fun:-)
With Thomas' birthday right around the corner it reminds us of his hearing birthday (right side)~ 3yrs! 3 yrs hearing!
I know without CI's Thomas would have been fine. He would have learned sign and done just as well in this world. But honestly, I can't imagine it. I can't imagine not hearing his sweet, little voice, his contagious laugh and I would also miss hearing him yell! I am thankful that we can dance to music he can hear, he can listen to me read him stories, he can hear our dog bark, our cat meow, the birds chirp, his baksetball bounce (and swoosh through the basket...just like "bron james") i am forever thankful he can hear me ~ remind him how much I love him, how proud I am of him ~ for all of his hard work, he can hear me overly pronunciate certain sounds and words that we happen to be working on and especially grateful that he can hear me warn him not to do things (don't run, STOP, watch out, please hold my hand, don't touch,etc, etc etc). I know he can hear all of these things ~ even if he doesnt listen to each and every one of them!
Happy 4th Birthday, Thomas!!! I Love You (and your brother) more than you will ever know:-)