i’ve heard a lot of people complaining lately about the fact that Christmas marketing starts right at Hallowe’en now. well, okay, the commercialism of it all does bug me… but the fact that our digital cable music channels already have TWO channels dedicated to Christmas music and it’s not even December does not bug me one bit. it makes me want to dance with glee, drink hot chocolate and get going on all of the handmade gifts i have yet to complete!!

welcome Christmas!!!!

words are important. they have the ability to build up, tear down. they depend on facial expressions and vocal tones to give them extra meaning and emphasis.

and when you don’t hear any words coming out of your little guy’s mouth, it can be cause for worry. we’ve been on a bit of a journey with Josh over the past few months, trying to figure out what was going on with the lack of “english” coming out of his mouth!

his time at preschool thus far has been really profitable in many ways – his speech is just one area that has improved exponentially on a daily basis since beginning his program. i think that some people think i’m a little crazy for pointing out that my 3 year old son just said “sank you” or “i a king!”… but when you’ve been waiting longer than most to hear things like that, it’s cause for celebration. just this morning, i was trying to get him to put his shoes on and get ready to leave – he was playing with his broom and dustpan and said “no, i cleaning!”. moment of defiance aside, i was really proud of him! not only are the words coming, but understanding right along with them. it brings tears to my eyes when i watch him carrying on conversations with our friends and family, prouding telling them about “My cake!” or “my banoon (my balloon)”.

all that to say… i’m bursting with pride and happiness at the progress he’s made, and i’m thankful beyond words for the prayers and support that we’ve been given by so many people. Josh’s issues are tiny in light of what many other children face, but each child is precious and nobody wants to see their child struggle.

i think summer is sliding on out and fall is on the way in. around these parts, trees are changing colours by the minute, and the days are slowly but surely getting cooler. we went to a bonfire/bbq with friends the other night and needed sweaters! and the one sure sign that fall is just about here – Starbucks is serving their amazing pumpkin spice lattes 😀

and… the fact that the weather is changing means Josh’s 3rd birthday is not far away. in fact, a week from this Friday, my boy will turn 3. i’m not sad about this – i’m excited actually, because i’m making him a Lightning McQueen cake for his party. Josh’s friend Grace and her parents are coming, and with Grammy here we’ll have a nice small birthday party for our boy.

when i watch Josh play and do his stuff around the house, i’m amazed. he loves his preschool class and is sad when he can’t go for some reason (like, say, it’s Sunday. or it’s too early in the morning). his speech is improving – he calls me Mommy, he’s learned to say “happy” and “no” (i was hoping he’d hold off on that one!). he is learning to share with his classmates, and he’s doing the same with his little friends at church. he still has some stuff to overcome – but man, he works hard at doing it, and he doesn’t give up. he makes me so proud.

today i’m just feeling really emotional for some reason! i just looked at a photo taken of Josh last November – he’s sitting in a big pile of leaves looking up at Kirsten (who was taking the picture) with a big smile on his face. he had just discovered the joy of jumping into a pile of leaves! that day, our small group had come over to rake leaves… and they raked 47 bags of leaves. Brian had broken his back a few weeks earlier and there was no way i could have raked all of that by myself. i’ll never forget that day. and i can’t wait to make some leaf piles this year! it’ll be even more fun now that Josh is a little older.

as i write this, Josh is having his first morning of preschool. he was so excited to get going this morning with his big boy backpack and all… but he was really unhappy when we left him there. there were no tears…just a really sad face. i wanted to cry!

here are some pictures for those who would like to see exactly how big he is now:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Mamaspatcher/JoshSFirstDayOfPreschool

so we had our CPSE meeting for Josh – and the upshot of it all is that he won’t be going to ECEC. I’m disappointed, to say the least. However, we have to try the “least restrictive environment” first, and that will be at a preschool program down the road from Pineview. I wasn’t overly impressed on our visit – for a program that is supposed to run from 9 to 11:30, i didn’t see a whole lot happening at 9 other than just kids getting dropped off and playing with toys.

however, the decision was ultimately not up to me, and so this is what we are trying first, with a report and re-evaluation of the situation at the end of November. Josh will be in a class of 10-12 kids (as opposed to the 8-10 kids that the CPSE Chair said would be there) with a special ed teacher and a regular preschool teacher, and 4 30-minute sessions of speech therapy every week. I hope that this will be just what he needs. I have no doubt that he’s smart and capable of learning – i just want to make sure that he’s really getting what is right for him!

edited to add:
after re-reading this post, i feel like a bit of a heel. (hey that rhymed) We did pray that the best situation for Josh would be what we ended up with, and who am i to doubt the hand of the Almighty at work?!