Therapy, Therapy, Therapy & Co-op!

We are slowly getting back in the swing of things around here. Our Christmas tree is finally down and 85% of the presents are put away. We even found a couple under the tree that we had forgotten about and it was like Christmas all over again! Over the next few weeks I want to start cleaning out part of the basement shelves and getting rid of stuff we don't need so we can move our arts/crafts downstairs. Our one craft/game cupboard upstairs is overflowing and is pretty much useless in it's current state. Not good for any of us and it means that we aren't doing all the fun stuff that we could be. Plus the kids got all sorts of cool craft stuff for Christmas that I'm not even going to try to fit in the closet as it is now. So for now that is the 15% of the presents that are waiting for a new, more organized place to be.

In addition to house stuff, both kids had their therapy appts this week. Alison started Occupational Therapy on Tuesday. Right now we are working on some motor skills that she is having problems with and later we will be working on her being so sensitive to sensory input. Her OT is trained in both working with kids and sensory issues, so I've got a lot of hope that she will really help Alison. We have homework for Alison to practice every day at home, 7 things for both large and small motor strengthening. They are all play based so they are quick and fun and Ian even joins in. I figure it can't hurt and maybe he'll get a benefit from it too.

Ian went back to speech today after having Christmas vacation. I had to wake him up to go so I was afraid of how he might act. (He can be really grumpy in the morning.) But he did wonderfully! He even hopped up on the speech therapists lap and snuggled with her for a little bit. He was talking in full sentences and everything. She was sooo happy! She had about 10 word cards that she wanted him to try to say so she could assess how he was doing on his target sounds and he did all of them for her without throwing any tantrums. I think this may have been one of his best days of speech yet!

Tomorrow (if we don't end up with a snow day), homeschool co-op starts back up. The moms take turns teaching and helping in the classes in exchange for super low costs to participate. We went in the fall and had a lot of fun, so I volunteered to teach a hands on science class. It will go for 8 weeks and we are going to do all sorts of fun things. Tomorrow we are going to talk about yeast and wheat and make bread dough! I was going to bring my wheat grinder along, but today while I was grinding up the wheat berries to take to class, I remembered just how loud the thing is and decided that maybe I shouldn't. It sounds like a jet is warming up for take off and even though we'll be on the far end of the hall, it is just so loud, that I don't want to upset anybody. Alison will be in my class since there weren't any other options for her for that hour. She is also taking a class about China. Alison is looking forward to it. The mom that taught her Michigan class this fall is teaching it and Alison really enjoyed that class. If Ian is awake in time to go, he'll be hanging out in the nursery. For him it is enough right now, he's learning to be with other adults and kids and trying to communicate with them without me being there to translate. If he's not awake on time, he gets to spend the morning outside shovelling with daddy so that would be fun for him too.