Miss Cordelia

I think all the kids are going through a growth spurt, (I don't think Torii ever stopped eating today), but Cordelia seems to be growing the most. It just seems in this last month she has done so many new things and I'm getting to know her personality a lot better. Two days before the new year she started walking on her own. Which is great because now my back can have a break from helping her walk around all the time. The day she started walking I was so sick. I was laying on the floor, not wanting to move, and suddenly Cordelia got up and started walking. She walked around all day. Maybe she knew I was in no shape to hold her hands while she walked so she just gave up and took off on her own. Now she can get going pretty fast. I can't remember what Torii was doing today, but Cordelia wanted to get away fast. It's so cute to see those little legs go. I've also noticed some words or at least attempts at words. I know she is understanding a lot more that I say. Today she got the batteries out of one of our remotes and I asked her where the missing one was and she pointed right at it. As far as personality, Cordelia has a temper. I hope this is a passing phase. She mostly gets upset when I don't know what she is pointing and grunting at. She has fell on the floor and laid on her tummy and had a few minor tantrums. It is way too early for terrible twos! Cordelia also seems to be independent. She tries to put on her socks and shoes. I don't remember the boys doing that on their own until they were much older. The other day she also laid down on her own when I took a diaper out. I thought that was awesome, but it turned out to be a one time deal. Now we are back to rodeo diaper changes. There were more reasons I thought she might be an independent girl, but can't think of what those were at the moment. And she's just been funny lately. She loves to do Auntie Vicki's bumblebee game. She's usually the one that starts it. She likes to put on adult shoes. She pretends to drink from the cups of her new tea set. And her favorite thing to do is climb into Rion's big Tonka dump trunk and sit in the back. She loves it when we push her around in it too.

Meeting at school

On Thursday I had the meeting at school to discuss Rion's speech and fine motor skills. It was a bit much to take in everything, but in the end it was decided to give Rion some help. Although he has some trouble saying some letters, he doesn't really need help with speech. He does need help with his fine motor skills and apparently you can't have help with that unless you're in speech too. They kind of went back and forth on whether to wait with help if needed or go ahead with the help now. I told them I would like it if they helped because I can't get him to practice his handwriting at home and he would be more willing to work with them. So it was decided to help him. He has bad handwriting, can't cut with scissors very well and doesn't color inside the lines. I do feel like this is partly my fault for not preparing him for school. Then again, since he's my oldest, I really had no idea. We weren't expected to know all that when I started school. On the more positive side, Rion is doing really well academically. That played a factor in him getting help. From what I understand, they don't usually worry about speech therapy until kids are in first or second grade because they understand letter sounds and words better. They think he will do good in speech because Rion is doing so well in those areas. The reading teacher said he is in the higher reading group in his class. I am glad he is getting help because I do worry about what others may think of him when they see his coloring or handwriting. I worry that kids make fun of him or others may think he's dumb. I probably shouldn't worry about that because it probably isn't a concern, but I still do. And I know I shouldn't worry about what others think because I know he's smart, but it's hard. It will take some time for him to improve these skills, but I 'm glad he's on the road to get it resolved. I'd rather take care of it now and not have to worry about it later.