{3 month update}

Football, scarves, hot chocolate, pumpkins, cooler temps, and the best holidays of the year.  Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially ushered in fall!  It is my favorite time of the year and the perfect time for a family update- the dogs are finally quiet, the husband is watching football, and the little roommate is napping.

We visited with Little Bear's (LB) caseworker on Wednesday night.  We really, really enjoy her.  Not only does she want the best for LB and understand that he has special circumstances that need a higher level of support, she is a totally approachable and  and incredibly helpful person.  As we journeyed through our licensing coursework, we heard varying opinions on "the division" and "the workers", but we have had all positive interactions with the professionals that we have worked with.  

During our visit we were able to brag on the amount of progress that we have seen in LB.  Tomorrow marks three months since we brought him into our house.  90+ days.  Although we often reminisce about sleeping in and lazy Saturdays, we wouldn't trade this experience for anything.  When LB came into our family he had an extremely limited vocabulary- yes, no, hungry, and a whole lot of smiling and nodding.  Since his transition and starting school his vocabulary seems to be endless- although still grammatically incorrect and often incomprehensible (more on that later).  He is fully potty-trained, focuses on tasks for longer and longer periods of time, counts to 10 on a fairly consistent basis, and has started to recognize more colors and some letters.

School has been less of a struggle, although we still have difficult days sporadically.  LB loves his teacher and we have complete trust that he has an incredible team of teachers and therapists working with him at school.  We have parent-teacher conferences next week.  What a strange feeling it will be to take part in conferences on the parent side of the table.  We can't wait to praise his teachers for the immense amount of work they put in each day- it doesn't go unnoticed but sometimes goes without thanks.  We also hope that the progress we are seeing at home is also being seen at school.

When LB came into our home we noticed immediately that he had both hearing and speech delays.  After many, many appointments it was determined that he needs his adenoids and tonsils out and ear tubes put in.  NOT FUN, but totally necessary.  We were fearful that the doctors would be unable to schedule LB's surgery soon enough for it to impact his progress while at our home.  Thanks to my amazing husband rallying the troops, we are schedule for surgery on Monday.  What that means for LB is that we should see an improvement in hearing and, in turn, speech over the next few months.  What it also means, is no school for the entire week- every child's dream come true, right?  Unfortunately for mom and dad, we have demanding careers that allow us to support many teachers who are preparing for parent-teacher conferences.  We will be switching on and off all week in order to spend time with LB at home and support our staffs at school.

We appreciate everyone who has been praying and sending positive thoughts our way.  We couldn't travel this journey without the support and understanding of our friends and family.  It is a huge change to stop making decisions solely based on ourselves and factor in another human being, and we know that we haven't always been graceful in this transition, but we have had a tremendous amount of love and support along the way.  We will update throughout the week as we head into and recover from surgery.

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